Re:Studying the demise of historic civilisations
by reader5000 on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @10:26AM
(#19311088)
Continuity existing between separate categories doesn't mean categories are arbitrary nor artifacts of language. For example adults and children really are separate categories for many important purposes yet there is never a single day when a child becomes an adult.
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Re:Studying the demise of historic civilisations
by JackFr on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @10:50AM
(#19311285)
That's an excellent analogy. How a society differentiates adults and children, is often more a reflection of societal norms than it is an objective biological distinction.
Similarly, analyses like these cannot help but be a reflection of the society that produced them. This article features a callout in the middle with weirdly axis-ed charts about climate change, inequality and environmental degradation, it's difficult not smirk knowing that within the context of our current society, there was no way it could be otherwise. One wonders 50 or 150 years ago what the cultural bugbears were and what the callout in the middle of the page would have featured. Overpopulation? Nuclear war? Out-of-wedlock births?
Re:Studying the demise of historic civilisations
by mcv on Wednesday March 06, 2019 @04:00AM
(#19317407)
It's a decent analogy, but not a great one. Most people grow up in a fairly similar way. Every civilisation develops differently. Also, it's clear where one person ends and the next person begins. With civilisations, that's not so clear.
Re:Studying the demise of historic civilisations
by simonh on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @10:37AM
(#19311173)
Categorizations can be useful definitely, but we need to bear in mind they’re not definitive or absolute. The underlying reality is primary, not the categorization, but it’s easy to get it the wrong way round.