How farming planted seeds for the Internet - Patricia Russac

What does farming have to do with invention and innovation? Permanent residences, division of labor, central government, and complex technologies--all essential for advancing civilizations--could not have been developed without the move from hunting-gathering to farming. Patricia Russac explores how farming was a major innovation leading to the civilization we know today.

Lesson by Patricia Russac, animation by Enjoyanimation.

[wren]

TED has some serious issues with audio leveling

[jantsankhorloo]

somehow i always feel a bit smarter after i watch ted vids :)))

[akopyan]

Sometimes I wish we went back to hunting & gathering. Clean air, clean food, actually be connected to the earth instead of covering it up with pavement and other man-made things

[zaw]

you can debate about anything and find loads of negative points on anything in the universe, but we can safely say and agree that farming is a leap forward and of course with downsides, but in general it is obviously a great thing in our history, i personally find it as the most important turning point in history.

[Zralf]

it's nice to remind people of the importance of these things, i certainly enjoyed this presentation.

[shilpakulhade]

Wow i love the way you said that ted ed

[friebender]

Nah I like the Internet, I love all our knowledge about this wonderful complicated world.

I am so happy to live in a time like this.
Yea maybe the stress and all our time we have to think about things, makes us unappy, but this is just another evolutionary step to the next lvl of actually smart humans, not just pseudo smart humans.

Even though I think 1 or 2 years in pure nature would be very beneficial for me.

[magoomba]

what I think is being suggested is though farming is not the possible path to the end, it was the path to the end in our case.

[SisaMasa]

But in my case, surplus of foods lead to me eating more 😕

[satire]

I'd say ranch dressing is the greatest invention ever.

[karenkurciska]

Love this video, except the bit at the beginning about how hunter-gatherers had "no time" for innovation; in fact, early farmers had much longer work days than their predecessors. Foragers had plenty of time to tell stories and invent things, and they did invent things. They developed better tools. She then goes on to identify the correct point - the food surplus created by farming, which led to both higher density and specialization. Higher density is also important - more people means more innovators, each of whom knows more people they can tell about their inventions.

[eurohim]

Although it is possible the ones that lived to this day live in areas where conditions are optimal to thrive with such a lifestyle. Warm most of the year, plentiful food nearby, etc.

[SpartanLiving]

I like this argument/point. I might steal.

[LarsSod]

The answer to the question is not just farming. It depends on how far back you choose to look. If you look even further back you have tools and language.

Agriculture was what allowed large communities to flourish. With hunting and gathering, this could not be possible. Therefore it absolutely logically follows that digital technology must have come after agriculture because the main purpose behind this technology is to connect people.

[lucasphilliproger]

While hunting/gathering may make it hard to feed large populations in permanent settlements (except the Mongols), I was addressing the question in the description blurb. I don't disagree that farming helped lead to some civilizations. I disagree with some of the arguments put forth alongside since:
1) The working time of nomadic life doesn't prevent invention.
2)"With farming came animals... and staying in one location." Except for nomadic herders.
3) Subsistence fishing in island civilizations.

[cavakun]

Even if they had spare time, the fact is that hunter-gather societies didn't develop into settlements since they had to constantly move for their economic activity and thus civilization as we know it was not possible.

[SpartanLiving]

I'm with you on that. People HIGHLY underestimate the freedom, health, joy and simplicity (and danger/challenges) of a hunting and gathering lifestyle. Look up "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" By Dr. Weston A. Price. There should be a free version online. A very relevant read ;)

[vinayseth]

I'm showing this to anyone who argues that studying history is useless. Granted, that the video simplifies a lot of issues, but nonetheless embarks on an interesting thought experiment to see the bigger picture.

[lucasphilliproger]

Not even the video description blurb is accurate. The Mongol empire had all of the listed "essential[s] for advancing civilizations" while hunting and herding animals. Also, the availability of fish along coastlines and large rivers allowed settlements such as Lepenski Vir, with its complex semi-nomadic economy with managed exploitation of resources in the area not immediately surrounding the village (necessitating professional specialization and leading to social differentiation). <-- from wiki