If you think about it, the history of civilization is the history of solutions to problems that people made for themselves. You could almost treat the whole of civilization as a kind of neurotic interlude. For example, you wouldn't have medical science were it not for diseases caused by too many people crammed into the one space. And you wouldn't have hypochondriacs either, who also make huge contributions to culture [Citation needed to just about everybody]. When you have a lot of people who don't even know each other living in the same building, then they start bossing each other around in an objectionable manner—the birth of political science. Et cetera.

The only thing is, can we keep this up? It's kind of exciting, a race to see if we can stay ahead of ourselves. We're neck and neck with our own dumbness!

Labels: Civilization