1943_white_Energy and the evolution of culture - Énergies, Temps & Cosmotechniques

Energy and the evolution of culture === > [!tldr] Tags > #cat/énergie #discipline/anthropologie #cat/culture #cat/litterature #type/journalArticle > [!info] Meta Data >**FirstAuthor**:: [[White, Leslie A.]] ~ > **Title**:: Energy and the evolution of culture > **Year**:: 1943 > **Citekey**:: [[1943_white]] > **itemType**:: journalArticle > **Journal**:: *American Anthropologist* > **Volume**:: 45 > **Issue**:: 3 > **Pages**:: 335-356 > **DOI**:: 10.1525/aa.1943.45.3.02a00010 > **ISSN**:: 0002-7294, 1548-1433 > > [!Cite] > White, L. A. (1943). Energy and the evolution of culture. _American Anthropologist_, _45_(3), 335–356. [https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1943.45.3.02a00010](https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1943.45.3.02a00010) > > %%[@1943_white]%% > **URL**:: https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.1943.45.3.02a00010 . > > **Related**:: %%[@2019_daggett]%% ([[2019_daggett_The birth of energy]]) . > > **Attachment**:: [White - 1943 - ENERGY AND THE EVOLUTION OF CULTURE.pdf](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/RJ5JGFFW). --- > [!important] Synthesis > **Contribution**:: > > [!Abstract] >> --- # Note “Culture is a kind of behavior […] which deals with matter-and-motion” tout comme l'énergie est la force qui met en mouvement, au travail. Tant la culture que l’énergie sont vues et prises au sens de mouvement. Il ya une lecture linéraire de l’usage des formes de transformation de l’énerige en travail utile qui renvoie peu ou proue à une lecture linéaire des transitions d’usage des ressources énergétiques et des tehcnologies qui ont été utilisées pour les transformer. Il y a aussi une analogie entre le couplage développement économique et énergie et le couplage développement culturel et énergie. Il est intéressant de noter que ce qui est entendu comme “culture” reste défini assez largement. Aussi, il y a 2 hypothèses fortes : 1. l'énergie est considérée comme une constante. 2. cultural imporvement necessitate energy expansion. Il y a par ailleurs un autre présupposé fort : l’homme est un genre homogène dont le développement est commun quelque soit son ancrage cosmologique. “Social evolution is a consequence of technological evolution” renvoi aussi aux travaux de Yuk Hui sur les cosmotechniques - bien qu’ici il n’y ai pas de distinction claire des cosmologies et de leur système technologique propre. Le travail des futures viendrait donc notamment d ela nécessité d’un apporvisionnement croissant en énergie pour soutenir/maintenir une croissance culturel qui ne se terminerait pas en décadence de l’humain. Il est intéressant de lire ici toute une section dédiée à l’énergie nucléaire et son potentiel.. --- # Annotations%% begin annotations %% ### Imported: 2024-01-16 11:04 am Quote > EVERYTHING in the universe may be described in terms of energy. Quote > E Galaxies, stars, molecules, and atoms may be regarded as organizations of energy.’ Living organisms may be looked upon as engines which operate by means of energy derived directly or indirectly from the sun. The civilizations, or cultures of mankind, also, may be regarded as a form or organization of energy Quote > Culture is a kind of behavior. And behavior, whether of man, mule, plant, comet cr molecule, may be treated as a manifestation of energy. Quote > on all levels of real it^,^ that phenomena lend themselves to description and interpretation in terms of energy. Quote > peoples often resolutely oppose technological advances with a passionate devotion to the past and to the gods of their fathers Quote > Since the amount of energy available for culture building in this stage was finite and limited, the extent to which culture could develop was limited Quote > As we have seen, when the energy factor is a constant, cultural progress is made possible only by improvements in the means with which the energy is expended, namely, the technology. Quote > With greatly augmented energy resources man was able to expand and develop his way of life, i.e., his culture Quote > a nomadic life, which is customary in a pastoral economy, is not conducive to the development of advanced cultures. The sedentary life that goes with agriculture is much more conducive to the development of the arts and crafts, to the accumulation of wealth and surpluses, to urban life. Quote > The mere conquest or extermination of one tribe or nation by another, the mere change from one dynasty or set of office holders to another,is not culture building Quote > lture develops as (1) the amount of energy harnessed and put to work per capita per unit of time increases, and (2) as the efficiency of the means with which this energy is expended increases Quote > On the one hand we have energy expended; on the other,.human need-serving goods and services are produced Quote > Culture advances as these two factors increase, hand in hand. But the energy component is resolvable into two factors: the human energy, and the nonhuman energy, factors. Quote > Of these, the human energy factor is a constant; the non-human energy factor, a variable Quote > In Savagery (wild food economy) the productivity of human labor is low; only a small amount of human need-serving goods and services are produced per unit of human energy. In Barbarism (agriculture, animal husbandry), this productivity is greatly increased. And in Civilization (fuels, engines) it is still further increased Quote > the social system within which energy is harnessed and put to work Quote > Technological systems engender social systems rather than the reverse. Quote > The social organization (Eexcluded) of a people is dependent upon and determined by the mechanical means with whichjood is secured, shelter provided, and defense maintained. In the process of cultural development, social evolution is a consequence of technological evolution. Quote > A social system may so condition the operatiolt oja technological system as to impose a limit upon the extent to which it can expand and develop. When this occurs, cultural evolution ceases. Quote > It appears likely that the human race will occupy the earth for some million years to come. Quote > The key to the future, in any event, lies in the energy situation Quote > . and new discoveries [of oil] are not keeping pace with use.”2oCoal is more abundant. Even so, many of the best deposits in the United States-which has over half of the world’s known coal reserves-will some day be depleted. “Eventually, no matter how much we conserve, this sponging off past ages for fossil energy must cease .. .What then?”Z1 The answer is, of course, that culture will decline unless man is able to maintain the amount of energy harnessed per capita per year by tapping new sources. Quote > One of the most intriguing possibilities is that of harnessing atomic energy Quote > C. C.Furnas, Ftdure Sources of Power (Science, Nov. 7, 1941), p. 425. Quote > As Dr. R. M. Langer,*‘ research associate in physics at California Institute of Technology, has put it: The face of the earth will be changed . . . Privilege and class distinctions . . . will become relics because things that make up the good life will be so abundant and inexpensive. War will become obsolete because of the disappearance of those economic stresses that immemorially have caused it . . .The kind of civilization we might expect . . .is so different in kind from anything we know that even guesses about it arefutile. Quote > The thesis set forth in the preceding pages is substantially the same as that advanced by Lewis H. Morgan and E. B. Tylor many decades ago Quote > our thesis is that of the Evolutionist school as typified by Morgan and Tylcr Quote > Morgan’s Amienl Society, Henry Holt edition Quote > Tylor’s Anthropology (New York, Appleton & Co. edition of 1916) Quote > At one point we have made an innovation. Both Morgan (p. 12) and Tylor (p. 24) use the origin of writing to mark the beginning of the third great era of cultural development, “Civilization.” In our scheme, “civilization” begins with the invention of the steam engine as a practical means of harnessing energy. Quote > What we have done is to reduce all specific, concrete motive forces in cultural development to a single, abstract, common term: energy. Quote > We classify cultures according to the way, or ways, in which they harness energy and the manner in which it is put to work to serve human needs. Quote > Volume I1 of a manual on European archeology, too, we find a similar expression from a distinguished American scholar, George G. MacCurdy:*O The degree of civilization of any epoch, people, or group of peoples is measured by ability to utilize energy for human advancement or needs. %% end annotations %% %% Import Date: 2024-02-07T22:22:04.047+01:00 %%