using history as a template
what traits from any past[present] cultures could we integrate to make a PERFECT culture/society

please note by keeping posts short you will make them easier to read and qoute.

well, alota people think atlantis was.
maybe lemuria too. but, we cant really know that.

That shows how little you actually know. Lemuria was only ever invented because 19th Century geologist Philip Sclater didn't understand how there could be fossils of lemurs in both Madagascar and India, so throught there was a sunken landmass once joining the two.

Plate tectonics now not only shows how the same fossils came to be in both places, but also proves that a continent could never have existed there.

So, what misguided internet resource have you been reading to make you think it could have been "the perfect society" given that it definately never existed?

hmm descriptions please.

of what?

I don't think any one culture was perfect. They all had their dark days. If you take a bit from here and there, well... isn't that what we basically have today?

I also think it's impossible to have a perfect culture no matter what you do, because basically, humans are incapable of being perfect and will always have different opinions of what is 'right and wrong'.

Well, I would assume that a perfect culture would have been able to last until the present...so, can you think of any ancient cultures that are still around, the same way they have always been? That's your perfect culture.

How about looking to the hacker/open source/creative commons culture that freely shares ideas and knowledge because they realize they can go farther together then alone. We can apply that to every aspect of our lives and when we do great results will follow suit.

Agree there is no proff either for lemuria, Mu or atlantis. In other word they are a produce of fantasy, just like the planet Naboo...the homeland of Queen Amidala (the funny gal for star wars).

what do you mean with the word perfect?

Didn't they try that 90 years ago but called it "Communism"?
The idea's nice, but human nature being what it is, it's just never worked too well in practice

--Jaylemurph

The ever synical Emma, You have nothing better to do, but to abuse poeple and that with out a shred of evidence from your website sources, which are flawed. just like mummies in egypt can have cocaine in them, why can artifacts end up in other conitnents or lands, especailly if they were advance enough. look beyond evolution, and you will realise man as been here longer than you think. We live we die, we build and we destroy or get destroyed, and the cycle starts again....

I thought, secularism and capatilism was perfect....... I guess not!

She said nothing wrong. As far as evidence shows, those places did not exist. She said the truth as we know it.

Capatilism rocks. I agree.

I submit that a perfect culture would have to be non-violent and respect it's neighbors. But human nature being what it is, a non-violent culture that respected it's neighbors would be destroyed in short order by a war like culture that conquered its neighbors.

Not in my opinion-- I think its reached it peak, the only direction for it now, is down....

Discussion for another room, but i believe there is, you say there is not..... show me.

Houston, we have a serious pot/kettle/black situation...

--Jaylemurph

Agreed.

I don't know if there was a perfect culture. Yes, each other had dark days.

But my mind keeps coming up with Ancient Rome.

im sorry but only a few of you seem to get the fact that i asked for the bits of culture[s] that we would wnt in our perfect culture.

The only perfect culture that I could see existing would be in a Petrie dish.

Harte

you need to understand what a perfect culture is.........you need a criteria for judgment on what is perfect and what is not.....and on this point i think tehre will be to many differences, cause all the system we have today, or of recent history, lets say the roman, of which we still employ alot of its concepts, only serve the individual and not society as whole, so only few become better off, while the rest rot...no im not a commi, thats bull too. The opposite of the latter is capatilism, which has reached its peak.

Communism is perfect in theory only. introduce absolute power and expect tyranny. Who would want to live in perfect society? Have you read "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. Have you thought about losing the sensation of joy? If everything was joyful you would cease to feel it.

I hope you mean the Republic and not the Empire.
Not that the Republic was all it was cracked up to be.

--Jaylemurph

Yeah, but what about The New Republic?

Harte

Dude! We, humans are ourselves flawed, then how can we set a criteria on what is perfect and what is not?
If a culture was perfect, it wouldnt have dide out.
What happened to the romans and greeks?
Their culture/civilization did contribute to the progress of the world, but they dide out..because they were not perfect!

