On Sat, 25 Jul 1998 11:21:14 -0400, Rick Strong <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>> Ray wrote:
>> See: "Health and the Rise of Civilization" by Mark Nathan Cohen (1989
>> Yale University Press).
>
> For those who want to explore the topic of "why Eurasians conquered, displaced, or
>decimated Native Americans, Australians and Africans, instead of the reverse...,"
>see Guns, Germs and Steel, The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond,  also
>author of the Third Chimpanzee. Most of you are probably already familiar with
>Daniel Quinn's more lyric Ishmael and My Ishmael.  Diamond's book  starts with the
>period beginning 13,000 years ago.  It raises some intere
sting philosophical issues
>by inference.  It describes precisely how particular societies can be prolific and
>advance  technology and consequently population growth and territorial acquisition
>but at the cost of obliterating H/G cultures and by agricultural methods that value
>gross production over quality and environmental health.  Of course,  the diseases
>associated with the consequent diet are well discussed on these pages.  Diamond's
>book focuses on how it happened that populations in certain areas began to
>domesticate plants and animals and why others did/could not.   Rick
Somehow CroMagnon People managed by their (our) superior technology to
conquer almost the world, may it be the invention of spears, of stone tools,
of bows, of agriculture, of iron, of steel cannons or apache-helicopters.
I thinks it's good we are today feeling some kind of sorrow or regret
about this fact, although "we" hav
e already done it and nearly finished it.
Native americans btw were very good farmers of maize, sunflowers, beans
and many other plants in most cases (like Iroquese).

Now beeing a dense population on earth
(255 Million Americans, 80 million Germans for ex) which could never again
life a gatherer/hunter lifestyle we have IMHO the responsibility
to live at this place in the most nature-conserving responsible way.
Luckily we now have the technology and ability to grow plants in a healty
way and amount for all of us.
That means for me organic, without pesticides, without gene manipulation,
and using only as much land as necessary, in a self-sustaining way.

If you don't like grains for example you can let grow roots, fruits, nuts,
salads, everything is possible now.
But not for wild game.
Even in large, rich and sparse populated areas (like the USA)
at most a few (3%) percentage
 could get a living of it.
Or else we had to swich back to (or continue with) the human and
nature despising mass production methods of (gene manipulated) wheat or
soy to feed to animals.

just an opinion here
regards
Amadeus