07-02-2011, 05:09 PM
(07-02-2011, 04:29 PM)cladking Wrote: They just had a different way of thinking and talking that was more efficient than ours. Unlike us they knew they were stupid and ignorant which gave them great power far beyond what we have today. It gave them the ability to use all their knowledge all the time. It made maximum use not only of knowledge but intelligence as well.
I doubt there will ever be any interest in going back to the old way of thinking but perhaps some of it can be modified to fit in with current thought. I think at the very least we might see more interest in generalism if I'm right.
We have a larger body of knowledge (thinking of medical, technological, mathematical, scientific knowledge) today than the ancients. I'm not sure we can be generalists and still function as a society. Somebody has to know how operate/program/build/repair all of our technology. I can't even keep up with mobile device technology.
Our schools are based on the idea that citizens need a basic grasp of a lump of knowledge in order to function successfully in our culture. We can't even get our young to stay in free school long enough to get that basic knowledge (graduation rates are really around 50% if you start counting at elementary school levels, maybe lower). Are you saying we don't even need that much knowledge?
I would agree we have a lot to learn in the modern era, but we can't count on society to instill even the most basic ideas into their offspring. Many of our adults are too enthralled with sex, drink, and drugs to do what they are supposed to do. Many members of the newest generation aren't invested in our society, don't know the history, and are not concerned with general societal norms of behavior enough to be trusted to pass those traits on.
We are a nation without a strong culture. Too many slackers have learned to survive on other people's forced charity. The most basic idea among human cultures is to produce what you consume. When you are bred to produce nothing and consume whatever you can lay your hands on at the time, society as a whole suffers. That is where we are.