Tuesday, 16 October 2012

A Quick Overview of the History of Agriculture


 (Start watching from 1min mark for the relevant part on Agriculture)



Love how informative and entertaining this video is! I always find videos/documentaries really helpful learning aids, although generalisations are inevitable in such condensed nuggets, they are still very good overviews/ introductions to get one interested... 

So in addition to referring to the academic literature, you can expect me to post many video links on this blog ;)


I find his short rant end especially helpful as I read up about how agriculture changed through the years: 

"Many people made the choice for agriculture independently, but does that mean it is the right choice? Maybe so, and maybe not. But regardless, we can't unmake that choice. And that's one of the reasons I think it's so important to study history. History reminds us that revolutions are not so much events than they are processes. For tens of thousands of years, people have made decisions that have irrevocably shaped the world we live in today…  " 

Hmm, food-for-thought.

Looking forward to seeing what processes exactly led to agriculture as it is today (and indeed the once-unimaginable possibility of a  99C double cheeseburger)... 

See ya soon

2 comments:

  1. Good video. Maybe the biggest impetus for agriculture .. especially growing of grains .. is the ease of and possibility of storage for a longer duration (relative to meats and fruits) .. so maximizing man kind's chance of surviving in times of famine and drought conditions? This insecurity alone may be sufficient to nudge us (man) in that direction.

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    1. Yes that's very possible! Especially given quite a bit of changes in climate during that era that man would have had to adapt to also..

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