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Peter Turchin Books

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“We also know, of course, that human beings are not perfectly rational calculators. Our behavior and decisions are based on a mixture of calculation, emotions, and internalized norms, with calculation often a minor component of the cocktail.”

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Book:Ultrasociety: How 10,000 Years of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators on Earth
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“...science is not only about building carefully-constructed theories that explain general phenomena. It is also, and primarily, about distinguishing good explanations from bad ones. This is where traditional history has been deficient. Historians have created, and continue to create, new explanations, but they are not in the business of testing them with data.”

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Book:Ultrasociety: How 10,000 Years of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators on Earth
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“Gradually, human societies started extricating themselves from the worst forms of oppression. Human sacrifice and deified rulers went out of fashion. Slavery was outlawed, and privileges were taken away from nobles. Human societies regained much of the lost ground. We are still not as egalitarian as hunter-gatherers --there are the poor and the billionaires-- but we are much better off than we were during the days of god-kings.”

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Book:Ultrasociety: How 10,000 Years of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators on Earth
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“Group minds are a result of collective discussion and working out of a consensus, which can be listened to (unlike an unreadable mind). Arriving at a common program of action often leaves physical traces, such as meeting minutes and programmatic documents. Of course, some groups are quite secretive about their inner decision-making processes. Here’s where whistleblowers like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden become essential for a sociologist of power.”

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Book:End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration
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“Evidence is overwhelming that, after switching to agriculture, human stature decreased, a very reliable indicator of a decline in overall wellbeing. People fell sick more often because of higher population density and because pathogens jumped from domesticated animals to humans. The quality of nutrition declined, as is abundantly documented in ancient bones and teeth.”

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Book:Ultrasociety: How 10,000 Years of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators on Earth
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