Matthew Royal reviewed The Lessons of History by Will Durant
Review of 'The Lessons of History' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I used to think this book was brilliant. Now I see I liked it because of its certainty in its correctness. As a model of history, it's not incorrect, but it’s definitely just one perspective, and one that precludes many other valid paths into the future.
“Utopias of equality are biologically doomed."
"Inequality is not only natural and inborn, it grows with the complexity of civilization.”
“We are acquisitive, greedy, and pugnacious because our blood remembers millenniums through which our forebears had to chase and fight and kill in order to survive, and had to eat to their gastric capacity for fear they should not soon capture another feast. War is a nation’s way of eating.” p. 18
War is not the only table at which social organisms can feed. Trade is a far more bountiful feast than war, which can only consume what already exists. Trade produces new things …
I used to think this book was brilliant. Now I see I liked it because of its certainty in its correctness. As a model of history, it's not incorrect, but it’s definitely just one perspective, and one that precludes many other valid paths into the future.
“Utopias of equality are biologically doomed."
"Inequality is not only natural and inborn, it grows with the complexity of civilization.”
“We are acquisitive, greedy, and pugnacious because our blood remembers millenniums through which our forebears had to chase and fight and kill in order to survive, and had to eat to their gastric capacity for fear they should not soon capture another feast. War is a nation’s way of eating.” p. 18
War is not the only table at which social organisms can feed. Trade is a far more bountiful feast than war, which can only consume what already exists. Trade produces new things through creativity and cross-pollination; trade is not a zero-sum game like war: it increases in size and value exponentially following network effects.