No Brent, what I AM saying is that they are GONE! Well and truly gooooorrrrrrnnnnnn!
We could get side tracked into all sorts of discussions about how each of the civilisations you named, waxed and waned more than once in the face of environmental changes and the inherent instability of feudal societies, but I haven't got the time [fascinating though it would be :-]. My point is that, with all due respect to the late Douglas Adams, and I suppose to whoever it was who wrote the book of Daniel in the Judaeo-Xian Bible, the TRUE "Writing on the Wall" AKA God's last message to humankind, is five short words in plain-English: * Shape up or die out! What I say is if we really want to 'shape up' and survive, then compassion, democracy, ethics and scientific method are four essential ingredients without which our modern world will go the way of all those other civilisations your mentioned. But this time it will be well and truly final because we will have used up all the easily obtainable resources, and blighted enough of the landscape to see Homo sapiens disappear into fossilised oblivion. Regards Mark Peaty CDES [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.arach.net.au/~mpeaty/ Brent Meeker wrote: > Are you saying I just dreamed that Sumer, Ur, Egypt, Babylon, Rome, Sparta, > Cathay, and the Indus Valley where civilization first developed and lasted > for thousands of years (much longer than the U.S. which is the oldest > existing democracy) were not democratic and pre-dated the scientific method? > > Brent Meeker > > Mark Peaty wrote: > >> Dream on Brent ... >> >> >> Regards >> Mark Peaty CDES >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> http://www.arach.net.au/~mpeaty/ >> >> >> >> Brent Meeker wrote: >> >>> Klortho wrote: >>> >>> >>>>> The other thing I do is check to what extent a person's speech and >>>>> writings support and affirm the four fundamental ingredients of >>>>> civilisation: >>>>> Compassion, democracy, ethics and scientific method. No civilisation can >>>>> survive without all four of these. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> Talk about assertions without any evidence! >>>> >>>> >>> Actually there's a lot of evidence that civilization developed and survived >>> until recently without democracy or the scientific method. >>> >>> Brent Meeker >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---