Traitorfish
The Tighnahulish Kid
And you're basing this on what, exactly?
Civilization Most Overrated in Influence.
- Thread starter Damnyankee
- Start date
aronnax
Let your spirit be free
Well... theres the fact many of them are poorer than the average American. Unemployment rate is also higher for the NA.
mr_lewington
King
just big cycle of politics. started out as democracy (tribal council stuff) then it went to kings and such with all the romans, gauls, greeks, etc. Then it went back to democracy again (briefly in greece, but moreso in rome) then for a very long period it went back to kings/ queens and dictators. now its back in democracy.
when i say all this im basing it on western politics and by democracy i mean at least some form of the public being able to vote.
they get lots of benefits though, i.e big breaks from taxes. in winnipeg a fair number, and i do not mean to steryotype natives because i know many are succesful , choose not to be employed.
How is a "tribal council" democracy? If Civ is to be believed, despotism was the original political system, and I have to say that sounds far more likely to me.
I think you can only see such a "big cycle of politics" if you are very choosy about which countries you're looking at. Most places didn't have democracy in antiquity and plenty of places don't today. Plus of course you need to define "democracy" in such a loose way that it's practically meaningless (the age of George III would be a democracy by your definition!). And even if such a "big cycle" had existed, you can't base future predictions off that.
I think you can only see such a "big cycle of politics" if you are very choosy about which countries you're looking at. Most places didn't have democracy in antiquity and plenty of places don't today. Plus of course you need to define "democracy" in such a loose way that it's practically meaningless (the age of George III would be a democracy by your definition!). And even if such a "big cycle" had existed, you can't base future predictions off that.
mr_lewington
King
true true, i guess i had one of those "dude! moments again 
SeleucusNicator
Diadoch
China.
People love saying "hey, China invented so-and-so a thousand years before the West did". Which, in most cases, they did. But this was without effect on the larger world; they never actually did anything with all those inventions outside of their region, and in many cases, it was re-invented elsewhere, rather than borrowed from China.
People love saying "hey, China invented so-and-so a thousand years before the West did". Which, in most cases, they did. But this was without effect on the larger world; they never actually did anything with all those inventions outside of their region, and in many cases, it was re-invented elsewhere, rather than borrowed from China.
mr_lewington
King
many of those things are overexaggerated as well, but u do have 2 give them credit for doing it all b4a lot of the world even had a sniff
SeleucusNicator
Diadoch
Yes, but there is a difference between inventing stuff and influencing the world.
If I invented a perpetual motion machine right now, but didn't share it with anyone, I should be rightly lauded for being the first to make such a breakthrough, but I won't have a single bit of influence.
Actually, a lot of Chinese inventions made its way to the West via Arabia (paper, compass, gunpowder for instances)
a_propagandist
The Light Brigadier
I concur, but the compass is possibly Mayan or something. Possibly.
Traitorfish
The Tighnahulish Kid
Olmec, actually, but that compass has nothing to do with the one we use. It was invented in China and made it's way to Europe via the Middle East, as taillesskangaru said.
