Crash Course World History #201 Rethinking Civilization

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- What is the challenge to studying hill cultures?

The challenge to studying hill cultures is the people that live in the hills usually ran away from civilization and one of the main activities of a civilization is writing there will most likely not be written evidence of their lifestyle.

- “Like in his book Society Against the State, Pierre Clastres argues that the so-called primitive Amerindian societies of South America were not in fact ancient societies that had failed to invent settled agriculture or state forms, but previously sedentary cultivators who abandoned agriculture and fixed villages in response to the effects of conquest.”

Do you agree or disagree with Clastres’ argument?

I agree with Clastres’ statement that the early societies of South America had decided not to have a civilization because they consisted most likely of runaways from civilizations that experienced how a civilization and the flaws that were inside of it.

- Do you agree with John Green that the positives of civilizations outweigh the negatives?

I agree with John Green when he states “….everything from antibiotics and being connected with people half a world away from you…it has its risks but it opens up tremendous opportunities.” If I just think carefully about it our civilizations allow us to think and present ideas, meet new friends where we can collaborate and learn new things. People that live a “hill-people” lifestyle only were concerned about finding food and had nothing to do in their leisure time in which they most likely only socialized with a few people. While we are able to socialize with hundreds of people which provide new opportunities and excitement.