Re: The joy of actual numbers, was Democracy

rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

On Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:33:25 +0100, D wrote:
 

But as we've done in the past, we learn the lessons, start again. End of
civilization? Hardly. A bump in the road, definitely.

 
I haven't read Tainter but I have visited most the the Chaco culture sites
in the US SW. Chaco Canyon is particularly impressive, in the size of the
primary site and the network of roads to the outliers. The roads are
enigmatic. There is no evidence the Ansazi used the wheel although there
are children's pull toys that show they understood the concept.
 
The culture is gone. The same can be said for the Mound Builders in the
eastern US. You might say civilization was alive and well in contemporary
Europe, but it was vanishing in the Americas about a millennium ago.
 
He was a one trick pony but Miller's 'A Canticle for Leibowitz' os the
more likely account of the future.
 

I’ve never understood why native Americans didn’t use the wheel. Maybe the
Incas, because mountain trackways aren’t to conducive to wheeled traffic,
but besides Chaco the Mayans and the Amazonian civilization had roads with
no wheels. I also don’t understand why there was no American bronze age
when they certainly used metals, including copper.

--
Pete