Musings of A Matriarch. Part Two: Empire Needs One Story. Networks Need Them All.
- jane evans
- Oct 23
- 6 min read
I wrote last week's blog as a quick reaction to the road map Zoe Scaman plotted in her article The Networked World Order that theorises we’re shifting from empires of land and labour to empires of infrastructure.
Zoe's rational (and absolutely terrifying) words were a real 'aha' moment for me, especially since I have been obsessed for the last year with learning as much as I can about the creation of empire. Isabella Wilkerson's brilliant book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents was the starting point for that obsession. She proved that American racism has nothing to do with the colour of your skin and drew examples from the Dalits, the lowest on a four rung social hierarchy in India, who were subjected to severe discrimination and exclusion by birth. And the holocaust where 6 million white people were murdered by white people because of their faith. Isabel's words encouraged me to look at the roots of the patriarchy through her lens and quickly came to the conclusion that the beginning of empire was the end of rights for everyone who wasn't a male king, banker, priest or politician.
Empire was born from a lot of things — innovation, trade, cities and the revolution that changed the world as dramatically as the tech we see today. Writing.
One of the greatest things about being a second wave feminist is we got to read Women Who Run With The Wolves when it first came out. Clarissa Pinkola Estés words started a 35 year journey lost in the world's tales, myths and women's stories passed from mother to daughter since the start of time.
An undeniable pattern appears that tells a story of a world birthed, nurtured, crafted, moulded and innovated by woman. Almost all the world's foundation stories tell of goddesses who travelled great distances to guide women in the skills required to create a world of civilisation rather than hunting for resources.
In ancient Mesopotamia, the cradle of western civilisation, the goddess Ninkasi taught women to make water potable, she did this with barley mashed and boiled in exactly the same way a hipster craft brewer makes beer today. A technique that led to the discovery of bread and agriculture.
Geshtinanna was the goddess who imparted that agricultural knowledge. She taught the planting of seeds, processing of grapes into wine, and the keeping of time through seasons,
Uttu was the goddess of weaving, clothing, and pattern. She taught women how to twist flax, spin thread, and weave cloth. A craft that grew to the massive looms of the first city Uruk which must have been as revolutionary as Alan Turing's first computers in the 1940s.
Once we had mastered and refined these essential human needs to the point of excess, society grew. Settlements became cities and trade became the way we grew.
The goddess Nisaba taught women how to record harvests, track trade, and invent writing itself.
These foundation stories are not myth, they're written on clay tablets. The first named author is Enheduanna, a princess and high priestess who wrote poems to the great goddess Inanna who ruled over half the city — the half with the kilns, looms, granaries and markets. And it wasn't just the high born who wrote, the first letter by a regular citizen was written by a woman complaining she hadn't received the copper she ordered, probably to make the vat to brew the temple's beer.
The iron age brought powerful weapons. Armies formed and the ability to overpower cities was deemed more profitable than sharing knowledge and trading the fruits of our labour. Writing devolved into counting, managing and controlling people not resources.
“If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If he break another man’s bone, they shall break his bone.If a man knock out the tooth of his equal, his tooth shall be knocked out.” Harrumabi 1750bce
The words Ghandi claimed would "make the whole world blind" were not an instruction from God written in the bible. It is a decree of a primitive king who successfully conquered the first cities of Mesopotamia to bring the world its first empire. There is absolutely nothing sacred about a law system built on justified revenge.
And there was nothing subtle about the codification of the patriarchy. Apparently, Samash the sun god handed Harrumabi 281 more laws that he carved into a huge black stone penis and erected in the centre square of Uruk that codified the patriarchy, established hierarchy, ended matrilineal lines and made women the property of men.
Around the same time a group of people left Uruk carrying Harrumabi's play book. Two of them made their way to Canaan. Abraham, the patriarch of the world's three largest religions and his wife Sarah.
Which is where we come back to Zoe's map and add a node we need to make sense of the world as it is right now. It's something that is rarely mentioned when we talk about the future or tech and that's religion.
Now, before I go any further I will state there is no one on this earth who believes in the creator more than me. My life has been filled with too much awe and wonder to have less than 100% certainty in something greater than myself — than all of us!
But I'm also the first woman in my family for centuries without the threat of the witchcraft act hanging over my head (my mum was 18 when it was finally repealed in the UK) so I'm not afraid of being branded a heretic. I'm also from the last generation of British kids who went to Sunday School and religious studies were compulsory throughout my complete school life. So I am steeped in the stories I believe are bullshit.
And I'm not alone, according to the latest 2020 global roll-up from Pew, 1.9 billion people are not affiliated with a major religion, this includes atheists, agnostics, and people who say they have no particular religion. And a further 170 million people are members of 'Alternative' religions covering Baha’is, Daoists, Jains, Sikhs, folk religions, and Jedi warriors.
That's 27% of the entire world. Why are our stories myth and yours gospel?
“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed.” Albert Einstein
Albert also said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". If we're heading to an age of a networked world, we have to leave behind the mechanisms of empire that have no further use. But more importantly, stop us evolving.
Humans need stories, they're how we make sense of the world. And most of us need to believe in a higher power for exactly the same reason. But weaponising story needs to be left in the dark ages.
Religion is one of the most beautiful things in humanity and the stories of the prophets should be enough for us to make sense of the world and follow the guidance of the creator. The prophets promoted God's guidance as a one-on-one relationship without the need for mortal interpreters. Abraham and Moses complete myths are of one man having a direct relationship with Yahweh. Jesus taught everyone to pray to 'our father' outside the temple walls. And Mohammad, may peace be upon him, took it one step further saying, God is “closer than the jugular vein” and “Call on Me; I will answer.”
“Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is central to a Jedi’s life.” Anakin Skywalker, Episode II: Attack of the Clones
The words may be expressed differently, but the golden rule of every religion including the 'alternative' ones is; "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow" Hillel the Elder.
The god painted as jealous and to be feared, whose name is invoked in eternal war to smite his enemies, does not come from anything sacred. He comes from the minds, pens, laws and egos of men who want to have power over all of us.
At a time when technology has the opportunity to bring the whole world together and bring us into a golden age, it makes absolutely no sense for any human being to make claim to anything from 2,000 years ago when we were at the stage of our evolution when the wheel was first used for transport.
And it is is utter madness to build a new world whilst making the biggest mistake empire ever made. For two thousand years it suppressed the rights, voices, intellect, inventiveness and leadership of women. Who gave us the first practical use of the wheel 2000 years before empire. To throw the pots to hold the beer that made water potable.
Next In the series coming soon: How do we make the networked world order our own?
Do you want to join the matriarchs as we come together to imagine a new future then plot paths to get there? Join us on Thursday 30 October in person (London) or online.
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