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What is it that makes some cultures so much more creative than others?

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In the book referenced by several posters, it was a matter of geography that faciliated the development of civilizations and the proliferation of technology. Europe was lucky that it had some proximity to the civilizations of the middle east/turkey. That was where the major advances in agriculture occured. The technology was able to make it to Europe because east-west travel faciliated the exchange of ideas and technology. It was more difficult North-South, that's why the civilizations in Africa/North and South America didn't take off the same way it did in Europe and the Middle East. Also the type of crops that they were able to cultivate in the Middle East allowed large agarian societies to form, leading the way to the development of the cities. An strong agarian economy is necessary in order to support the specialized class of craftsmen and artisans needed to create technology. So in a nutshell, race and culture hardly played a role in determining a civilization's level of advancement. It's more geographical. Read the "Guns Germs and Steel".
 
its all about leisure time

you have very little opportunity to be creative when you are struggling with day to day survival.

 
'Creative' is highly relative, IMO.

As for invention, I'm not sure. Perhaps a disposition for dissatisfaction in European/Asian/*.* genes that makes them strive to create something better, whereas African/American Indian/Polynesian/*.* genes are more dispositioned to be satisfied with the current situation and enjoy 'the simple things'.

The above is armseat conjecture. I make no claim to it's absolute truth, nor to the accuracy of any of the examples given.
 
go read guns germs and steel

the book basically states that there are no significant differences in brain power, but some race are just luckier compared to other
 
Originally posted by: notfred
I know people are going to call me a racist for this, but what the hell. Many cultures (most of Europe and parts of Asia) have been inventing/discovering new things for thousands of years, like the process to refine iron ore, gunpowder, the printing press, electricity, etc.

Meanwhile, other countries (say... many African nations, many pacific island cultures, etc..) don't seem to have come up with a single new innovation since agriculture. What makes science and technology so much more important to some cultures than others?


EDIT: This question is not "Why is more technology coming out of Europe than Africa right now?" But rather "Why has more technology come out of Europe than Africa consistently for the last 5000 years?" (You can generalize "Europe" and "Africa" to any cultures that fit the situation).
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I think you are biased towards science and technology as being progressive. Think about this, can you hunt a wild animal, say a deer with a spear. Or can you stay all day out in the sun working in the fields. Nor do we have an idea of how strong was their understanding of nature. Just to make my point, turmeric was being used in India for centuries for its medicinal properties. Only now have scientists realized its potential. I think some cultures are a lot more progressive than we give them credit for. We either exterminate them or westernise them.

CD.
 
Originally posted by: Descartes
This fantastic book will answer ALL of your questions in depth. Your questions might as well have served as an introduction to the first chapter! 🙂 Read it, and you'll be glad you did.
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As soon as I read the first post, I was about to recommend the same thing. But I figured anyone else who had read it already would, and well, there you go.
 
If I'm not mistaken, agriculture in Central America was far more advanced than it was anywhere else on earth. Granted, the Incas, Aztecs, etc. didn't invent the internet, but they were thriving quite well before Columbus got over here. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, Mexico City was the largest city in the world in its time.
 
Originally posted by: DrPizza
If I'm not mistaken, agriculture in Central America was far more advanced than it was anywhere else on earth. Granted, the Incas, Aztecs, etc. didn't invent the internet, but they were thriving quite well before Columbus got over here. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, Mexico City was the largest city in the world in its time.
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That is true about Central America; their staple crops where maize and beans. On the other hand, the middle east cultivated grains and cereals. I can't remember why, but there's an advantage to cultivating the latter. The book goes into detail on that.
 
As for the island nations, well, they just had to lie around and catch a few fish, and they were living in the lap of luxury surrounded by a paradise. Hardly a motivator to develop new technology. Heck, I'd probably give up technology for that.
 
thats coz europeans got their technology,etc due to extensive trade from Asia and improvised on it and then claimed that it was their own.... The printing press technology, for example originated from Korea. The Numeral and decimal system ( 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) originated from the Middle east and India.

The Chinese had gunpowder long before Europeans did.. but tthe europeans used the gunpowder to make cannons,etc...
 
Originally posted by: jai6638


The Chinese had gunpowder long before Europeans did.. but tthe europeans used the gunpowder to make cannons,etc...
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Yes, our great love of fireworks screwed us.

 
lol.. i personally think the chinese didnt find much use for gunpowder outside china coz they didnt have intentions of conquering other countries,etc
 
Originally posted by: jai6638
lol.. i personally think the chinese didnt find much use for gunpowder outside china coz they didnt have intentions of conquering other countries,etc
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Actually the chinese conquered quite a large landmass around them including present day vietnam, laos, etc...Also had tribute coming in from present day Korea


But the chinese did have an isolationist attitude and a bad superiority complex when it came to conquering nations cross ocean.

Also with so many cultural groups within 1 country, china had too much to worry about at the time to bother with cross ocean conquest.
 
Originally posted by: jai6638
lol.. i personally think the chinese didnt find much use for gunpowder outside china coz they didnt have intentions of conquering other countries,etc
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How do you suppose China got so big?
 
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