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<u><em>So what is civilisation? In the literal sense it means living in towns, but I would like to suggest that in modern usage, it tends to embrace the term ‘freedom’, to be involved in what we call ‘democracy’ — though democracy itself is a very slippery term. It is better perhaps to look at the opposite, which is totalitarianism, a long word which denotes a state where the ruler demands not only control over your body, but over your mind too. And it is this demand for control over your mind that marks the totalitarian state, or barbarism. And it is freedom to think that is the essence of civilisation.
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<u><em>This freedom to think has its origin in economics. In a society ruled by an Emperor or Pharaoh, a Dictator who controls everything, you depend on the ruler for your well-being and for the necessities and luxuries of daily life. You are under the control of the ruler, so you switch off your critical facilities and enthusiastically follow the ruler. You are brain-washed (which in practice can be a not unpleasant form of life). In economics, this is what is known as the gift exchange society where you pay tribute to the ruler, and the ruler in return gives you the essential luxuries of life as ‘gifts’.
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<u><em>But once you get control of your everyday economics, you move into a different form of society which we call civilisation, where you have control of what you buy and how you live –and what you think. Economically, this new form of choice depends on money. The essence of money is that it gives you choice, and when you have choice in your everyday life, and you live in a market economy, this brings about a new way of living which we call civilisation.</em></u>
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