Introduction
Have you ever wondered where our moral values come from? Why do we believe in certain principles and reject others? In his thought-provoking book "Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels," historian Ian Morris presents a fascinating theory: our fundamental values are shaped by how we capture energy from our environment.
Morris takes readers on an epic journey through human history, from our early days as hunter-gatherers to our current fossil fuel-powered civilization. Along the way, he explores how different methods of energy capture have influenced our attitudes towards violence, equality, and social hierarchy. The book challenges us to reconsider the origins of our deepest-held beliefs and offers intriguing predictions about how our values might change in the future.
The Evolution of Human Values
Morris begins by introducing his central argument: human values evolve in much the same way that our genes do. Just as beneficial genetic traits are passed down through generations, values that help a society thrive in its environment tend to persist and spread. The key factor determining which values are most advantageous, according to Morris, is a society's method of energy capture.
Energy capture refers to how humans obtain food energy (measured in kilocalories) from their surroundings. Different ways of harnessing energy work best alongside different social structures and moral codes. This explains why hunter-gatherer societies, agricultural civilizations, and modern industrial nations have such distinct value systems.
Morris illustrates this concept with an anecdote from his own experience. While working on an archaeological dig in rural Greece, he encountered an old farmer riding a donkey while his wife walked beside him carrying a heavy load. When asked why his wife wasn't riding the donkey, the farmer simply replied, "She doesn't have one." To modern Western sensibilities, this scene might seem shockingly unfair. But Morris argues that the farmer wasn't necessarily being selfish – he was operating according to the hierarchical values typical of farming societies.
This example highlights how our moral judgments are often shaped by the energy systems we live in, rather than some universal ethical truth. The gender equality we value in modern industrialized nations isn't necessarily more "correct" – it's simply better suited to societies powered by fossil fuels.
Foraging Societies: Equality and Violence
For the vast majority of human history – around 90% – all people lived as hunter-gatherers. These foraging societies obtained their energy directly from wild plants and animals in their environment. While there was great diversity among foraging cultures, Morris identifies some common characteristics in their social organization and values.
Resisting Hierarchy
Foraging groups tended to be small, usually consisting of a few dozen to a few hundred individuals. They were nomadic, moving frequently to follow food sources. Most importantly, they strongly resisted social and economic hierarchies.
Morris uses the Gini coefficient, a measure of wealth inequality, to illustrate this point. The Gini scale ranges from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (one person owns everything). Studies of foraging societies show an average Gini score of just 0.25 – significantly more equal than farming or industrial societies.
This egalitarianism arose naturally from the foraging lifestyle. Constant movement made it impractical to accumulate many possessions. More importantly, sharing food was essential for group survival. Foragers who tried to hoard resources for themselves were typically mocked, ostracized, or even killed in extreme cases.
Acceptance of Violence
While foragers valued equality, they also had a high tolerance for violence. In the 20th century, approximately one in ten foragers died violent deaths – a staggeringly high rate by modern standards.
Morris explains this seeming contradiction. Without centralized authority, violence was often the quickest and most effective way to resolve conflicts or eliminate threats. Additionally, in some foraging societies, violent men tended to have more sexual partners and children, creating evolutionary pressure favoring aggression.
The Agricultural Revolution: Hierarchy and Order
Around 10,000 years ago, some foragers began experimenting with planting seeds and domesticating animals. This agricultural revolution triggered enormous changes in human society and values.
Increased Energy and Population
Farming allowed humans to extract far more energy from the same land area. While foragers typically captured around 5,000 kilocalories per person per day, early farmers in places like Mesopotamia and Egypt could obtain up to 10,000 kilocalories daily through irrigation agriculture.
This energy surplus enabled rapid population growth. Farmers needed many children to help with labor, and they could support larger families. The average farming society had about seven children per family, compared to just two or three for foragers.
The Rise of Cities and Social Hierarchy
As populations grew, the first cities emerged along major rivers like the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates. These urban centers brought thousands of people together in unprecedented concentrations.
To manage these complex societies, new forms of social organization arose. Without exception, farming civilizations that surpassed 10,000 kilocalories per day developed strong hierarchies with elite ruling classes. Often, the ruler was seen as divine or chosen by the gods.
Religion played a crucial role in justifying these new power structures. People accepted the idea that higher powers ordained some to rule and others to serve. This led to much greater inequality – the average Gini score in farming societies was 0.45, with the top 10% often controlling 80% of the wealth.
Gender Roles and Family Structure
Farming societies universally adopted strict gender roles, with women staying home to care for children while men worked the fields. This division of labor arose from the need to produce as many workers as possible.
Male farmers also became intensely concerned with passing wealth to their biological children, leading to an emphasis on female chastity and fidelity. This further reinforced women's subservient position in society.
Attitudes Toward Violence
While hierarchy increased, farming societies generally became less tolerant of violence than foragers had been. There were several reasons for this shift:
- Violence could easily disrupt the labor-intensive farming process, threatening everyone's survival.
- Centralized authority provided alternative means of conflict resolution.
- Elites had an interest in maintaining order and preventing challenges to their rule.
That said, organized warfare between states became more common, and slavery was widespread in societies producing over 10,000 kilocalories per day.
The Fossil Fuel Revolution: Equality and Peace
For nearly 9,000 years, farming values dominated most of the world. But everything changed with the discovery of fossil fuels, particularly coal, in 17th century Europe.
