06 Feb 09
Originally posted by twhiteheadJust clarifying what I think he meant 🙂 I agree that it's irrelevant.
What has that got to do with it? Surely all current humans are therefore descended from the same group so why should one group be said to have retained the culture and all the others started a new one?
06 Feb 09
Originally posted by Bosse de NageI am sure that it is a whole range of factors. Development leads to further development in a sort of chain reaction but there are various factors that encourage or discourage the progress.
First let's clear up why Europe suddenly shot ahead technologically, after being comparatively backward for a millenium.
Things like war and disease can depending on the exact circumstances have a massive impact in both directions.
I have recently started learning Mandarin Chinese and have started wondering whether or not it is harder for young Chinese to learn to read and write (due to the different writing system) and if so whether that had an impact on literacy rates in the past and whether that has impacted development in the past.
06 Feb 09
1 edit
Originally posted by twhiteheadI'm pretty sure of that too.
I am sure that it is a whole range of factors. [...]
I have recently started learning Mandarin Chinese and have started wondering whether or not it is harder for young Chinese to learn to read and write (due to the different writing system) and if so whether that had an impact on literacy rates in the past and whether that has impacted development in the past.
Where are you learning Mandarin?
(I suspect the writing system isn't all that important in this context. But this is an interesting article nonetheless: http://news.illinois.edu/news/06/1018reading.html)
06 Feb 09
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Originally posted by twhiteheadI'd say we're talking about both. The factors you have described
Are we talking about why civilization started in Europe, or are we talking about much more recent history where Africa is not particularly thriving?
For the former, the answer is simple, civilization didn't start in Europe.
For the latter, there are many interacting factors including:
1. Disease.
2. Exploitation.
3. Cultural differences.
4. Corrupti ...[text shortened]... tter system than Africa's lots of little countries. We really need to get SADC working better.
are present in all cultures at all times.
06 Feb 09
I do know that culture can have a massive impact on development. In Zambia, aid agencies often run into various problems relating to culture. In many parts of Zambia there is a strong tendency to be jealous of your neighbor and as a result anyone who seems too successful risks getting into trouble. This means a lot of people avoid being successful or avoid showing their success. Some people get round this problem by moving to a different area where they are considered an outsider and thus given much more leeway to become successful.
In addition there is a strong culture of helping your relatives. This has both positive and negative side effects. Due to the large family sizes most people have lots of relatives. There are often a fairly high number of leaches who basically take advantage of the system and try to as much as possible live off their relatives. Again, many people will move to a new area in the hope of avoiding having to continually support less fortunate relatives.
06 Feb 09
Originally posted by twhiteheadContrast that with the Protestant Work Ethic.
In addition there is a strong culture of helping your relatives. This has both positive and negative side effects. Due to the large family sizes most people have lots of relatives. There are often a fairly high number of leaches who basically take advantage of the system and try to as much as possible live off their relatives. Again, many people will move to a new area in the hope of avoiding having to continually support less fortunate relatives.
06 Feb 09
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Originally posted by JigtieA very good point. But where did the original Egyptians come from?
Ancient Egypt was one of the most technologically advanced civilisations
of its time, and certainly one of the most successful of all times, thanks
to the river Nile and the fact that the people who lived there discovered
how the floods could be used to their advantage. The main cause for a
higher, more technologically advanced civilisation, is withou , or struck down by an angry bear,
but all in all I think they experienced happier times.
Why was Egypt such a success and why didn't we see other, similar
cultures popping up regularly in Africa?
edit. A lot of Egyptian knowledge was reputed to have been brought
by Toth the Atlantean. Was Atlantis a real civilisation based in or
around Africa?
06 Feb 09
1 edit
Originally posted by Bosse de Nage"The Human Genome Project determined that 99.9% of the human genetic complement is the same in everyone, regardless of race. This means that the DNA of any two people will differ in one out of every thousand nucleotides, the building blocks of individual genes.
http://www.catchpenny.org/race.html
Why did Athens turn into a garbage heap after midwifing Western culture?
With more than 3 billion nucleotides in the human genome, about 3 million nucleotides will differ among individuals. While statistically small, this does allow for some variation. "
This is(nt) a true statement.
See what I did there? A single nucleotide change.