Notes on life, art, photography and technology, by a Danish dropout bohemian.
When you drink the water, remember the river.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
The rise and fall of empires
A pretty map of rising and shrinking empires around the Middle East in the past several millennia.
My main impression: Man, folks on this planet sure love their empires, don't they? I guess some are not big on Live And Let Live.
1 comment:
Bruce
said...
I've been thinking about this. I'm kind of a "Live and Let Live" guy myself. History is not made by people like me I guess.
I think people that are poor will abandon this philosophy, out of fear. There was a study done that says a Democratic state is not sustainable if the average income is less than $6,500.00 per year.
Another part of this study says that it's nearly impossible to have a democracy in an oil rich state. To me that represents human greed. Perhaps less than 10 percent of wealthy people are greedy, but it doesn't take many greedy people (with some wealth and power) to start an empire.
I wonder if anyone is working on greed as a disease, either from the public health point of view or from the personal health point of view. Imagine if greed was a disease that could be tested for and diagnosed!
1 comment:
I've been thinking about this. I'm kind of a "Live and Let Live" guy myself. History is not made by people like me I guess.
I think people that are poor will abandon this philosophy, out of fear. There was a study done that says a Democratic state is not sustainable if the average income is less than $6,500.00 per year.
Another part of this study says that it's nearly impossible to have a democracy in an oil rich state. To me that represents human greed. Perhaps less than 10 percent of wealthy people are greedy, but it doesn't take many greedy people (with some wealth and power) to start an empire.
I wonder if anyone is working on greed as a disease, either from the public health point of view or from the personal health point of view. Imagine if greed was a disease that could be tested for and diagnosed!
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