@alien
... But we continue to be off the OP. This often happens on gokunming, often because many western foreigners here seem to convert every topic into 'China good' vs. 'China bad'. Tells more about the posters than about whatever the particular topic is....
really what does it tell..?
china good vs. china bad. what do you thing chinese do after living visiting in the west. they all must love it and always talk positive?
so i have to agree or it tells you i am a ....?
why can't we have different opinions? i love and hate china. most good relationships work like that. lol
cultural evolution. industrial revolution was an industrial economic evolution. as natural as the cultural evolution.
A deep question, Alien. Are humans instrinically good or bad?
A culture certainly develops. Some might use the word evolve. Or perhaps devolve! There are also external influences, are they therefore not natural?
Humans have created their own versions of what is good or bad over time. Good and bad are in constant evolution.
Actually, I don't think my question is all that important, except that people often use 'Nature' as some sort of explanation, justification or excuse. 'Culture' can also be used this way.
Call sunlight an external influence if you like, but please don't put it in the same category as the Industrial Revolution and call both external, 'natural' influences.
Industrial Revolution was perhaps more inevitable (evolutionally natural) than the Cultural Revolution or the Boxer Rebellion. Those latter two were due more so to deliberate choices. Nevertheless all those things affected culture. Positively or negatively, that's a different question, but affected China nonetheless.
What would it mean to say that a (nonhuman) animal told a lie?
Cooking food is a cultural phenomenon.
Maybe so. Or would you prefer to say lying is not a cultural phenomenon, but rather, what? A moral one?
I'd prefer to say it's a cultural phenomenon - a very basic one - an ability that inevitably comes with language and consciousness...or, wait a minute: perhaps language and consciousness are human nature?
This forum has commented on the differing perspectives on lying from different countries, so we are generally saying the particular usage of lying in a particular country is a reflection of their unique culture.