Energy and Civilization

Abstract

This paper sketches, very briefly, the theme of ‘Energy and Civilization’ on a far larger canvass. I shall reconsider the well-known fact that, in the course of time, humans have learned to exploit more and more sources of energy. This has required new technologies, new forms of social organization, and new individual skills. In the latter sense, learning to exploit new sources of energy always was also a process of civilization, involving new forms of personal discipline. Starting from what is called “foraging” (when rudimental tools and weapons provided humans with means for using their own physical strength more effectively in order to obtain food, as almost the only source of energy), following and in some ways widening Norbert Elias perspective, the paper analyses the role of fire domestication, agrarianization and industrialization in humanization and civilization processes.