The traditional understanding of civilization as inherently superior to "barbarian" steppe cultures is fundamentally flawed. Historically, steppe peoples, characterized by their unique adaptations to their environment, have repeatedly demonstrated greater innovation, resilience, and military prowess, leading to their conquest of established civilizations.
Mind Map
クリックして展開
クリックしてインタラクティブなマインドマップを確認
Okay. So today we are going to discuss
versus the steps.
The steps are the grasslands and you
people often refer to them as
barbarians. Okay. So in China we refer
to these people as like barbarians.
And in school you're taught that there
are major differences between
civilization and barbarians. Right? So
um the first major difference is that in
civilization you are allowed intellectual
intellectual freedom
freedom
because only by reading books only by
going to school only by learning how to
think can you be free to think. Okay. Um
and in a step we think of them as
emotional slaves.
They are unpredictable. They are violent.
violent. Okay.
Okay.
Second thing is that we think of civilization
civilization
We love knowledge. We seek to gain more
knowledge. Therefore
uh we are innovative. Okay.
Whereas the steps people, they are static.
static.
Okay. Because they are insular. They're close-minded.
Okay. And the last thing is that we
think civilization
Only can you be
only if you are civilized can you be
truly be happy okay and wealthy.
And we think that the steps people are
poor and therefore unhappy.
And that is the general understanding of
the difference between civilization and
the barbarians. Okay. The problem is that
that
this creates a misunderstanding
and we can't really explain why is it
that throughout human history the steps
people have been the greatest
conquerors. Okay. Okay. So the classic
example is Genghask Khan. How is it that
Genghask Khan was able to not only
conquer China, okay, which is one
consider one of the greatest
civilizations in the world, but also um
Baghdad, another great civilization.
Okay. But what's interesting is that
throughout human history, this has been
a consist consistent pattern where the
barbarians conquered the civilized
people. Okay, so this is a problem. How
is it that how is it that if in
civilization they're so free, they're so
smart, they're so open, they're so
curious, innovative, and so prosperous,
why is it that they keep on losing out
the steps people?
And the answer is because your
traditional understanding
is completely wrong. Okay? And I will
show you that it's the complete actually
the opposite. It is the steps people who
are open, curious, and innovative. And
it is the slicing people who are
close-minded, who are static, and who
are unhappy. Okay. So, that's my
argument to you
today. All right. So, let's go over um
some of my
uh points before I show you the PPT.
Okay. All right. So, let's discuss how
civilization starts. So last class we
understand that there's a major river
and on top of this major river you have
a city develop. Okay remember that we
come together for religious purposes. We
have settlements in order to celebrate
nature, celebrate God,
um celebrate our religion, our belief system.
system.
And over time what happens is that
um this system becomes unequal. it
becomes hierarchical
and therefore we leave. But there are
some places that are strategic for trade
purposes and therefore people don't want
to leave because you can generate a lot
of wealth and prosperity in these places
and so they become um major cities.
Okay. So the first city in world
civilization is Euro Eric. Okay.
And over time they become more more
prosperous. They build canals. Uh they
learn farming. They develop their own
mythology. Okay. And then what happens
is that as the population grows and
grows, they go off and colonize other
places along the trade route. Okay.
Maybe upstream and then downstream as
well. And then what happens is that the
city these city states
are now in competition with each other.
And they have a system of competition called
called open
open cooperative
cooperative competition.
competition. Okay,
Okay,
this is a very important concept because
this concept is what gives us
innovation. So if you have these three
things in place, open, cooperation,
competition, you'll be very innovative.
