Personal transactions, based on reputation and persuasion and goods-on-hand, predate agriculture and settled habitation. In fact, they predate humanity by quite a bit. Definitions of civilization vary, but all of them that I know involve sedentary agriculture, written communication, and social stratification or organized government. Pretty much all of that represents a move away from face-to-face dealing by equals.
I can certainly believe that civilization effectively sacrifices positive human interactions and free association in the name of reliability and (sometimes) efficiency. And I'm very open to the idea that a society full of Homeowner's Associations and impossible-to-override checklists is abandoning normal human interaction for no real benefit.
But I think that's hard to address without conceding that this is part of the same process as calling the cops instead of starting a fistfight; civilization is in large part the process of adding more intermediaries to our interactions.
Personal transactions, based on reputation and persuasion and goods-on-hand, predate agriculture and settled habitation. In fact, they predate humanity by quite a bit. Definitions of civilization vary, but all of them that I know involve sedentary agriculture, written communication, and social stratification or organized government. Pretty much all of that represents a move away from face-to-face dealing by equals.
I can certainly believe that civilization effectively sacrifices positive human interactions and free association in the name of reliability and (sometimes) efficiency. And I'm very open to the idea that a society full of Homeowner's Associations and impossible-to-override checklists is abandoning normal human interaction for no real benefit.
But I think that's hard to address without conceding that this is part of the same process as calling the cops instead of starting a fistfight; civilization is in large part the process of adding more intermediaries to our interactions.