cultures
its weird to think about the evolution and power of cultures.
conservativism and liberalism can spring upon a people virtually instantaneously.
i'm always amazed at the open-mindedness and grandeur of the muslim empire back in the medieval times. they were willing to try out an sort of new technology that they could get their hands on and prospered greatly because of it.
at first my notion was that only peaceful nations have this mindset, but that's really not true as all.
shown through this first example, and many others, like rome and china. but on the other hand, war doesn't necessarily spark technological advances, although it has been known to do so.
but then what i start to ponder is: what the fuck happened to that arabic nation. i guess it's still a power to reckon with, but not nearly to the extent that it used to. islam had such immense power and accumulated knowledge compared to anyone else in the world at that time, and now what do they have to show for it? some oil.
maybe it's just that cultures and religions go through a life cycle. they were a young, vibrant, blooming religion at a chipper age of 600 or so, but by the time it rolled around to being 1000 years old or so, it became more traditional and set in its ways. it isolates itself from the outside world, maybe in an effort to preserve itself, but it's not doing itself any favors.
so maybe it all has to do with who's in control. well, shit, of course it does, but can the effects be felt that much within a single decade? religion has been shoved in our faces more and more recently, well, at least certain aspects that it feels strongly for, and shit like stem cell research has been put on hold just because of some jackasses need to please those who aren't open-minded to possibilities of medical advancements because it would be unethical/irreligious.
so maybe an entire culture's outlook can be turned on a dime. within almost 60 years (granted thats not as short of a time as a decade, but still a lifespan), Japan, in the mid-1500's were introduced to guns by the Portuguese, greatly improved on their technology, and then banned because of the prestige and clout that the sword-wielding samuri craved to maintain stability and power over the islands.
ill-will toward the acceptance of new technologies can be retarded. granted they don't all need to be accepted, or may not be useful to a culture, but at least the Japanese had the heart to try it out for a while. but then by the 1850's the necessity arose to reintroduce the concept of the gun when the US came and decided to kick some ass.
odd. that never seems to happen EVER anywhere else in the US's past.
so i guess what i was getting at was that our nation is heading toward that close-minded mentality. and where i couldn't have the heart to fault cultures that aren't on the global scene for trying to maintain their heritage and past, the US is in no way in that situation, and if it's not careful, it'll lose it's status as the best place around.
well. maybe it's too late for that, but i'm sure some of it's power and respect might be salvaged.
but history, and i'm sure cultural life cycles are just that, cyclical. it'll bounce back for a little while. it just may need some help from the dumbfucks in charge.
my favorite example of this comes from a Mayan king who lost a huge battle but wanted to keep the morale of all his people, so Seven Rabbit created a fat monument to himself and past great battles that were actually won by the empire's inhabitants.
it just reminds me of a cheap way of making oneself look better... increasing a false sense of patriotism in the face of defeat; increasing morale without merit. i just can't wait til the WTC gets put back into effect. too bad i think its completion will just miss bush's term (2010? or was it 2008?). but i'm sure he'll be involved somehow with its unveiling.
sorry. i really don't know what the point of this whole rant was, i really didn't sit down and organize it too well, i just kinda let what came flow. but what i think i was hinting at was the conservative turn for the worse that has never in history shown to be helpful to a culture.
those cultures who were smaller and resistant, got consumed by those who were open-minded or had the technology. those who are open-minded also have an influx of ideas by immigrants with different perspectives. it's amazing to see the list of inventions that had a certain beginning, with a certain purpose, got bounced around from culture to culture and turned up being used for something totally different or vastly improved upon that revolutionized the world.
certain examples, the steam engine: greece to europe to america, or the printing press: china/mediterranean, and a few places around europe til it showed up in germany. granted the printing press concept was always used for spreading written word, but it came in many fashions.
