Cloud Atlas Ch. 1

[Bekah]

Technically,  genocide (the intentional extermination of a specific 
ethnic, racial, or religious group)  has existed since Biblical or 
Roman times but with technology the process has been streamlined (so 
to speak).  No,  technology has not made genocide possible,  only a 
lot easier.

I'm not sure if this is the kind of answer you're looking for but WWI 
was the first war in which the technology of war was as important (if 
not more) than the number of troops a country had.  It was the 
technology that turned that war from into a 4 year bloodbath.   With 
WWII the technology of war became much more important and today it 
matters not at all how large the country/group is,  if they have the 
bomb, they are powerful.

Probably about the same time period for splendor/comforts you mention 
to become usable by the public.  1914 -
T. Edison,  Bell,  Ford, etc.

??????
Bekah


At 4:21 PM -0400 7/12/05, rich wrote:
>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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>>