Who Does No Work, Shall Not Eat

Gordon Fitch gcf at panix.com
Tue Jan 22 07:16:15 PST 2002


Gordon:
> >I don't know about Lewontin, but I've read descriptions of
> >elaborate water and sewage systems which existed in the ancient
> >world. As far as I know, the savants and governors of the
> >West did not adopt such things until the 19th century, somewhat
> >late in the day.

Justin Schwartz:
> The Romans had aqueducts, some of which still stand and are in use
> today--I've hiked a chunk of the one in Segovia, Spain. They were built by
> slave labor, of course. ...

Of course, since they were associated with cities. Primordial city-building depends on slavery; on their own, and not threatened or ruled by armed bands, pre-civil hunter- gatherers, subsistence farmers and the like would not have much use for them. One needs military organization, forts, slave pens, plantations and the like to get cities started. I was simply noting that water supply and sewage disposal were not particularly a Western or modern invention. For some reason ravi and/or Dr. Lewontin was being derided for making a similar point, so I thought I would add my humble testimony.

-- Gordon



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