The Sumerian Dilemma
Way back in the mists of barely historic times, down in the then fertile crescent of Mesopotamia, the Sumerians ceased their nomadic wandering, started cultivating wheat and barley and settled down to form the world’s first civilisation. The easy availability of food – at least compared to hunting vicious animals with nasty pointy teeth – allowed them to grow their society but also created a deadly dilemma. To maintain the population nearly all the Sumerians – apart from a few priests and so forth – needed to spend all of their time processing grain. A people that can’t generate a surplus of food are destined to spend eternity on the treadmill of maintenance.
Sadly the Sumerians, acting in their own interests, exhausted the resources needed to maintain their society and in so doing destroyed it. In a similar manner our financial industry is exhausting the world’s fiscal resources. Unfortunately it’s unlikely that the individuals responsible will care too much because they’re too busy spending their loot.
Way back in the mists of barely historic times, down in the then fertile crescent of Mesopotamia, the Sumerians ceased their nomadic wandering, started cultivating wheat and barley and settled down to form the world’s first civilisation. The easy availability of food – at least compared to hunting vicious animals with nasty pointy teeth – allowed them to grow their society but also created a deadly dilemma. To maintain the population nearly all the Sumerians – apart from a few priests and so forth – needed to spend all of their time processing grain. A people that can’t generate a surplus of food are destined to spend eternity on the treadmill of maintenance.
Sadly the Sumerians, acting in their own interests, exhausted the resources needed to maintain their society and in so doing destroyed it. In a similar manner our financial industry is exhausting the world’s fiscal resources. Unfortunately it’s unlikely that the individuals responsible will care too much because they’re too busy spending their loot.
