In the course
of human progress we see periods of great achievement. The question for me is what drives it? This is inspired by a quote I saw in one of
the cubicles at work. It is attributed
to Orson Welles. (I found it here)
“You know what the fellow
said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror,
murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the
Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred
years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”
Implied is that conflict leads to achievement. The lack
of conflict leads to an acceptance of the status quo. The question: is that true? Has the United States become the nation we
are because we have been in almost perpetual conflict since our founding? I need to think about this a little.
4 comments:
i think its is a false analogy. switzerland had peace. they were also landlocked. the status quo was an intellectual one, where trade with outsiders was not a likley commodity.
exposure to the outside, through trade, always brings ideas and new thinkings. think fuedal times: much conflict, little trade, and nothing new in the ways of intellectual acheivement.
trade also brings wealth, providing seed money for the arts, which are generally a low-end prority for those masses who are just getting by.
anyway... that is my take.
Gino
this comment form doesnt work well, so i need to post anon. it wont allow me to sing in. sorry...
Gino
Another thing to consider is, "What price progress?" There are certain kinds of progress that I think are great. Others seem less like progress and more like change or fad or endless tinkering. When everything is always changing, people become dislocated and uprooted. I wonder if that isn't the source of a lot of social ills.
Gino, sorry about the comment form, I am not sure what I do to fix it. I agree the real issue is trade and wealth form the engines for innovation and artistic creation.
WB, I think we see change as a natural event, I wonder if it is general change or the change to a transient society where we are no longer tied to our home towns that is at the heart of some of our social ills?
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