Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels

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Ian Morris is an archaeologist, historian, university professor, and co-founder of the Stanford Archaeology Center. His book Why the West Rules – For Now won the 2011 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Creative Nonfiction. He holds honorary degrees from DePauw University and Birmingham University.

Throughout history, human societies have evolved alongside their methods of energy acquisition, shaping their values and structures. Foragers, who relied on communal resource sharing and minimal possessions, exhibited low inequality but accepted violence as a norm. The advent of agriculture brought increased energy production, larger populations, and hierarchical societies, with elites dominating wealth and power, often justified through religion. This shift entrenched laborious lifestyles, rigid gender roles, and inequality, though it also reduced violence through centralized authority. The fossil fuel era revolutionized energy capture, enabling technological advancements, urbanization, and improved living standards, while fostering values like democracy, gender equality, and pacifism. However, this progress came with environmental and social challenges. As technological advancements accelerate, future societies will likely experience profound changes in values, shaped by unprecedented energy access and innovations, though equitable distribution will be critical to ensuring collective prosperity.

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