today it just seems that education and the furthering of technology isn't that much of a priority for this culture. maybe i'm wrong, who knows, but i think the whole idea of capitolism to create a vastly lopsided, well pyramid-shaped heirarchy, where there's the few rich and powerful, the middlemen that have some power and intelligence, but are kept in check, and the masses of ignorant fools that are mindlessly controlled in one manner or another (usually by religion).
but maybe i'm preaching to the choir here...
anyway. to keep the sea of inept, lowered education standards are a priority which means less technological advances, or at least possibilities for them.
but hopefully as i've stated earlier, the whole process is cyclical.
eventually enough people will get tired of it from the middle class and make enough of a stink to level out the playing field a bit.
granted things can't totally go the opposite direction, cuz then you come upon problems again, just different ones. like under communism, people are less likely to come forth with their ingenious ideas cuz there's really no insentive for them to do so. if they share it with the community, they won't see anything from it other than pride for that being their invention.
but really, where's the lure in that?
so a fucking capitolistic mentiality is necessary to promote technology, but just not to the point of creating a few elites. there are always going to be the really poor, but education of some of them should be a priority.
but what am i saying? is there really a need for advanced technology? i guess for my lazy ass there is. but i guess it's important for other reasons other than mere comfort. to keep billions upon billions of people (and growing) extant, some advances are necessary.
so everybody, get at it. although a lot of the time inventions don't reach their full capability the first time around and require more tweeking and manipulation and general use to be improved upon for something as earth-changing as, say the light bulb (which had many prototypes from many past people before edison took all the glory).
so let's get going at it.
if that made sense at all...
(i don't really think this was the direction i had in mind when i started this post, but we'll go with it.)
conservativism and liberalism can spring upon a people virtually instantaneously.
i'm always amazed at the open-mindedness and grandeur of the muslim empire back in the medieval times. they were willing to try out an sort of new technology that they could get their hands on and prospered greatly because of it.
at first my notion was that only peaceful nations have this mindset, but that's really not true as all.
shown through this first example, and many others, like rome and china. but on the other hand, war doesn't necessarily spark technological advances, although it has been known to do so.
but then what i start to ponder is: what the fuck happened to that arabic nation. i guess it's still a power to reckon with, but not nearly to the extent that it used to. islam had such immense power and accumulated knowledge compared to anyone else in the world at that time, and now what do they have to show for it? some oil.
maybe it's just that cultures and religions go through a life cycle. they were a young, vibrant, blooming religion at a chipper age of 600 or so, but by the time it rolled around to being 1000 years old or so, it became more traditional and set in its ways. it isolates itself from the outside world, maybe in an effort to preserve itself, but it's not doing itself any favors.
so maybe it all has to do with who's in control. well, shit, of course it does, but can the effects be felt that much within a single decade? religion has been shoved in our faces more and more recently, well, at least certain aspects that it feels strongly for, and shit like stem cell research has been put on hold just because of some jackasses need to please those who aren't open-minded to possibilities of medical advancements because it would be unethical/irreligious.
so maybe an entire culture's outlook can be turned on a dime. within almost 60 years (granted thats not as short of a time as a decade, but still a lifespan), Japan, in the mid-1500's were introduced to guns by the Portuguese, greatly improved on their technology, and then banned because of the prestige and clout that the sword-wielding samuri craved to maintain stability and power over the islands.
ill-will toward the acceptance of new technologies can be retarded. granted they don't all need to be accepted, or may not be useful to a culture, but at least the Japanese had the heart to try it out for a while. but then by the 1850's the necessity arose to reintroduce the concept of the gun when the US came and decided to kick some ass.
odd. that never seems to happen EVER anywhere else in the US's past.
so i guess what i was getting at was that our nation is heading toward that close-minded mentality. and where i couldn't have the heart to fault cultures that aren't on the global scene for trying to maintain their heritage and past, the US is in no way in that situation, and if it's not careful, it'll lose it's status as the best place around.
well. maybe it's too late for that, but i'm sure some of it's power and respect might be salvaged.
but history, and i'm sure cultural life cycles are just that, cyclical. it'll bounce back for a little while. it just may need some help from the dumbfucks in charge.