Open just means that you want to learn,
you want to grow, you want to learn from
others. Cooperation means that you are
in contact with others so you that you
are learning the best practices from
other people. Competition means that
you'll be better than they are. Okay? So
in this system of city states you have
massive innovation
and we see this throughout human
history. Okay. So think of China. When
was China the most innovative? It was
during the tun right the spring autumn
period. That's where we're getting
confusious from Danza. Okay. All the
great ideas came from this period of the
chunu. Okay, this is also true for
Mesopotamia. This is also true for Egypt
as well. Okay, and eventually what
happens is that these citystates um all
merge into an empire because during this
process of innovation,
one city will be more innovative than
the others and therefore they will
conquer the others. What's interesting
often is that it is a city that is most disadvantaged
disadvantaged
that conquers the other cities because
you're forced to be more innovative. So
in China, the classic example is
theQing, right? TheQing was in the
mountains. They had lower population.
They were poorer. They're more isolated.
And therefore that they have more
innovative than the Jao, the true the
way uh dynasties. Okay. Okay. And this
is true also in throughout human
history. And so now you have an empire.
And at first this empire is extremely
innovative. Why? For three reasons.
Okay. The first thing is that it now has scale.
scale.
Okay. It has size. Therefore, it's able
to draw in more resources. Second is the
idea of standardization.
St. synization just means that now
you're using the same monitor system,
you're using the same laws, you're using
the same uh communications network.
Okay, that allows for better use of
resources. The last is the idea of centralization,
meaning that you have one place
controlling all activities elsewhere.
[snorts] And that allows you to build
canals that allows you to build temples
that allows you to to undertake massive
public works projects. Okay. So in the
beginning of the empire there's massive
consolidation of innovation which leads
to tremendous innovation. Okay. But over
time what happens is the empire becomes
the opposite of an open cooperative
competition system. Why? Well first of
all it come becomes insular.
Okay. Then it becomes secretive
That's what a bureaucracy is.
Hey, do you guys understand? Okay. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> All right. So when an empire reaches a
certain point of growth, it becomes a
bureaucracy and therefore it kills all
innovation. So this idea that
civilization leads to innovation is wrong.
wrong.
Okay. Civilization leads ultimately to corruption.
All right.
Now, um what's interesting is that even
though this is a general rule of human
development, it's not always true. There
are exceptions. Okay. So for example,
one civilization that we know that did
not work out like this is something
called the Indis Valley civilization
which is modern day Pakistan.
And we'll discuss this later on but they
were actually even though they had a
city-state system they were actually
peaceful, egalitarian and artistic.
Okay? They didn't go to war with each
other. They didn't create a hierarchy.
They didn't create a bureaucracy. And
we'll discuss later on why this is the
case. But this is something that you
need to understand. Even though there
are patterns to human history, there are
always exceptions to the rule. Okay? All
over time the empire breaks down. Okay.
Why? Because you have a hierarchy in
place. Okay? Hierarchy, a bureaucracy.
the people are at the bottom.
And if you are a person in empire, your
life sucks. Okay? It really sucks
because you're essentially a slave. Why?
Well, first of all, the empire goes to
war a lot in order to protect its advantages.
advantages.
Okay? So, they can at any time just take
you to war and you get killed. Okay.
Second is the problem of debt. It's very
easy if you
um are a peasant to fall in debt. You
owe rent to a landlord, then you have to
sell your children. Okay, so debt really
sucks. Um and the last problem is immob
immobility, which just means that you're
just stuck where you are. Okay, so the people
people
in the empire, their lives suck, but
they're stuck where they are because of
war, debt, and immobility. Okay. And as
we discussed last class, uh the
bureaucracy will develop a methodology
in order to just justify why they are
like this. Okay. But at the very top,
it's it's actually even more problematic
because what happens is at the top
you'll eventually have a problem of elite
elite
over production.
Okay, elite over production just means
that there are only a few limited spots
for the elite and the elite have too
many children and therefore they fight.
Okay, they break up into different factions
factions
and each faction competes against each
other for the right to be the elite.
And because of this conflict at the very
top, you usually have three results.
Okay, the first result is revolution
where one elite tells the people to
overthrow everyone else. Okay, so
remember what's really important to
understand is the people do not
um create the revolution.
>> The people themselves do not rebel. It's
always one faction of the elite help um
working with the people to overall the
other factions. Okay, that's what a
revolution is. Second possibility is
civil war. Okay, where the factions um
have different armies and they fight.
