Nomads and Empire

[Malthus]

An interesting article; I basically agree with the notion that the frontier between nomad and settled is likely to lead to scaling-up.

[jimmy olsen]

The author wrote another paper that I think is interesting.

Click for the full article
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/09/20/1308825110.full.pdf

War, space, and the evolution of Old World complex societies

Abstract

How did human societies evolve from small groups, integrated by
face-to-face cooperation, to huge anonymous societies of today,
typically organized as states? Why is there so much variation in
the ability of different human populations to construct viable
states? Existing theories are usually formulated as verbal models
and, as a result, do not yield sharply defined, quantitative predictions that could be unambiguously tested with data. Here we develop a cultural evolutionary model that predicts where and when the largest-scale complex societies arose in human history.

The central premise of the model, which we test, is that costly
institutions that enabled large human groups to function without
splitting up evolved as a result of intense competition between
societies—primarily warfare. Warfare intensity, in turn, depended
on the spread of historically attested military technologies (e.g.,
chariots and cavalry) and on geographic factors (e.g., rugged land-
scape).

The model was simulated within a realistic landscape of
the Afroeurasian landmass and its predictions were tested against
a large dataset documenting the spatiotemporal distribution of
historical large-scale societies in Afroeurasia between 1,500 BCE
and 1,500 CE. The model-predicted pattern of spread of large-scale
societies was very similar to the observed one.

Overall, the model explained 65% of variance in the data. An alternative model, omitting the effect of diffusing military technologies, explained only
16% of variance. Our results support theories that emphasize the
role of institutions in state-building and suggest a possible explanation why a long history of statehood is positively correlated with political stability, institutional quality, and income per capita.

[Josquius]

imperiogenesis...now that's a nice word.

[Razgovory]

I'm a bit skeptical of this.  People have tried to turn history into a science before.

[Solmyr]

Was Muscovy heavily equipped with gunpowder weapons?
Were Kazan and Crimea not?
Were Kazan and Crimea not stationary bandits?

At the time of the conquest of Kazan, the Russian army had an insane amount of artillery (in fact Russian artillery in mid-16th century was some of the best in Europe). Also, Russian infantry combined the use of melee (bardiches) and guns, as opposed to separate melee and gunpowder infantry elsewhere. Kazan had some firearms but mostly had the traditional nomad cavalry.

[The Brain]

My paper on post-coital behavior of Cro-Magnon man was very well received. I have also published extensively on stamps of the early 4th century.

[Ed Anger]

My paper on post-coital behavior of Cro-Magnon man was very well received. I have also published extensively on stamps of the early 4th century.

Did they wash their dicks or dunk them in a cup?

[The Brain]

My paper on post-coital behavior of Cro-Magnon man was very well received. I have also published extensively on stamps of the early 4th century.

Did they was their dicks or dunk them in a cup?

Penis beeter. No, that was just too contrived and unfunny.