[ExI] Why no space colonies or lunar bases? was Mooon. (KeithHenson)

[Kelly Anderson]

On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 7:51 AM, Henrique Moraes Machado (CI)
<cetico.iconoclasta at gmail.com> wrote:
> <Kelly Anderson>
> Adrian, how do you know this? It occurred prior to the invention of
> writing. Also, there are oral stories in Egypt of wars between the
> agricultural settlers and nomads. Some historians believe that the
> reason civilization rose in Egypt is precisely because it was so
> defensible against nomads. I imagine that while there were many people
> objecting to agriculture, however, we no longer have a cultural memory
> of the losers.
> Have any of you ever even MET a nomad? :-)
> </Kelly Anderson>
>
> Well, technically they weren't against agriculture. More likely they were
> pro-looting the farmers.

Precisely why I think there would be conflict. This would be one
pressure that would give impetus to the rise of armed civilization.
Those who could stay at home with their heavy arms would probably
pretty quickly outgun the nomads who had to carry all their
possessions with them. So over the long run, it wasn't a very fair
fight, and no wonder that the farmers won out in most cases.

-Kelly