Sam Harris on Society and Being Too Reasonable

Sam, there have been so many societies that have been too reasonable. They reason that the world is a force to be reckoned with. They thrive or suffer based on the weather patterns. They dedicate significant resources to careful and educated analysis of their behavior and their impact on the climate. The realize that Mother Earth is a vindictive ruler that is never satisfied with how they live. It is frequently reasoned that the effects they have on the weather is negative unless they submit to a program of submission as understood by the wise rain dancers. Fortunately the prescriptions are only a small sacrifice, at first, so long as the predictions work out. What’s the price of a climate that lets you survive without disaster, at least the amount of crops and crafts that the rain dancers demand for their growing numbers and increasingly intricate studies.

This has led an unknown number of cultures and tribes to sacrifice their provisions and leave them with little option, but to raid the neighboring tribes. It’s a hard life when you live in such a way that Mother Earth punishes you, but as long as they pay tribute to their overlookers to make sure they act right, then at least they know for certain when they consumed more than they could produce.