A "perfect" civilization could only exist if all inhabitants had the same definition of perfect all the time. What is your definition of "perfect" is probably not agreeable to my definition of "perfect." Is it possible for all the inhabitants of a civilization to maintain the same perception of "perfect" for any great amount of time? History has shown us that this is not plausible.

Ha, no I'm not talking Communism. I'm talking a more universal, volunteer movement. The hackers/open source programmers/Creative commons people all had their own jobs but in addition contributed to the public. If we applied this concept elsewhere like to food production we could get companies to benefit society instead of hindering it. If they would make a long term investment in people then in turn they're greedy little bellies will be bursting if they give us time. How much food goes wasted in grocery stores because we have so much? Credit card companies,banks cranking up interest rates destroying lives and without realizing it creating the very lack of money in their pockets they're trying to avoid so bad. It can work, because it has worked...it's nothing experimental it just needs a larger audience of participants. There are so many groups out there in the world trying to make a difference but not all of them communicate with each other and help each other out. If you take a look at Linux there are so many variations of it out there, it's the same, but guess what they all share a common audience because they have similar goals and communicate with each other. That is what I mean when we should take a page out of there book. Lots of love to you all, take care!

lol there is no such as perfect culture

Capitalism works fine in this country (the US) for those who work hard. The only reason credit card companies have any power is because people have no self control and refuse to live a life they can truly afford. Take the home mortgage debacle we are having right now. Why should my tax money bail out someone who was stupid enough to take out an A.R.M. and buy a $300,000 house when they only made $50,000 a year? It's just like people I know who b**** about not being able to afford health insurance right after they showed me photos of their 2 week vacation they just took to Europe. Self control is the issue. Human nature is that people want to be fairly compensated for the work they do, and don't want to see others getting a 'free ride'. If other people don't have to pay the consequences for their stupid decisions, it's not fair to us, the people who live within our means.
Our capitalist society allows any person to easily create a business and make money beyond their wildest expectations. The less the government is involved, the better. It cost me only $250 for the forms to start my business, and I am free to make as much money as I can.

I do agree that these banks and credit card companies are greedy, yes. But it's poor decision making by individuals that give them the power they have. I have ONE credit card for emergencies. Everything else I buy is with cash.

About Rome being the perfect society, I dunno. The empire had a caste system, slavery, and killed people for sport. Just my opinion.

Your right Armour Plated, If we human are flawed then how can we create a perfect system, The greeks and the Romans had flaws in their system too, initially it may have started out well, but gradually man destroys what he makes for himself.

In order to get a perfect system, you anwered one of my questions, if man is flawed then we really can make a system for whole of mankind which wil be perfect, someone or something that hasthe abillty to be perfect, should have the system, I will leave it there, because for me the perfect system, is a religious one.

-_-'

Whatever you want it to be.

Well, the Roman Empire is as far from a perfect culture as anything else -- it depended on slavery and military expansion; its power structure was aristocratic and functioned largely by murder; and most people in the Empire were poor and paid exorbitant taxes.

--Jaylemurph

gawd.

i said what TRAITS WOULD YOU INTEGRATE TO MAKE the perfect culture.

i dont want to know if it is a possibility.

i dont want to know what cultures are imperfect.

i want to know what would be in the perfect culture.

ex: laws, politics, archetecture, tech vs nature, etc, etc.

Sounds like great survey material. I think it'd be great to look at the results; especially, if the survey was responded by the masses. Creating the survey would be troublesome though (what to leave out, what to put in, etc.). Is it possible to do a survey on this forum?

To have a perfect culture you would have to have perfect people. And nobodies perfect.

Every culture also has a rise, golden age and a decline. It is the nature of mankind. To preserve a culture you would have to have humans that did not evolve socially or technologically and whose environment did not change.

My idea of a perfect culture would have to be Hunter-Gatherer, where everyone chips in, the population is small and everyone knows everyone else. The old are honored and the young are protected and taught the tribes way of life.