my favorite example of this comes from a Mayan king who lost a huge battle but wanted to keep the morale of all his people, so Seven Rabbit created a fat monument to himself and past great battles that were actually won by the empire's inhabitants.
it just reminds me of a cheap way of making oneself look better... increasing a false sense of patriotism in the face of defeat; increasing morale without merit. i just can't wait til the WTC gets put back into effect. too bad i think its completion will just miss bush's term (2010? or was it 2008?). but i'm sure he'll be involved somehow with its unveiling.
sorry. i really don't know what the point of this whole rant was, i really didn't sit down and organize it too well, i just kinda let what came flow. but what i think i was hinting at was the conservative turn for the worse that has never in history shown to be helpful to a culture.
those cultures who were smaller and resistant, got consumed by those who were open-minded or had the technology. those who are open-minded also have an influx of ideas by immigrants with different perspectives. it's amazing to see the list of inventions that had a certain beginning, with a certain purpose, got bounced around from culture to culture and turned up being used for something totally different or vastly improved upon that revolutionized the world.
certain examples, the steam engine: greece to europe to america, or the printing press: china/mediterranean, and a few places around europe til it showed up in germany. granted the printing press concept was always used for spreading written word, but it came in many fashions.
today it just seems that education and the furthering of technology isn't that much of a priority for this culture. maybe i'm wrong, who knows, but i think the whole idea of capitolism to create a vastly lopsided, well pyramid-shaped heirarchy, where there's the few rich and powerful, the middlemen that have some power and intelligence, but are kept in check, and the masses of ignorant fools that are mindlessly controlled in one manner or another (usually by religion).
but maybe i'm preaching to the choir here...
anyway. to keep the sea of inept, lowered education standards are a priority which means less technological advances, or at least possibilities for them.
but hopefully as i've stated earlier, the whole process is cyclical.
eventually enough people will get tired of it from the middle class and make enough of a stink to level out the playing field a bit.
granted things can't totally go the opposite direction, cuz then you come upon problems again, just different ones. like under communism, people are less likely to come forth with their ingenious ideas cuz there's really no insentive for them to do so. if they share it with the community, they won't see anything from it other than pride for that being their invention.
but really, where's the lure in that?
so a fucking capitolistic mentiality is necessary to promote technology, but just not to the point of creating a few elites. there are always going to be the really poor, but education of some of them should be a priority.
but what am i saying? is there really a need for advanced technology? i guess for my lazy ass there is. but i guess it's important for other reasons other than mere comfort. to keep billions upon billions of people (and growing) extant, some advances are necessary.
so everybody, get at it. although a lot of the time inventions don't reach their full capability the first time around and require more tweeking and manipulation and general use to be improved upon for something as earth-changing as, say the light bulb (which had many prototypes from many past people before edison took all the glory).
so let's get going at it.
if that made sense at all...
(i don't really think this was the direction i had in mind when i started this post, but we'll go with it.)
3 Comments:
dood, this is why you need to read my book that dad and mom are readin. talks about the progression of arabic society from a flourishing society, where women had rights, to its regression into its own "dark ages", which it is still pretty much in right now, thanks to literalism in its religion. You know, kind of like how when Christianity developed into a literalist relgion, it plunged Western Society into the dark ages for over 1000 years. Lovely, huh? Luckily, we've come out of it. I hope they do too, before it's too late for all of us. Cause those psychos are going to blow us up because they don't like our way of life and want us to revert to a Dark Ages style like they are in. Well that, and, you know, the whole ancient fighting thing between the three great religions.
and yes, technology...yeah, we're going to get ourselves into trouble cause other countries are passing us educationally and also in their advances in technology, but we don't seem to care a whole lot, cause we think we'll just always be on top....think again, assholes.
also, is this what you were doing last night instead of playing with us?
i was over at sam's watching the marx brothers until just before 11pm. then i came home and wrote this.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home