Originally Posted By: James M
Quote from Ken:
"Primitive cultures tended to develop behaviors and values in ways to take full advantage of the resources of their ecosystems. It is still not indicative of any real intelligence differences within Humanity."

If you subscribe to the main line regarding evolution we were all primitave cultures at one time. So how is it that some of these cultures such as Whites and Asians made such headway scientifically in the last couple of hundred years and others would probably still be living a primative lifestyle if they hadn't been influenced by exposure to more advanced cultures?
For example: Are you maintaining that because Blacks evolved in Africa the ecosystem there somehow inhibited there advancement? Since South Africa at one time was a highly advanced culture this fact belies that theory.
Jim


There are many reasons for scientific advancement. "Primitive" is a subjective word, that needs to be qualified. In this case, we're talking about science, while in other instances such as social development, cultures that are considered primitive can actually be highly developed. As far as Western Civilization, great leaps were made at the end of the Dark Ages after the Fall of Rome, beginning with the Renaissance. Scientific advancement really didn't get going until the development of the Scientific Method, a standard still in use today. Unless you happen to believe in Man-Made Climate Change. Quite a bit of scientific development depends on how the information is disseminated. Mathematics was certainly highly developed in India, Sanitation and Health in Japan, and numerous other disciplines were well developed in China. Medical Science in the Islamic World was superior to Europe during the Dark Ages, but there's evidence that it was in part due to the existence of the Alexandria Library which preserved Galen's works, up until it was destroyed by Christian fanatics.

Which South African culture are you referring to? The Zimbabwe civilization? Or, the highly developed herding cultures of the Bantu ethnic group like the Xhosa, Matabele, or the Zulu?

I prefer wood to plastic, leather to nylon, waxed cotton to Gore-Tex, and split bamboo to graphite.