Comments by "pongop" (@pongop) on "Why Did Humans Invent Cities?" video.

  1. I was so excited at the title and the video delivered! This is one of your best videos of all time! I appreciate it as a history/social science teacher. This is a great, brief overview! I may actually use it in class. It fits in perfectly with my World History units at the start of year. I love the Simpsons reference! I wasn't aware of ancient cities in Malaysia and Myanmar, so that's awesome to know. Great points about the problems with cities, civilization, hierarchy, private property, and inequality. The thought occurs that humans were developing beer around the same time as cities, social hierarchy, and inequality, and beer is great at dumbing people down and keeping them in line. In Mesopotamia, the government gave people beer rations. Intriguing... The timing and content--about humans' shift from villages to cities and the accompanying change from circular cities to rectilineal cities--is especially interesting to me right now. I just watched an amazing video about how to turn a standard neighborhood into a village (rectilineal to circular). Folks are seeing the disadvantages of cities and wanting to benefit from the advantages of villages. Anyway, amazing stuff!
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  2. Beer and bread may been developed together, but historians debate whether beer or bread actually came first. Some argue it was beer!
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  3. Yes! Great points!
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  4. The thought occurs that humans were developing beer around the same time as cities, social hierarchy, and inequality, and beer is great at dumbing people down and keeping them in line. In Mesopotamia, the government gave people beer rations. Intriguing...
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  5. David Graeber was awesome!
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  6. Yes, definitely lots of problems with cities, civilization, hierarchy, private property, and inequality. The video mentioned it briefly, but more on this topic would have been great.
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  7. I was like, "he's polyamorous?" but then I realized you're talking about the school! lol
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  8.  @siefer117  Humans are both cooperative and competitive, but mainly cooperative. One who thinks humans are only competitive doesn't know history or anthropology.
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  9.  @Alex-pm9vy  For tools, not solely for clubs. There are many examples of past and contemporary societies who are peaceful, nonviolent, and cooperative.
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  10.  @Lucciii32  Humans are primates. We are social and we evolved and adapted mainly through cooperation, as did our primate cousins. We have the potential for both civility and brutality. It's hard to pinpoint and say for sure what is human nature.
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  11. Lol good point!
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  12. Truth
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  13.  @siefer117  Ooohh, I've been exposed! What a brash, provocative investigator you are.
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  14.  @soundscape26  It was until you came along. You just now single-handedly ruined YouTube forever.
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  15.  @siefer117  Don't come for me because your mom already came for me last night
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  16.  @thomaswalsh4552  There's both cooperation and competition within humans and across all of nature. But especially since cities, hierarchy, and social stratification. Some people get a skewed sense of history and human nature by viewing the world through modern, civilized, or capitalist lenses.
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