Exponential Energy Growth
The ability to harness the concentrated energy in coal (and later oil and gas) triggered an unprecedented boom in energy capture. From about 38,000 kilocalories per day in the early days of coal use, energy capture in industrialized nations skyrocketed to 230,000 kilocalories by the 1970s.
This massive energy surplus powered the Industrial Revolution. New technologies like the steam engine (invented in 1776) revolutionized production. Increased factory output led to higher wages, drawing more people from farms to cities and further accelerating growth.
Economic and Demographic Transformation
The fossil fuel economy created a positive feedback loop of rising production, wages, and consumption. Mass-produced goods became both high-quality and affordable, dramatically raising living standards across society.
Population growth accelerated to unprecedented levels. The global population was 1 billion in 1800, 1.6 billion in 1900, and reached 6 billion by 2000. People also became healthier – on average, we're now 10 cm taller than our great-grandparents and live 30 years longer.
Shifting Values: Equality and Peace
As fossil fuels reshaped the economic and social landscape, human values shifted once again. Modern industrial societies tend to place a high value on equality and reject violence as a means of problem-solving.
Morris cites several global surveys to illustrate this point:
- 80% of people worldwide support democracy
- 86% consider gender equality important
- 69% are absolute pacifists regarding violence
While inequality still exists (Gini scores have fluctuated significantly), overall wealth disparities are lower than in farming societies. Morris argues this is because fossil fuel economies can easily afford to pay workers well and provide benefits. There's also less need for strict labor hierarchies.
Gender equality has also reached unprecedented levels. With child mortality low and mechanization reducing the need for manual labor, there's less pressure for women to have many children. Instead, they can participate fully in the market economy.
The flattening of political hierarchies is partly due to secularization. Without religious justification, the divine right of kings loses its legitimacy. Democratic systems have proven more efficient at managing complex industrial economies.
Regarding violence, fossil fuel societies generally see it as unnecessary and counterproductive. Economic interdependence and the destructive power of modern weapons make warfare between developed nations increasingly rare.
The Future of Human Values
Having traced how energy capture has shaped values throughout history, Morris turns his attention to the future. How might ongoing technological advancement alter our moral landscape?
The "Soothing Scenario"
One possibility is what Morris calls the "Soothing Scenario." This theory suggests that as developing countries like China and India increase their energy capture and economic power, they will naturally adopt Western liberal values like democracy and individual freedom.
There's some evidence for this view. Countries like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have moved towards more liberal systems as they've industrialized. However, Morris cautions against assuming this trend will continue indefinitely.
Alternative Futures
Some theorists argue that Asian countries have only Westernized due to the current global power balance. If the center of power shifts eastward (as some projections suggest it might by 2103), we might instead see Western nations adopting more "Chinese" values.
Morris also considers more radical possibilities. If energy capture continues to increase at current rates (reaching perhaps 1 million kilocalories per day by 2103), we could see:
- Megacities with populations of 140 million
- Life expectancy over 100 years in developed countries
- Widespread use of brain-computer interfaces
In such a world, traditional hierarchies might disappear entirely. With abundant energy to meet everyone's needs, inequality could become obsolete. Even violence might seem pointless if all humans are equally empowered by technology.
However, Morris warns that uneven distribution of these advancements could lead to extreme inequality, potentially even driving ordinary humans to extinction in favor of a small population of technologically enhanced "post-humans."
The Certainty of Change
While the specifics are impossible to predict, Morris argues we can be certain that human values will continue to evolve. Whatever energy systems and technologies dominate in the future, societies will adopt the values that help them thrive in that new environment.
Key Takeaways
Energy Shapes Values: Our fundamental moral beliefs are not universal truths, but adaptations to our methods of energy capture.
Forager Values: Hunter-gatherer societies valued equality within the group but accepted high levels of violence.
Farmer Values: Agricultural civilizations developed strong hierarchies and gender roles while becoming less tolerant of internal violence.
Fossil Fuel Values: Industrial societies powered by fossil fuels tend to favor equality, democracy, and peace.
Ongoing Evolution: As technology and energy systems continue to change, human values will likely undergo further transformations.
Critical Analysis
Morris's theory offers a compelling framework for understanding the broad sweep of human cultural evolution. By focusing on energy capture as the key driver of value systems, he provides a materialist explanation for moral change that avoids both cultural relativism and claims of universal ethics.
The book's strengths include:
- A clear, engaging writing style that makes complex ideas accessible
- A truly long-term perspective on human development
- Thoughtful integration of archaeological evidence, historical analysis, and contemporary data
However, there are some potential weaknesses to consider:
- The theory may oversimplify the complex interplay of factors influencing human values
- It could be seen as overly deterministic, downplaying the role of individual agency and cultural innovation
- The projections about future value systems, while intriguing, are highly speculative
Conclusion
"Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels" challenges readers to reconsider the origins of their deepest-held beliefs. By linking our moral values to the practical realities of energy capture, Ian Morris offers a provocative new perspective on human cultural evolution.
The book's central insight – that our values are not timeless truths but adaptations to our environment – is both humbling and liberating. It suggests that as our world continues to change, we must remain open to evolving our ethical frameworks.
Morris's work invites us to think critically about the values we hold dear and to consider how they might need to shift in response to future challenges. As we grapple with issues like climate change, artificial intelligence, and potential space colonization, understanding the relationship between energy systems and human values may prove crucial.
Ultimately, "Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels" is a thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be human in a constantly changing world. It offers valuable insights for anyone interested in history, anthropology, ethics, or the future of human civilization.