Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels

Human Culture and Values

Human culture and values evolve over time. The dominant factor shaping human culture is how people capture fuel for energy from their environment. Human history moved through three main stages, each with its own values. Foraging cultures came first. Foragers support themselves by gathering wild plants and hunting animals. Foragers “value equality over most forms of hierarchy,” and accept violence as part of life. Farmers followed. Farmers support themselves by domesticating “plants and animals.” They “value hierarchy over equality,” and largely reject violence. The third stage features “fossil-fuel values.” This culture takes energy from “fossilized plants” in the form of “coal, gas and oil.” “Foragers, farmers and fossil-fuel users” provide models of cultural evolution that show how “each age gets the thought it needs.”

Foragers and Their Values

Foraging cultures fill the first 90% of human history. Foragers, or “hunter-gatherers,” emerged in Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago. “By 10,000 years ago,” they expanded into all habitable areas. Foragers moved often, traveling “in small groups” because food was available in different...