[MD] Food for Thought

[Case]

[Dan]
Well, from what I understand the Pyramids were constructed as tombs. 
Obedience to the dream of an afterlife seemed to drive the building of the 
Pyramids. Perhaps that's what RMP is getting at?

[Case]
I believe most of the megalithic structures from Stonehenge to the Mayans
were built as aids to astrology. An agricultural society depends on accurate
prediction of the seasons. In Egypt this was especially important since the
entire culture depended on the annual flooding of the Nile. Even the mound
builders of North America and some of the ancient pueblo sites have features
suggesting that they were built to gauge the alignment of celestial bodies.

One of the significant features of writing was to allow the accumulation
such observations. Without this shared memory across generations the
patterns of heavenly events had no significance. Without any means to pass
along these observations planting was a hit or miss activity. Hunter
gatherers lacking this access to shared culture lived in a Randian paradise
of forced individualism overlaid with just enough social contact to keep the
species in the ballgame.