> that if it was rich enough for agriculture, or good for pastoralism, those lifestyles would have won out.

Have you read Guns, Germs and Steel? Agriculture and Colonialism went together, club and hand, not fork and hand. Agriculture didn’t win so much as it conquered the world at spear point.

I’ve even read a few feminist things recently that tie sexism to agriculture, one even claims that the plow is the worst thing to happen to women. That gives a much darker sentiment to “beating swords into plowshares”.