Is Change a Good Thing or A Bad Thing?

Is Change A Good or Bad Thing?

Change happens constantly throughout the world as it has done since the first day of the universe. Everything in our world is constantly changing and advancing in technology. As we learn more about ourselves as humans and advance in technology, we change. Change is a very difficult thing to take a side on. There are changes for the good and changes for the worse. All change contributes somewhat to advancing us and even change that is bad in the immediate can help us in the long run. The changing technology and culture can help many people in the end and can help us live together peacefully.

Before there were cultures and civilizations developed, people were nomads. They followed food and hunted and gathered to survive. The best of the best were the ones that got to eat and the weakest had to do without. This unfair hierarchy didn’t allow for a lot of people to survive, because there was a limited amount of food and those that weren’t as good at hunting or gathering or were weak, didn’t get what they needed to survive. As people changed their ways and began to domesticate things like crops and some animals, society became fairer. People could get seeds and domesticate crops and animals, which provided food that they couldn’t get otherwise. This also allowed for the advancement for society with the formation of laws, writing, and government. This changed early civilizations and people for the better because there were feuds and wars and killings over food and land.

That kind of change starts for the better and ends up benefiting everyone in the end. There is another kind of change that can end up good for people in the long run. This kind of change starts out bad or dangerous. When the Nazis came to power, they started World War Two and killed millions of people because they thought they could. They changed society in Germany and Europe for the worse. The Nazi government took away freedoms and persecuted people because they could. However, once the Nazis fell from power and Germany was defeated in World War Two, we saw what they were really doing. People became aware of the crimes that the Nazis committed, and wanted to do something about it. This lead to the formation of international laws and warned us of the things that could happen in the future if we are not careful. The change that at one point killed millions of people helped us advance our laws and society and helped us understand how to prevent things like this from happening again.

As we grow and change there are also terrible things that change with us. Warfare has gone from two countries fighting on a battlefield to terrorism and attacks on civilians. As we fight these new battles we have to change our strategy in the fight. As weapons of war have change the tactics have changed. Two hundred years ago men were still standing in line or charging positions and devastating each other. Now warfare has become more elite. It takes less soldiers to perform a task and some missions that would usually put a soldier in very high danger can now been done by a robot or a UAV, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. This however doesn’t eliminate the danger, but it decreases the amount of soldiers and servicemen in danger.

The change in technology has helped people with many problems. New technology has let us produce solutions to problems like water scarcity. Millions of people don’t have clean water to drink, but a change in technology could help this. There is an invention, called the Life Straw, which allows people to drink directly from usually bad water sources. The straw has a filter inside and removes over 99% of bacteria and 98% of water borne viruses. This allows people to get clean drinking water, which helps the overall community. Life Straws are relatively cheap and can be donated to areas with very high levels of sickness from water borne diseases.

Change can also be good on a personal level. When someone gets addicted to drugs or starts smoking cigarettes, the best thing for them to do is to change their ways and get rid of their habits. There are many methods and places that are set up and designed specifically to help people change from their drug life to a clean life. Therapy and rehabilitation makes it easier for people to quit using drugs and some people come out and help other people that have the same problems. This type of lifestyle change helps not only these people but it makes the community a safer and healthier place.

Sometimes these changes that can help us in great ways don’t happen very fast. It takes years to develop things like LifeStraws and UAVs that could possibly prevent the deaths of many people, and changing your life after using drugs is never an easy process. It takes time, sometimes a very long time, to find something that works better than what was before. It took thousands of years for cavemen to figure out that you could domesticate plants and animals, which eventually helped us form the basis of our advancement today. Change is made when we take time to experiment and discover new things that can positively benefit humankind, not when we decide this is what needs to change so let’s change it. Changing and forming governments and laws takes time to figure out what works best and suits everyone fairly. The United States government didn’t just appear from nowhere on Jul 4, 1776, and it continues to try and find what works best for the world and the country in today’s world.

Change can benefit all people if we allow it to happen. When we discover something new, we need to accept that change because it may advance us or help us in ways nothing else could. Forming the first laws, writing systems and governments was the first step and from there the changed we have made has been endless. We have changed our ways and laws based on crimes that were committed against humanity and we changed the way that we protect and defend ourselves using new machines. All good change is centered toward the goal of living safely and peacefully together.

