At 08:36 06/10/02 -0700, you wrote: >Keith Hudson > >> Since hunter-gatherer days, time has always been worth something -- >whether >> in money, kind or as so many days labour per quarter on the lord of the >> manor's plot. But I can't comment on Weber. Haven't got him on my shelves. > >As much as I relish the Far Side-ish image of a stocky caveman punching a >time clock as he picks up his club, I don't really think we're talking about >the *same thing* when we talk about wage labour and hunting-gathering. But >what does it mean to say "time has always been worth something?" Benjamin >Franklin was talking about a clear and constant quantitative measure: if 1 >day = 10 shillings, 1/2 day = 5 shillings. Surely, Keith, you are not >suggesting that for hunter-gatherers, if 1 week = 1 mastadon, 2 weeks = 2 >mastadons? > >It seems to me that had it been possible for hunter-gatherers to think in >such a way (and I deny vehemently that it would have been possible), there >would have been no impetus for the development of agriculture.
Obviously I was not meaning the hunter-gatherer period itself -- I would have thought the rest of my sentence made that clear. I meant *since* hunter-gatherer days [had gone] and we were then into an agriculture era. Almost immediately time then became of the essence. I think we've flogged this one enough. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- Keith Hudson,6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel:01225 312622/444881; Fax:01225 447727; E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________
