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Chapter Two

Landscaping the World: The Domus Complex

Scott's point from chapter two is that humans domesticated the planet more extensively than taming cattle and planting crops, and that this carried deep-seated consequences. He examines the changes that mankind has brought to its environment by being an artificial natural selection of sorts, to bring out plant types that are now unrecognizable from their progenitors. We do this by casting out things that have undesired characteristics and cultivating that which pleases us. This changed animals both in behavior and physiologically, making them permanently docile and un-reactive, while also having smaller brains. These changes have negative effects upon the animals themselves, though they do result in a positive effect in output for their domesticators.

Scott then turns to what he calls "Human Parallels," ways in which human beings themselves might have been transformed by domestication. From the altered bone structures of women who were forced into agricultural labor to general size difference and proof of nutrition deficits in post-agriculture mankind, Scott argues that humans have bred their own irreversible change. He also argues that the needs of domesticated plants and animals almost make us slaves to their meticulously specific and daily needs.