Also Capitalism isn't on it's way out, it is on the rise. The Chinese are becoming more and more capitalist and will soon burst forth in a buying frenzy, much as the Japanese did in the 80s.

Maybe whales have a perfect culture??

beside slavery it was like most like the other cultures around in the time and after.

What do you think constitutes perfection? Would the happiness of it's inhabitants be the standard? Or would the efficacy of the culture as a whole be the standard? Or maybe the money, or power. It all depends, and like so many have already stated, everyone has a different definition of what their perfect culture would be.

There are cultures in remote places like south america that have remained untouched by technology that have thrived for centuries. Technically, since they haven't had to change much to keep reproducing and thriving in their environment, would they be considered perfect? They don't contribute to the rest of society, but they don't take from it either. They are all inclusive, and if you were to ask one of the members if they liked their culture, they would undoubtedly say yes, because they have nothing to compare it to.

In my opinion, that is what would constitute a perfect culture, but would not work anywhere else, because half of the reason they have lasted for so long is by NOT progressing, which goes against what the rest of the world strives for.

In reply to the origional op- roman and ancient egyptian architecture and engineering, 'celtic' art, wiccan/tree-hugging/noe-pagan belief systems, victorian british sense of philanthropy, polynesian hospitality, mayan and babylonian astronomy...that's plenty for me for now.

Concerning your remarks regarding "capitalism" - capitalism today was much different than the capitalism that Adam Smith wrote about in his book "Wealth of Nations...". Capitalsim today resembles a lot of socialism of "yesterday".

pfft, ahaha. nice try there emma. but im sorry you wasted your time posting that, for no reason.
*looks back, checks for where the thread said 'its had to have once been there, in order to mention it now'.*
huh, cant find that anywhere. it just asked what traits from past ones, would help to make the perfect one. so, again atlantis for one. people thought it was a perfect culture (or at least thats something that was written about it). and apparently, i AM using history as a template, because its been in our history for ages. (sorry for you wasting your time)
but i dont think there is (somewhere) or could be a perfect culture. i dont think you can mix up different traits from different times, and put them into one place, creating the 'perfect' culture. things change too much. imo

Get rid of Corporate Slavery(Here at home and especially third world "guest workers, yeah right!!!! look at dubai, 12 hour shifts day and night, over 50000 people on either shift), Religion, Government Restrictions on schools, private business, and drugs, and finally Abolish sentences for non-violent crimes(remember prohibition of the 40's and the life sentence and/or 20 years BS for selling Marijuana in the 60-70(while the same people sent 3 million US Servicemen to die in veitnam...))

I think a good place to start in creating the 'perfect' culture would be to take the money away, do away with wants and concentrate on needs!

Create an educational system that devotes it's resources to the arts and sciences, and educate/condition the kids the 'right' way from the day they are born!

If the children can be educated/conditioned to love each other unconditionally there would be no need for any authority!

Let every country decide their own way of doing things without forcing anybody elses ideals on them!

Or failing all that...

The hobbits ways a good un for me...a pouch of pipeweed and a flagon of ale and lots of merryment.

Um yeah, just go ask some hard working farmers how the systems works. As for everything else you said, I pretty much agree. Easy lending, spending money on credit like there is no tomorrow, that is the state of the average American.

um am I the only one that thinks that classical Greece >>>>Ancient Rome
and I'm part italian

... stop boosting you're number of posts with responses like this.

Never has there bin any perfect culture or at least one I would call perfect.

A little of ancient Greeks with some Roma a splash of Egypt and maybe a dash of modern time might make a perfect culture.

Ya want a perfect culture or somewhere there of, get rid of all religions.

I think people who say this are like the moro... suckers who go to Renaissance fairs, thinking they'd probably being enjoying all the benefits of the age, when it's much more likely that, had you lived in that period, you'd be poor, dirty doing back-breaking physical labour, and with a nasty skin disease to boot.

--Jaylemurph