They’re compensating against Islamic slave raids for the last 1400 years. Just like China built a Great Wall to stop horse archer raiders. They would have gotten even better at it had there been a military stalemate for 1400 years.

And he doesn’t even realize he did that.

Could those cultures who developed advanced technology be compensating for something?

And yes, it’s really too easy to grow or hunt food in some areas: the island of Papua would be a good example. Not much civilization has arisen there, although it has doubtless produced millions whom Jared Diamond would prefer to his own kind.

Obviously too, water management requirements for agriculture: whether it be Egyptian grain or Khmer Empire rice require large priestly bureaucracies and highly stratified societies. The legacy of this is still readily apparently in the Hindu-Buddhist Dharmaraja (God King) worlds of Thailand, Cambodia, etc.

Fascinating stuff. But for anyone with the means to subsist off high quality animal proteins and fats, I’d say go for it. Leave carbs to the commoners. GIYF.

A notable exception to that would be the pre-Incan societies of Peru. They built complex cities and temples of adobe bricks on the coast of present day Peru. They farmed potatoes, (Peru is where the original potatoes imported to Europe came from) gourds, beans, and cotton. But their big protein source was fish from the ocean. They did not have to deal with seasonal changes, but there is good evidence that there was an elite class of priests who ran the show. Like blert said, they probably had control of the calendar because of study of the movement of the moon and stars.

Polynesian culture was not complex, but they did have high priests who studied the movements of the stars, moon, and tides; which knowledge they used to plan feasts and sacrifices.

On the maps I notice that the tubers were mostly available to peoples in the Equatorial Zone, where complex societies were rare because there was little need of storage for food or planning ahead for seasonal changes.

I’m sure that the idea that people mostly did only what was needed to adapt to their climate would be attacked by professors as too simple a theory.

Potatoes is very high in potassium. A good thing unless you have chronic kidney disease, as I do. I have to limit myself to one small serving of potatoes a week.

I hugely resent the prudery of the digital proctor.

Look at my post.

The pre-Columbian ‘old south’ was a NATION — that was built around corn // maize.

The Spanish explorers were STUNNED as to the vast scale of that nation — far larger than Spain.

&&&&&&&

I’m afraid the ‘experts’ completely missed the trigger for complex societies: the STARS — the heavens.

In the tropics it’s not at all obvious that the world is round.

In the tropics it’s IMPOSSIBLE to store food. Forget about your neighbors. Think about the landlord: yes the %%%%roach.

I have no idea how ‘experts’ can be so DENSE.

BTW, root cellars are an AFRICAN invention that was adopted by Americans from their slaves.

Root cellars were unknown in Europe.

&&&&&

The reason that the stars are so important: they trigger the CALENDAR.

GeT it ?

Calendars REQUIRE a calendar caste of star experts — upon whom the ENTIRE society depends.

The extreme example of this: mighty pharaoh !

Star gazing — largely impossible in the tropics — in northern latitudes is ENTIRELY the basis for religion.

The Egyptians believed that upon death pharaoh went through twelve gates ( stations of the cross ? ) on his way towards the Pole star,(Polaris) the most elite of all stars , as every other star danced around it. It is for this reason that the Giza pyramids are oriented, ‘just so.’

Yes, the ancients thought of the pyramids as metaphorical teletransporters for the pharaoh. Once up in the heavens, the new ‘god’ was to orchestrate the Nile — and much else.

&&&&&&&&&

In sum:

CALENDARS dictated the complexity of societies.

Only ONE calendar could exist in any society. The fellow in charge of it became the Big Man… Yes migthy pharaoh WAS in charge of the calendar. His back up job was to notify the farmers when the flood was coming. That’s no small deal, as without proper warning — fatalities are EPIC.

So, pharaoh not only controlled the calendar — he was the ‘god’ of river hydraulics.

( The actual ritual of the pharaohs involved mas#$%bating into a ‘sacred pool’ that then bleed back into the Nile.

( For inspiration, an extremely comely nubile babe ( virgin, what else ) was in the rite. The hand-work was performed by budding priests ( teen boys ) who were shaved entirely hairless.

{ The beginning of skin-heads.

( This faith resulted in no end of phallic statuary — with the offending organs routinely snapped off by 19tn Century European prudes and ‘collectors.’

( 3,000 year old d#$@s ?

&&&&&&&

Complex societies arose because someone had to be the time master.

Which, you might note, is THE management job — unto this day.

In Islamic societies the imams ‘control’ time.

In Judaism — classic — the key Rabbis dictate the Sabbath.

In Christianity, the clergy lay out the liturgical calendar.

Amazingly, it corresponds to the planting and harvesting cycle.

Who would’ve thunk that ?

What’s up ?