Communities that stay in one place on an indefinite basis must have been formed for reasons other than food gathering and the security of numbers. In all probability food gathering itself would have promoted movement or migration as food was exhausted in a specific locality. It is reasonable to assume that static communities were formed to exploit a material that was prized by the hunting and food-gathering communities of man. In all likelihood, the substance of that material was not essential to biological survival.

If the compelling reason for establishing static communities was to exploit a resource in the neighborhood, then food requirements for the population would have to be imported into the area. This would inevitably bring about a division of labor in which those people who were exploiting the resource would not be compelled to gather food. The resource may have been a mineral that was fashioned into hunting and fishing tools, making it possible for hunters and fishermen to expand their food-gathering activities and increase their hunting efficiency.

Wealth is a function of knowledge plus resources and, since resources are essentially static, wealth increased as knowledge increased. The establishment of permanent communities was a significant milestone in development of technology based on information and language. It is at this juncture that man is separated from all other higher animals. At this point he acquired the concept of maximizing wealth production and could modify the environment for increased comfort, well-being, and security.

We find in modern man behavioral modes, ranging from basic survival to wealth production for its own sake. On the one hand, the Australian aborigines and the Kalahari bushmen live at elementary survival levels, and on the other, the Wall Street broker trades information in the form of wealth.