The state and the market become central aspects as our society becomes stronger in technology and have more to offer to humans than just the help from other humans. With technology that we have now and as it has become smarter and better, humans rely on things that are produced and can be readily available to them. Harari says “by creating economic growth and material abundance and by teaching people to be self-reliant and enterprising,” creates the “greatest happiness of the greatest number.” It is important for humans to be present in their state and market.
Historians should play the role of picking apart the past, down to every detail and evaluating all the success and failures throughout time. They can offer insight to others and give evidence to prove what worked in the past and what didn’t to better our world’s future.
I have to wonder if the state and market have played a role in creating self-reliance, or if instead it has intentionally destroyed our self-reliance for it own sake of power. The shift from family and community to state and market encouraged individualism, but it also divided our strongest ties. A divided, segmented population benefits the state, especially when the members of that population are largely reliant upon the state for healthcare, support, laws, and protection. Though in a utopian society, the theory of state might be a good one, in the real-world scenario, the state and market have become more focused on the acquisition of power and wealth which often times overlooks the welfare of those it was originally meant to protect.
I like the points you’ve made in your blog but I have to wonder if you could have gone deeper into your analysis of just what the market and the state mean for humans. I appreciate your connection you made to how improvements in technology led to a stronger reliance on things that can be mass or are easier to produce. I only wish you would have connected this point towards why the market and state are truly important. I also wish you had stated your opinion more clearly on the state side of this. Your part about the path of historians into the future was well thought out and seemed thorough.