http://www.agron.iastate.edu/courses/agron342/diamondmistake.html
Intriguing argument that my theme du jour links in to “the worst mistake in human history,” the rise of agricultural society from the hunting-gathering traditions of prehistory: “At this point it’s instructive to recall the common complaint that archaeology is a luxury, concerned with the remote past, and offering no lessons for the present. Archaeologists studying the rise of farming have reconstructed a crucial stage at which we made the worst mistake in human history. Forced to choose between limiting population or trying to increase food production, we chose the latter and ended up with starvation, warfare, and tyranny.”