What makes civilizations great? -

[spurger king]

Most of humans that have lived, have lived fairly Hobbesian lives (nasty, poor, brutish, etc). There have also been great civilizations throughout history that have made huge strides in the development of science, art, and simple creature comforts. Do you think it is possible to derive a universal set of conditions that lead to such great societies? If so, do you think it is possible to artificially replicate those?

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

Being able to shit in a toilet is pretty great.

 

[KimCoppolaAficionado]

Have good agriculture, a strong military/police force, a foreign policy that accepts diplomacy and immigration of the best talent while maintaining a strong internal identity, and a willingness to adapt and improve on your current designs. The reason China invented so much shit and then stagnated for 800+ years was because they decided they had reached perfection and actively suppressed invention and meaningful interaction with the outside world.

 

[Irwin M. Felcher]

White people.

 

[Shadfan666xxx000]

Nothing. We should do as this guy says.

 

[ES 195]

I don't think you can derive a set of conditions per se, as in you couldn't build a great society in a vaccum. Most, if not all of the greatest human societies in history are grown on the corpses of conflict, competition, and resolution. If you want a sort of basic formula it usually goes something like:
War/Conflict with neighbor-> technological advancement for conflict-> winner is decided -> war tech is re-purposed/stolen + used for resource and/or agricultural management -> massive population boom -> self-aggrandizing society grows and expands -> war/conflict with neighbor
Any society that can continue this cycle is basically guaranteed to continue to prosper as war will also bring more resources as you conquer. But much like an apex predator that grows to numerous and over hunts its prey an apex civilization can do the same. It's typically why they collapse; they can no longer sustain themselves on their required diet; war-based societies 'go vegetarian' or run out of enemies, trade based societies resources become to abundant or scarce to sustain themselves, diplomatic societies become too beta and give in to too many demands, and so on.
So I guess being the smartest, and richest society is what makes a civ great and to do that you have to be the strongest and usually the meanest.

TL;DR Darwinism makes civilizations great.

 

[Niggernerd]

Racism

 

[Lemmingwise]

At it's core a civilization is great by its old parable; with old men planting trees who's shade they'll never sit in. That mentality of foresight and willingness to invest in a future they'll have no part in, is at the core of what aligns people with building and developing the transcendental.

And the civilization ceases to be great the moment one generation mostly decides to take the gifts and the giant's shoulder they stand on for granted and instead of investing in the future, they'll rob it, by running up debt or diluting unity by accepting unrestrained immigration, which is just another mechanism for borrowing money for a state (receiving work able immigrants is a short term productivity infusion).

Pragmatism and adaptability is a mark of almost every great civilization, so you have to stuff that in there somewhere.

But for all the wonders of great civilizations, there are always plenty of people inside them living hobbesian brutish, poor lives. Even great civilizations have a gutter. For most of history, that was the majority of people in such great civilizations.

Like when you read about the fantastical military prowess of Spartans, but then remember that only 1 in 20 people in Sparta were citizens, with the 19/20 being slaves.

 

[Easterling]

Unified purpose is what kept the greatest empires in history achieving such acclaim, stagnation occurs once an empire has reached its limit, with nothing to strive towards, no future goal or territory to expand into infighting sets in. The Romans and Mongols both had numerous civil wars once their respective empires had reached their zenith.

 

[Mariposa Electrique]

White people.

 

[ManateeHunter]

Being able to shit in a toilet is pretty great.

Having a Washlet is even better. You don't even need to WIPE your dirty asshole!
Well technically you do because the ass gets wet

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

Having a Washlet is even better. You don't even need to WIPE your dirty asshole!
Well technically you do because the ass gets wet

Oh, I have a bidet.
It’s fantastic and I try to convert everybody I know.

 

[Pope Negro Joe the XIIIth]

Me. I have no idea what you guys are going to do when I die.

 

[Marco Fucko]

Civilizations are great because nerds who live after the civilization stan it and tell their kids about how dope it was despite never living there.

 

[Coleslaw]

Like when you read about the fantastical military prowess of Spartans, but then remember that only 1 in 20 people in Sparta were citizens, with the 19/20 being slaves.

Not to mention the absolute shit life even citizen boys lived.

 

[John Titor]

When it can last two weeks without collapsing.

 

[Jeb-sama]

Having a gigantic army is probably the most important thing.

As long as they're doing well abroad, riches will flow back and create excess in the civilization. Excess that will allow bright people to sit back and create things they couldn't if they were forced to do backbreaking work just to get by.

 

[Too Much Cringe]

I think one of the most important things is not having a super restrictive and closed culture that refuses to learn from others. For instance Saudi Arabia will always be a thinly veiled hellhole despite having incredible connections wealth and overall power due largely due to its inability to keep up with the times. It routinely engages in the enforcement of insane and petty laws and practises that stunt the physiological development of its populace which will end up hurting the nation more and more as time goes on. These practices make it very hard to deal with causing it to come at odds with other nations in the blink of an eye for instance the feud with Canada. Saudi Arabia is in many ways still in the medieval ages due to its hard line Islamic culture. The nation will never fix its social issues and inequality or have a shot at becoming a great nation in large part but not all due to its arrogance.

Pretty much impossible to be great when you do shit like this in the modern age:

https://archive.md/k43hi

 

[Vecr]

I think one of the most important things is not having a super restrictive and closed culture that refuses to learn from others. For instance Saudi Arabia will always be a thinly veiled hellhole despite having incredible connections wealth and overall power due largely due to its inability to keep up with the times. It routinely engages in the enforcement of insane and petty laws and practises that stunt the physiological development of its populace which will end up hurting the nation more and more as time goes on. These practices make it very hard to deal with causing it to come at odds with other nations in the blink of an eye for instance the feud with Canada. Saudi Arabia is in many ways still in the medieval ages due to its hard line Islamic culture. The nation will never fix its social issues and inequality or have a shot at becoming a great nation in large part but not all due to its arrogance.

Pretty much impossible to be great when you do shit like this in the modern age:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/saudi-arabia-beheads-37-prisoners-in-mass-execution-1.5108490

Yeah, liberalism is a good thing.

That's also one reason why I think free speech is a good thing.

 

[queerape]

An ability not to back down from challenge. For example, even if we have only 12 years or whatever to deal with climate change, if we are a great civilaization we would focus on it being better then nothing at all and use those 12 years wisely.