Tag: cultural environment
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Prosperity: Dencentralization
After a twelve-day hiatus, I return to my series on the "Cycle of Prosperity." My last three posts dealt with the cultural environment that gave birth to the explosion in modern prosperity originating in Europe. I suggested that there are at least four cultural features related to the Judeo-Christian heritage that have had an impact…
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Prosperity: Order and Reason
Yesterday I wrote that, apart from the Judeo-Christian heritage, religion has been mainly about bringing life into conformity with the cycles of nature. Ordering of lives is achieved through adherence to a set of stories and rituals that reflect these patterns. The stories and rituals give order to existence. The idea of processing from a…
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Prosperity: Linear Time and Progress
Throughout history, religions have had a cyclical (or at least nonlinear) view of time. Religious ritual was an exercise in honoring and appeasing the cycles of nature established by the gods. Life was an endless succession of cycles. One of the most striking features of the Jewish tradition is the notion of linear time. There…
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Prosperity: Respect for the Individual
We hear much today about the destructiveness of individualism. It no doubt is a significant cultural issue. But only recently has such excessive focus on the individual emerged. Throughout history, individuals were considered subordinate to society or rulers. An individual's existence and liberty were maintained primarily at the pleasure of the societal elite. Elaborate religious…
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Prosperity: Opening Thoughts on Cultural Environment
We have visited five elements within the cycle of prosperity: technology, food supply, human capital, economic growth and wealth, and trade. We have seen how these five interact in mutually reinforcing organic ways to generate prosperity. We have also seen how the environment and natural resources can influence how an economy develops. We turn now…