guess not. But where are we at this point? We know that the story of "world history" generally accepted in our culture is false to facts. Even historians who should know better recite it without giving it a second thought. A respected scientific journal sees no reason not to include it as the introduction to an article. Where does a Martian anthropologist go from here? What is his next question?
Elaine [ after giving the question some thought ]. I'd say his next question is... No, I have to say I don't know.
Daniel . Think about this. Aside from a relatively small minority of religious fanatics, the story of the universe as told by present-day science is generally accepted by the people of our culture. The universe was born in a "big bang" some thirteen billion years ago, and our own planet was formed about five billion years ago. Is that right?
Elaine . Is what right?
Daniel . That the people of our culture generally accept this story of the universe, which is not a mythological story or a religious story but a scientific one.
Elaine . Yes, I'd say so, except, as you say, by a few religious fanatics.
Daniel . This story, as far as the most brilliant minds of our time can tell us, is not false to facts.
Elaine . That's right.
Daniel . But the people of our culture accept a story of "world history" — world human history — that is false to facts. What does a Martian anthropologist think of this?
Elaine . That it's odd.
Daniel . And his question is... ?
Elaine . Why? How did it come about that...
Daniel . Take your time.
Elaine . How did it come about that the same people who accept without question a scientific history of the universe also embrace a false version of human history?
Daniel . The true version of human history is that humanity did not all at once, ten thousand years ago, abandon the hunting-gathering life for the agricultural life. The hunting-gathering life persisted over three-quarters of the globe until some five hundred years ago — and still persists where it hasn't as yet been stamped out. What is there in this true version of events that alarms us?
Elaine thinks about this.
Daniel . What is there in it that disturbs our settled vision of ourselves?
Elaine sighs in frustration.
Daniel . Don't be distressed if the answers to these questions don't pop right out at you. It took me years to work them out... Let's come at it from a different angle. When did we begin to put together our version of the human story?
Elaine . I would guess not more than twenty-five hundred years ago.
Daniel . That's when the foundation thinkers of our culture began to appear: Herodotus, Thucydides, Socrates, Aristotle, and so on.
Elaine . Yes, that's what I was thinking.
Daniel . But of course the fundamental outline of the story might have been in place for thousands of years before that. Everyone in the civilized world knew that there was a human past of some kind. The cities the Sumerians inhabited in 3000 BC weren't built in the previous generation or the generation before that. And they could see that the cities were growing and developing technologically. From this, they could logically project backward to a time when the cities were just villages and technologies were very primitive. But what they could not possibly imagine was that these villages were born in a revolution, the one we call the Agricultural Revolution. They couldn't possibly imagine that, before people became farming villagers, they had lived for millions of years in an entirely different way. The hunting-gathering lifestyle was five thousand years in the past, totally forgotten by now. Not even a rumor of it could have survived for that long.
Elaine . Yes, I see that. You called this the Great Forgetting in The Story of B .
Daniel . So it had to seem to them that the human story must have begun just a few thousand years before, that being the period of time between those first farming villagers and themselves. On this basis, what
Elaine [ after giving the question some thought ]. I'd say his next question is... No, I have to say I don't know.
Daniel . Think about this. Aside from a relatively small minority of religious fanatics, the story of the universe as told by present-day science is generally accepted by the people of our culture. The universe was born in a "big bang" some thirteen billion years ago, and our own planet was formed about five billion years ago. Is that right?
Elaine . Is what right?
Daniel . That the people of our culture generally accept this story of the universe, which is not a mythological story or a religious story but a scientific one.
Elaine . Yes, I'd say so, except, as you say, by a few religious fanatics.
Daniel . This story, as far as the most brilliant minds of our time can tell us, is not false to facts.
Elaine . That's right.
Daniel . But the people of our culture accept a story of "world history" — world human history — that is false to facts. What does a Martian anthropologist think of this?
Elaine . That it's odd.
Daniel . And his question is... ?
Elaine . Why? How did it come about that...
Daniel . Take your time.
Elaine . How did it come about that the same people who accept without question a scientific history of the universe also embrace a false version of human history?
Daniel . The true version of human history is that humanity did not all at once, ten thousand years ago, abandon the hunting-gathering life for the agricultural life. The hunting-gathering life persisted over three-quarters of the globe until some five hundred years ago — and still persists where it hasn't as yet been stamped out. What is there in this true version of events that alarms us?
Elaine thinks about this.
Daniel . What is there in it that disturbs our settled vision of ourselves?
Elaine sighs in frustration.
Daniel . Don't be distressed if the answers to these questions don't pop right out at you. It took me years to work them out... Let's come at it from a different angle. When did we begin to put together our version of the human story?
Elaine . I would guess not more than twenty-five hundred years ago.
Daniel . That's when the foundation thinkers of our culture began to appear: Herodotus, Thucydides, Socrates, Aristotle, and so on.
Elaine . Yes, that's what I was thinking.
Daniel . But of course the fundamental outline of the story might have been in place for thousands of years before that. Everyone in the civilized world knew that there was a human past of some kind. The cities the Sumerians inhabited in 3000 BC weren't built in the previous generation or the generation before that. And they could see that the cities were growing and developing technologically. From this, they could logically project backward to a time when the cities were just villages and technologies were very primitive. But what they could not possibly imagine was that these villages were born in a revolution, the one we call the Agricultural Revolution. They couldn't possibly imagine that, before people became farming villagers, they had lived for millions of years in an entirely different way. The hunting-gathering lifestyle was five thousand years in the past, totally forgotten by now. Not even a rumor of it could have survived for that long.
Elaine . Yes, I see that. You called this the Great Forgetting in The Story of B .
Daniel . So it had to seem to them that the human story must have begun just a few thousand years before, that being the period of time between those first farming villagers and themselves. On this basis, what
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