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Something I have always looked at was that, from a historical point of view, the fastest development in the industrial revolution occurred in more temperate are
by brc 11y ago
Something I have always looked at was that, from a historical point of view, the fastest development in the industrial revolution occurred in more temperate areas, up to a pint where severe winters curtailed the effect. Thus Manchester developed more than Moscow.
A long time ago I came up with the half baked theory is that people in these climate zones had to work harder for food and shelter, and that the hard work for that had a motivating effect, or perhaps increased the reproductive success for those willing to put in the work. Whereas someone in a warmer climate could be half-assed with their shelter and food production and still get along fine.
It's possible that warmer temperatures just slow down brain function as well. People from warmer areas tend to have slower, drawn out speech patterns. Maybe there is something in it.
- cma 11y agoThis would explain why the introduction of central heating slowed down speech pa... wait
- rachelbythebay 11y agoYou might be interested in Guns, Germs, and Steel. It has a similar N-S vs. E-W thing going on.
- duaneb 11y agoAnd with all geographical determinism there's gonna be too many edge cases for the theory to hold any water. See: diamond's academic reputation.
- alphydan 11y agoI also recommend reading "Guns, Germs and Steel" ... and some other literature. Some of the points you make have obvious counter-examples. >> People from warmer areas tend to have slower, drawn out speech patterns Where do you get that from? How many languages do you know? Have you spoken to an anverage Andalousian or somebody from Sud Tirol? To an average Dane, Belgian? To a Chilean or an Argentinian? I only speak about 4 and a half languages, but as soon as you consider dialects, local variations, etc ... speed and temperature don't seem to have any effect (and my own datapoints show the inverse relationship, but it's too little data). Regarding working harder in cold areas leading to civilization ... didn't western civilization develop first in the middle east (fertile crescent)? ... and then the torch of the "leading western civilization" was passed around many warm nations (Greeks, Romans, Al-andalus & North Africa, etc) before the northerners got anywhere?
- brc 11y agoRegarding the language thing, I was talking about English speakers in general. I'm from a warmer climate and people tell me I have a slow drawl. Maybe it's a city thing that makes people talk faster and cities are all over the latitudes....I'm making a personal observation here and not seriously suggesting a scientific theory. On the Fertile Crescent - yes agrarian civilisation spread in those areas but I was specifically referring to the industrial revolution - the point being that once people started using technology the more temperate regions flourished - as opposite to the more agrarian societies. My personal thought is that maybe this is because the rewards of the application of technology benefit colder climates. I'll check out the recommended book, I'm always interested in these sorts of topics.