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Comment by Aunche | Hacker News Reader

> Noble savage myth

The noble savage is a trope represents the innate goodness of humanity when free from the corrupting influence of civilization. If anything, it's Graeber propagating the noble savage myth. Societies that are smaller have have less stuff are obviously going to have less material inequality. That doesn't mean that they lacked hierarchies and selfishness.

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> Societies that are smaller have have less stuff are obviously going to have less material inequality.

As stuff approaches zero, material inequality approaches zero.

In gilded ages like today, stealing from the poor and giving to the rich works better when there are more poor people from which to harvest wealth.

We need not pretend Graeber advanced any notion that hierarchies have never existed in undocumented populations. His point is that they were often lacking in circumstances historians routinely assume, and vociferously insist, hierarchy must have been unavoidable.

Not sure who are the historians who are "vociferously insisting" that something is impossible any more than Graeber does.

Graeber cites example after example, from throughout history and prehistory, of complex societies that displayed no evidence of permanent, pervasive hierarchical organization. It is very common for historians to insist none of that is possible, or just silently assume it without thought.

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