《逆流而上》是一本关于人类早期文明的书，作者詹姆斯·斯科特将小麦比作第一个“高现代主义者”。他认为，小麦的种植带来了农业社会的出现，也带来了统治、阶级分化和国家机器的诞生。这本书扩展了斯科特在《看得见的秩序》中对“高现代主义”的批判，认为许多我们认为的“进步”实际上只是为了方便国家控制和征税而进行的，而忽略了人们的实际需求。

📖 **小麦，第一个高现代主义者**: 《逆流而上》将小麦视为人类文明发展中的一个重要转折点，它带来了农业社会的出现，并导致了统治、阶级分化和国家机器的诞生。斯科特将小麦比作“高现代主义者”，因为它带来了看似“进步”的秩序和控制，但实际上却压制了人类的自由和多样性。

🌾 **从狩猎采集到农业社会**: 在人类早期，狩猎采集者过着相对自由的生活，拥有充足的食物和资源，并拥有较高的生活质量。小麦的种植带来了农业社会，人们开始定居下来，并投入到繁重的劳动中。这种转变带来了人口增长、土地私有制、阶级分化和国家机器的诞生，也带来了战争、饥荒和社会不平等。

🏛️ **国家机器的诞生**: 农业社会的发展为国家机器的诞生提供了基础。为了管理土地、征收税款和维护秩序，国家机构应运而生。这些机构通常拥有强大的权力，并对人民的生活进行控制。斯科特认为，国家机器的诞生并非人类进步的必然结果，而是为了维护统治阶级的利益而产生的。

🏙️ **高现代主义的批判**: 斯科特在《看得见的秩序》中批判了“高现代主义”，认为许多我们认为的“进步”实际上只是为了方便国家控制和征税而进行的，而忽略了人们的实际需求。例如，他批评了勒·柯布西耶式的现代建筑，认为它们创造了冰冷、无情的城市，而忽略了人类对自然和社区的渴望。

⏳ **历史的教训**: 《逆流而上》提醒我们，历史并非线性进步，而是充满了曲折和反复。我们应该警惕那些以“进步”之名实施的控制和压迫，并努力创造一个更加自由、平等和可持续的社会。

Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/10/14/book-review-against-the-grain/

 

Someone on SSC Discord summarized James Scott’s Against The Grain as “basically 300 pages of calling wheat a fascist”. I have only two qualms with this description. First, the book is more like 250 pages; the rest is just endnotes. Second, “fascist” isn’t quite the right aspersion to use here.

Against The Grain should be read as a prequel to Scott’s most famous work, Seeing Like A State. SLaS argued that much of what we think of as “progress” towards a more orderly world – like Prussian scientific forestry, or planned cities with wide streets – didn’t make anyone better off or grow the economy. It was “progress” only from a state’s-eye perspective of wanting everything to be legible to top-down control and taxation. He particularly criticizes the High Modernists, Le Corbusier-style architects who replaced flourishing organic cities with grandiose but sterile rectangular grids.

Against the Grain extends the analysis from the 19th century all the way back to the dawn of civilization. If, as Samuel Johnson claimed, “The Devil was the first Whig”, Against the Grain argues that wheat was the first High Modernist.

Sumer just before the dawn of civilization was in many ways an idyllic place. Forget your vision of stark Middle Eastern deserts; in the Paleolithic the area where the first cities would one day arise was a great swamp. Foragers roamed the landscape, eating everything from fishes to gazelles to shellfish to wild plants. There was more than enough for everyone; “as Jack Harlan famously showed, one could gather enough [wild] grain with a flint sickle in three weeks to feed a family for a year”. Foragers alternated short periods of frenetic activity (eg catching as many gazelles as possible during their weeklong migration through the area) with longer periods of rest and recreation.