Quote:
Originally Posted by kirbwarrior
Back on topic, since this frees up time for everyone, how fast would technology improve? Are there factors I can take into account of to slow down or speed that up?
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Competition.
If you're on a tropical island and you can make food out of nothing, and there are no other tribes bothering you, why should you try and work stones, in order to create weapons, since you don't need hunting weapons or agricultural implements to start with? Why should you make a canoe flotilla? That sloooows down progress. To the point of stopping it.
On the other hand, if there are three other tribes and you are more or less always at war, you'll soon find that a stone-tipped arrow works better than a hardened wood tip. And a mace incorporating an edged stone head works better than an all-wooden club. And you'll go ahead from there.
And it's not just a matter of technology, but also of societal evolution. The first tribal leader probably was good at hunting. With magic food, that's not necessary, and you're likely to remain with a classless society if you have no other worries. But on the contrary, if you are at war with another tribe, it's better to have a war leader. In a few generations, you'll have Status 1 for warriors and Status 2 for the leader. And you'll be able to afford a professional class of warriors because you won't need 95% of the population to toil in the fields or to hunt/gather all the time.
Why should you be at war with other tribes if magical food gives you a post-scarcity utopia? Well, hunter/gatherer bands who do not necessarily fight for resources still fight. The first reason that comes to mind is the semi-conscious awareness that endogamy is probably bad. In blunter words, even when you're not hungry the resource you want is your neighbors' women.
Those NW American coast populations who did not develop agriculture still had slaves. You gotta get them from somewhere. Sure, you don't need slaves for food production, but what about building a temple to your god? Wouldn't it be better to have slaves do that?
And once you have a social structure in place in which the leaders are at the top because they are good at war, they'll want war because that's what places them at the top.