Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bilow who wrote (44875)	10/26/2003 2:41:13 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50167

This sums it up nicely <At the apex of the Greek and Roman civilizations, an enormous confluence of artistic elements occurred which resulted in the explosive birth of architecture and art during the Age of Pericles and which culminated in the birth of Western Civilization. However, this unique societal event did not perpetuate itself because it did not involve a permanent, genetic change of the Greek population. This explosive intellectual development was merely the temporary manifestation of an artistic chain reaction resulting from the unique confluence of artistic and scientific minds within the city of Athens during this specific period. After Greek civilization had thus bloomed, after the conglomeration of great minds had faded and had lost critical mass, the history of Greece shows no repetition or continuation of this extraordinary period in the history of the Greek people. The occurrence of such spontaneous creative pinnacles illustrates another formative aspect of human existence, which correlates to many similar physical and physiological processes: A new structure or organism can increase its complexity and will then exhibit drastically different qualities than the sum of its component parts. The same societal and intellectual chain reaction, which triggered the artistic explosion of Greek and Roman civilizations two thousand years ago, can be observed today in the technological supremacy of the American Society of the twentieth century. If society at large prospers, if it is not involved in self-destructive adventures such as wars or other dissipations of societal wealth, it may allow for the coagulation of large numbers of persons with artistic, intellectual or technological inclinations. The result can be a disproportionate blooming of the pertinent arenas of a society. Such compound factors represent the triggers for the astonishing growth of art and philosophy during the Golden Age of Greece, the vast cultural accomplishments of Rome during the era of the Pax Romana, the artistic dominance of Florence in the seventeenth century, and the supreme technological accomplishments that can be observed in the United Stated of America during the twentieth century. Such a temporary technological or artistic chain reaction can take place even during a period when the general intelligence level of a society is declining due to population shifts, such as the influx of large numbers of less intelligent persons, or due to the percentage increase of a less intelligent sector of a society due to the disproportional replication of members of such groups.> rationality.net For individuals and Empires this prescription fits well..<<The pleasant life is not produced by continual drinking and dancing, nor sexual intercourse, nor rare dishes of sea food and other delicacies of a luxurious table. On the contrary, it is produced by sober reasoning which examines the motives for every choice and avoidance, driving away beliefs which are the source of mental disturbance. >> EPICURUS