The people that originally populated Ireland were hunter-gathers and subsistence farmers whose spiritual beliefs involved worship of the forces of nature. Despite some obvious disadvantages such as poor medical technology, the hunter-gatherers had a highly sustainable system with respect to their environmental impact. Being illiterate is usually considered a disadvantage, however, that view should be placed in the context of our society. It is a disadvantage for a member or our society to be illiterate, however, if the entire society were illiterate, I would consider it to be a characteristic rather than a disadvantage. The first natives were more simple and relied on story-telling and teaching to pass wisdom and folklore down from generation to generation.

Inevitably, successive waves of immigrants and conquerors wiped out their way of life. In contrast to the hunter-gatherers, our current system provides the means, motivation and knowledge for humans to expand and dominate to the greatest extent that the environment can bear, and probably beyond – possibly eventually endangering the survival of entire human populations.

The advantages of using money as a medium of exchange and as a store of value were critical to the evolution of the current system. Once one or a few forms of money such commodities (especially gold) or more sophisticated notes of legal tender became widely accepted, people could benefit from its flexibility to expand, trade and establish commercial enterprises. Eventually, the mercantilism of early colonial expansion began to transform the world. Capitalism and the pursuit of profit provided the motivation for expansion, and the political and social obstacles gradually diminished to the extent that laissez-faire capitalism was unleashed.

Gutenberg’s invention of the mechanical printing press widely dispersed the knowledge required for expansion and spurred the industrial revolution. Another main factor was the development of modern intensive agriculture. This provides people with the surplus of resources that allow them to colonise and dominate vast regions, and in the process, decimate the natural environment  to an even greater extent than industry (more of this in a future article) .

I lament the destruction of the native american way of life… but to be honest (and blunt), it was probably inevitable once any one of the more aggressive civilisations developed the technology to cross oceans en masse. Native americans lived in a vast and fertile land which would be a prime objective of any expansionist civilisation. I suppose human beings are participating in the same darwinian struggle as any other animal – survival of the fittest. Anyway, the point being- which wave of immigrants or conquerers are present-day Irish people from? Actually we’re the end result of many incidences of the peaceful blending of different populations in some cases, and violent mass genocide in others.

It would be unfair to place the blame for the brutality of colonialism on our predecessors in Europe who were ignorant of the dangers and educated differently, or the current citizens of modern democratic countries in the “new world” that were founded on conquest, slavery and exploitation. Any advancement, be it social, political, technological or economic, tends to come before society learns to use its new tools wisely, so it is usually and predictably abused.  We ourselves are products of the system and cannot simply eliminate capitalism and technology which forms the basis of our entire society, however, we can and should tame its extremes with sensible regulation, education, and major changes to our lifestyles. At least, perhaps, now that we have the knowledge, the urgent need for fundamental change will dawn on us.