And the third possibility is just they
go to war with the empire. Okay, but uh
this is a common pattern in history.
Now, what's really interesting is that
as the empire falls,
the pastoral people come and take over
the empire. Okay, the step people or the
pastoralists. Pashu just means that they
don't farm for a living. They raise
sheep, goats, and cows for a living.
Okay? They come and they take over the
empire. Why is this the case? Because
these people are the best fighters in
the world. They have horses. They can
they have they have they're archers.
Okay? So, they're the best fighters in
the world. So what often happens is one
faction invites them to be mercenaries
in the struggle and eventually they re
recognize you know what we don't have to
fight for the prince we can take over
take over over ourselves. Another thing
that happens is the faction that invites
the mercenaries don't have enough money
to pay them off. So the mercenaries are
just like screw this we'll just take
over the empire ourselves. Okay. Um and
what's important to understand is that
throughout all this the pastoralists are
always in contact of the empire through
three things okay through trade through
uh pillaging. So the pastors come and
steal from the people and through being
mercenaries okay so this is a pattern
throughout human history. So now the
question we have to ask is why are the pastoralists
pastoralists
so different from people of civilization
and empire and the reason is geography.
What I will show you is that people who
are passionless grow up in a different environment
environment
than the people of civilization empire
and therefore they they de a different
economy as well as mythology as well as
culture. Okay. All right.
All right. Let's continue.
But we're clear so far, right? Okay. So,
um in the beginning, we had agriculture.
Why do we have agriculture? Because as
we discussed before, uh people came
together for religious purposes. They
built temples and now you have to
maintain the temples. Therefore, you
build farms around the temple and
develop agriculture. Okay. But because
of climate change
and overpopulation, people always
constantly forced to move to new places.
So agriculture was first up in the
Middle East and then it went over to Europe
and it went over to um other places as
well. Okay. So it spread around the
world. So when they went to Europe, they
could actually maintain their
agricultural practices because the
climate and the geography and the
terrain of Europe was conducive to
agriculture. And as a result, Europe
maintained the cultural practices of the
people of the Middle East. Okay? And so
[clears throat] and peaceful
civilizations. Okay. So why they were
peaceful is that first of all women were
in control. Okay. Remember it's the most
natural thing to have women be part of
the political class. Okay. So women were
in charge. So if there's any conflict
the women would just discuss it among
amongst themselves and come to a
harmonious conclusion. Okay. they
wouldn't have to fight.
Second thing is there was no money
because there was no property.
Okay, the agriculture is something that
you work on together and you share. You
don't there's no such concept as private property.
property.
Okay, so in other words, no war, no
conflict. So these are the three
distinct characteristics of early human
society. In an agricultural society,
women are usually in command. There's no
sense of private property. Everyone
shares everything together and there's
no conflict in no war. People just
discuss things and trade in order to
reach a harmonious conclusion. Okay. So,
um what this changes is that the city
grows and grows and then you have a
large city and so you need a
bureaucracy. Okay. But in Europe, what's
really important to understand about
Europe is that unlike China
and Egypt and most of Britannia, it does
not have a large river and therefore you
cannot grow a big city in Europe. Okay?
So that allows them to maintain a pretty
good life. Okay? So when they go to
Europe, they're able to maintain the
same cultural practices, but then they
go to the steps. Okay?
And the problem with steps is you cannot grow
grow
food because it's all grass land. Okay?
You cannot farm. So now you have to
change your cultural practice. So what
was happening is that these people in
the steps they started to trade with
people of agriculture. Okay. Also you
have people in in the agriculture who
moved to the steps and they brought with
them cows and sheep
and this changed everything because you
as a
person you can't eat grass but cows and
sheep can. So now what you can do is you
can base your entire economy
around animals as opposed to
agriculture. Okay. Well, there's certain problems
problems
with cows and sheep. Okay. The first
problem is that they're expensive. So,
now you have a concept of private property
property money.
And this concept didn't really exist before.
before.
