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Where do you get that civilization has to be 'civil'? One alternative definition I'm fond of (yes, admittedly only fond of) for civilization requires no such t
by Solarsail 13y ago
Where do you get that civilization has to be 'civil'? One alternative definition I'm fond of (yes, admittedly only fond of) for civilization requires no such thing: The use of agriculture to supply food rather than hunting & gathering. From there future humans may or may not benefit from understanding mathematics and the like, but that is not a part of them having a civilization.
- _pmf_ 13y agoMaybe we should see civilization as a process, not as a state.
- VLM 13y agoEven better, an eternal process not a historical process? Even worse the point of the comment is it seems to be a proven fact of sociology, or social engineering or whatever, that one effective way for a society to stay on track or even improve is to keep people around who serve the purpose of complaining about the level of civilization. Its very counter intuitive... in the sciences you can whine and complain never results in much of anything, in the crafts and arts its also a waste of time, but as a social engineering technology keeping some professional complainers around is a good and effective long term strategy. So is that enough of a proven and utilitarian argument to keep some soft sciences in the library or not?