> If we were to play the tape of human hisstory over again
> (starting, say, at 100,000BP) it is unlikely that the tape
> would produce capitalism. There is no linear history any
> more than there is a linearr movement in evolution.
> Contingency rules. Looking backeards, we can see that a
> potential of the anatomy of the ape was the anatomy of man:
> but that was only _ONE_ among innumerable potentials, all
> of which remained unrealiz3ed. Homo sapiens was necessary
> emergence from ramepithecus; in fact homo sapiens remained
> an unlikely culmination until very near the time of its
> actual emergence. Looking back on the great commercial
> civilizations that preceded capitalism we can see that in
> various ways they contained 'seeds' that might at some
> point be part of the generation of capitalism -- but
> capitalism was by no means a necessary consquence of
> earlier commercial civilizations; perhaps it was even
> unlikely.
For once, we agree. Please, continue.
Shane