Benjamin Cain
Jul 2, 2021

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I agree that it's unlikely there was a perfect con in the sense that prehistoric leaders designed the whole thing and foresaw all the consequences of their actions. There were certainly multiple factors that accidentally or naturally converged, and religious myths may have rationalized where the first kingdoms and farms got stuck.

But that's the moment of the con: the choice to rationalize, to double down even as the drawbacks became clear. The upper class promoted the state religion to maintain the pyramidal social order that benefited the top one percent at the expense of the majority. At some point, what they were doing became clear, the convergence had happened, the effects were foreseeable, and the ideological defense was ruthlessly maintained. Somewhere in all that complexity, there's an element of selfish duplicity.

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Benjamin Cain
Benjamin Cain

Written by Benjamin Cain

Ph.D. in philosophy / Knowledge condemns. Art redeems. / https://benjamincain.substack.com / https://ko-fi.com/benjamincain / benjamincain8@gmailDOTcom

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