Okay? And so, if I see someone with a
cow, I don't I don't have a cow. What do
I do? I want to go steal it. Right? So
this leads to conflict now war and conflict.
And because you have private property
and war and conflict, you can't have a
system run by woman. You need a system
run by men. This creates a patriarchy. Okay?
So this is a very important principle in
human history. These three things go
together. Okay? Patriarchy,
money and war. Okay, these three three
things always go together. Patriarchy,
money and war. Okay,
so um this is changing the economy of
the steps and it's d in and it's and
it's becoming different from
agricultural societies. Okay. And now so
now they need innovations
in in order to deal with a new economy.
Okay. So let's go over some of their
major innovations.
The first major innovation that's very
important is the idea of lactose tolerance.
tolerance.
You may not know this, but most humans
cannot drink milk naturally.
>> Okay? So you need to develop the enzymes
to drink milk naturally. And so they
were able to do that because they were
forced to rely on cows and sheep for
their food. They had to learn how to
drink milk. But when they learned how to
drink milk, when they learned how to eat
when when they started eating meat,
guess what? They became stronger and
taller. Okay? So for most of you in
history, the people of the steps were
the tallest people in the world. They
were the strongest
in the world. Okay? That's the first
major innovation that changed their
history. The second major innovation is
horse riding. Why? because the steps are
a huge area and it's flat so you can so
you need to move around it a lot. Also
remember cows and sheep eat grass. So
when they eat this in this pasture and
they finish all their grass they have to
move somewhere else. Okay. So the only
way to protect your cows and sheep from
other people is to be mobile. And so
they learn how to domesticate horses.
Okay, which is a major invasion and it
took a long time. And you can imagine
how hard that is to do because if horses
see you, what do they do? They run away.
>> So how do you train a horse to not run
away and let the horse ride you? Well,
it takes a lot and lot of effort. But
because they had to do it, they managed
to do it. Okay? And so with the horse
riding now, you can have another
invention which is the wheel and the wagon.
wagon.
Wheel and wagon. Now you can put all
your stuff in a wagon and move from camp
to camp. Okay, you can cover the
entirety of the steps. Okay,
Okay,
does that make sense? >> Yes.
>> Yes.
>> Okay, and because of these three major innovations,
innovations,
you now have a different culture. Okay,
so let's go over what makes their
culture distinctive from other places.
Okay, the first is the idea of patriarchy.
where um men are in control and the
reason why they're control is because in
the steps war is a constant thing. Okay.
So the culture becomes very masculine,
very aggressive. It rewards aggression.
It rewards courage. Okay. Um the other
thing is that when you have a patriarchy
in place, you can have more children.
Okay. When women are in charge, women
tend to practice birth control because
they want to make sure that every child
is healthy and every every child lives
to adulthood. Okay? They want to avoid
the risk of dying in child birth. They
want they want to avoid the risk of
their of their child dying young. Okay?
But with men are in charge, they
basically get women to have as many kids
as possible. Okay? Also remember in this
world there's a lot of conflict. So you
need as many uh boys to fight as
possible. Okay? But then you have a
problem then if you have a lot of children
children
what is what what you have a problem of
inheritance like when you die your cows
go to who
>> right now let's assume you have 100 cows
you have like 10 boys if you give if you
if you are fair and you give 10 cows to
one boy well very quickly your family is
going to be poor and because in the
steps the weather is bad your cows are
very likely to die Well then your entire
family could be extinct in two or three
generations. So they invented a new
Primogenature. Primogenature just means
that the eldest boy inherits everything
that ensures that the family can stay
can stay wealthy. Okay. All right. Now
but now your problem is wait a minute.
If the eldest boy inherits everything,
what do the other boys do? Well, they
have to go and steal other cows. Okay?
And to do that, they form secret societies.
societies.
Okay? Secret societies are just like
basically just gangs. Okay? These gangs
of young men who get together to do
what? Well, they go steal cows and
sheep. And what else do they do? They
steal woman. Right. Because
Right. Right? I mean like what's the
most most valuable commodity in the
steps? Well, cows and woman. So that's
what you steal. Okay. So this creates a
culture of war and conflict constantly.
