Cloud Atlas Ch. 1

[rich]

one question that i'm always asking was/is technology just another
tool in these genocides/occupations, etc. or in some way _the_ reason,
seeing as the benefits that technology brought changed the mind-set,
not to mention the ability, of Europe and the West, in wanting to
utilize technology to exploit/enlighten so-called "primitives"

when was/is the point when technology (more blood...ahh..more funding)
become the motivation for everything nations/governments do
i.e. when did technology become the _force_ behind much of modern
misery and splendor/comfort from its beginnings as a tool in thrall to
individuals, tyrants, preachers, saints, etc.

rich

On 7/12/05, Ghetta Life <ghetta_outta at hotmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.zealand.org.nz/history.htm
> 
> They established a careful working relationship with the environment, taking
> enough for food and clothing, and never any more.
> 
> For example, they maintained their seal populations largely intact, by
> limiting the extent to which rookeries could be exploited. At the time of
> the first sealers, Moriori still had a rookery within 400m of occupations,
> and a seal population estimated at 20,000, by killing only older male seals,
> and removing all carcasses which would otherwise deter further breeding.
> 
> It worked - they survived half a millenia, at least, until the Europeans
> discovered them.
> 
> The Island population, 7 tribal groups, stabilised into around 40 small
> villages, each with up to 50 people, and the central Waihora.
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> In any hunter/gatherer society, life can be very tenuous, and inter-tribal
> war can threaten extinction. In fact, such wars are a luxury that can be
> tolerated by settled/farming societies only because new members can be
> raised and fed with some degree of assurance that the tribe as a whole will
> survive.
> 
> The Moriori, lacking that assurance, had abandoned warfare.
> 
> The chief Nukunuku Whenua established a precept, that disputes would be
> settled by duel using a stick called tupurari, which was a thumb's thickness
> and an arm's length - the winner would be the first to draw blood, and the
> fight would then stop -
> "only fight til you draw blood, then stop".
> 
> 
> 
> >From: "Ghetta Life" <ghetta_outta at hotmail.com>
> >They are described as true "noble savages" by their literal and  total
> >application of a prohibition against killing other humans.  I wonder about
> >the historical truth of this description.
> 
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