> 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.
And in fact most societies didn't. Most stayed quite happily at the hunter-gatherer stage, which in spite of Hobbes' famous characterization, seems to be for most people a rather nice way to live, all in all.
Others "progressed" (if you want to use that word) to state societies of various forms. Only one experienced the mutation that turned it capitalist, though the new strain proved to be exceptionally virulent.
Of course one could argue that sooner or later *some* society, as long as human societies continued to exist, was bound to do it. Keep flipping the coin and you'll certainly get a hundred heads in a row if you persevere long enough.
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Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org