All right. And the third innovation is
something called the patron client relationship.
And this is actually how or patronage.
And this is what
allows for the construction of society
in the steps. So remember in a
civilization you have bureaucracy. You
have centralization. But in the steps
you can't have that because you can't
have that many people. So you have a
patron client relationship. And all that
means is that uh it's like a mafia,
right? I'm the big brother, you're the
little brother. So maybe I have 100 cows
and you need cows. So I lend you 10
cows. But now you're you are loyal to
me. Okay? I'm the big brother, you're
the little brother. And this creates the
idea of tribes.
Okay? Does that make sense? What's
really important here is that in civilization,
civilization,
um, bureaucracy maintains control over
people over debt. And so you become a
slave, but in the steps there's no
concept of slavery.
Okay? You're still a free and
independent person, but you just pay,
you're just loyal to your big brother.
So your big brother needs you to do
something, you go do it for him. Okay?
So there's still a level of freedom in
the steps that you don't have in
civilization. And that's why they're
such good fighters. Okay?
All right. So these three things are
major um innovations.
But now that you have these innovations,
you need a new methodology
to justify or explain these innovations.
Okay. And so what they had was a they
went from the mother goddess. Okay. So
mother goddess again is the religion of
agriculture people to the sky god. And
the mother goddess wants you to be
harmonious. Okay. To be kind and compassionate.
compassionate.
What does the sky go want you to do? The
sky god wants you to conquer
and exploit. Okay? It wants you to
destroy. It wants you to kill. It wants
you to conquer, to steal. Okay?
Okay?
And um also in this religion, horses and
cows are very important. But as we
discussed last class here, grain
and nature are very important. Okay. So
you see how this works, right?
Now what's important to understand is that
that because
because
um this system does not allow for the
creation of a bureaucracy, the steps
always practice open cooperative competition.
competition.
And it's a system
that forces you to be aggressive. It
forces you to be independent. Okay? And
it forces you to work hard.
And that's why people the steps are the
greatest warriors in human history. And
that's why when the steps people
encounter the empire civilization, they
usually are able to conquer the empire.
Okay? Does that make sense? Okay. So the
steps are like a training ground for fighters
fighters
and over time the fighters just become
more and more fierce and what's ironic
is those fighters who are the most
fierce can stay in the steps. Those
fighters who are forced out the steps
they go conquer the empire. Okay.
All right. It's a constant pattern in
human history. All right. Is that clear?
All right. Any questions, guys, before I
do the PPT? Great.
>> Yes.
>> So, sorry. Can can you speak to the mic,
please? So earlier you said that um uh
these these people they inherit their uh
to their oldest son right? So, so my
question is uh like is it like necessary
for or
um so they must inherit their
inheritance to the oldest son or is it
like they have some kind of a system to
uh determine what which son can have the
best of their inheritance.
>> Okay. Yeah. So their general principle
is always the eldest son. Okay. That's
to avoid conflict because if you open up
to say okay well who's whoever is most
brave whoever is most um noble whoever
who is most wise that means that they'll
just fight each other okay and this is
what happened after the death of
Genghask Khan right so the general rule
is you always give it to the eldest son
>> but what if the eldest son has been
manipulated by his uh siblings
>> it doesn't matter it does not matter
okay all right so legacy of the steps
all All right. So, as I discussed,
what's happening is that Europe
um at first was just hunter gatherer and
they were spread out. They did paintings
in caves. They had a pretty easy life.
Okay? Not an easy life, but it was a
free life. And over time, what would
happen is that agriculture would develop
in the Middle East and it would spread
to Europe. Okay? Okay. And you can see
the genetic change where the blue is
hunter gatherer and the orange is
farmers. Okay. But then what happened um
in about 2500 B.CE is the steps people
who we call the Yamna actually. So
there's different names. They're protoindo-uropeans.
