We Used to Know How to Live in Community, on the Commons
(draft) My, how we've grown!
Too many people are convinced that life used to be nasty, brutish, and short. Our lifespans were short, the narrative goes. Violence was everywhere, and humans were barely staying alive on a hostile landscape. Then civilization saved us.
I no longer believe that story. I was convinced over the years by many different thinkers that in many places — not everywhere — humans knew how to take care of the landscape and they knew how to take care of one another.