The Theories and Study of History

The Theories and Study of History

History is the study of the past events and how and why those events happened. People record events important to history which allows us to learn how we have progressed and what mistakes we have made. People throughout the world, in different cultures and different areas of the world think of history in different ways. There are four main views of history; linear history, cyclic history, Hegelian history and Vortextual history.

Cyclic history is the theory that history revolves in a never ending cycle and repeats itself throughout time in our history. This can be seen in the rise and fall of empires and in the Hinduism beliefs of reincarnation. Vortextual history is similar in the fact that history repeats itself. Vortextual history states that parts of history are measured in large and small events. One large event takes place and leads to a smaller less detailed event, which eventually leads into another larger and perhaps more important event. This theory shows why things happen in stages such as the Roman Empire that leads into the smaller and less recorded Middle or Dark Ages, which leads into the extremely important Renaissance age that started the type of thinking that we have today.

The third theory of history is the Hegelian Theory. This theory states that if two separate events occur, their combination could make another event occur, or thesis plus antithesis equals synthesis. For example, Bob eating a lot plus Bob playing soccer equals Bob getting sick. This theory is centered on cause and event in its most basic form. This is useful, when someone wants to know how or why something happened during history.

The Theory of Linear History shows history as a timeline. It is based on the belief that history happens as events following each other. Every event or time period has its place in time where it stays. Linear history is possibly the easiest theory of how history develops out of any of the four main theories. It is very easy to understand that an event took place in a certain time period which in turn another event took place after that. The Theory of Linear History is usually linked with western culture meaning Western Europe and North America. The almost exact opposite of linear history is cyclic history which comes from cultures usually centered in Asia.
Linear history is the most important theory of history because of the simplicity of it. Timelines are a very simple and easily understood way of showing events in history. It is easier to explain a timeline to someone than to explain the theory of Vortextual History. There is also the fact that a timeline could encompass all the parts of history at once. A timeline could show repeating events, other events that lead up to a major event which explains why that event happened, and it shows events that get smaller and larger and smaller again. Linear history is able to show all of the things that the other types of history show, in a very simple format.

History is the study of past events and how and why they happened. People have been using history to help them since the beginning of humankind. In the stone ages when there was no writing people would use lessons learned in the past to advance their hunting skills or their ability to find food. They also would use stories, drawings, sculptures, and carvings to tell about experiences that past people had, which could become part of their religion or culture.

As people became more advanced, writing systems started to develop. This helped the recording of history because there was a language that was universal for all the people living there in that civilization and the people no longer had to remember things and speak them to pass down the stories. The study of history developed as people and cultures did. Depending on what was happening during that time, the way history was recorded became very different during different time periods. The ancient Greeks and Romans would put history into story form and would make it better for their side of the story. The monks and priest would record history during the middle ages but their historical accounts were based on the Christian faith. Monks were usually the only people that could write, and we still don’t know much of anything about the time because the monks usually only wrote about the Church.

Until the 18th and 19th century’s historical accounts mostly stayed the same, except during the Renaissance people recorded a lot more than what was happening in the Church. The 18th and 19th centuries were when the philosophers like Hegel became a part of history and changed how many people look at history, they thought more deeply about why things were happening other than just recording what happened or writing stories about it. In the 20th century people started to look at history from both sides. They didn’t shift their thoughts to one side as much as the Greeks and Romans did.

History has also been broken down into different fields, just like science has. There are specific studies for history on everything from prehistory art to modern military history. Each field has specialized historians that study it and analyze it. There is also history for almost everything. There are studies of the history of words, buildings, and every other object that has a history.

History is the record of what has happened to us in the past and why that happened and came about. There are four main types of history; the Hegelian theory, linear history, cyclic history, and the theory of Vortextual history. However, linear history stands out because it is very easy to understand learn and can encompass all views of history. These theories have been formed over time like the recording of history has. It has gone from carving and storytelling to monks writing the history of their faith to philosophers thinking about why things happen in history. History changes every day just like people’s views of it change every day.

Notes - Types of history and Ancient Hitory

Types of History

Thursday, January 21, 2010

6:49 PM

1. Linear History
2. Cyclic history
3. Hegelian history

Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis

4. Vortex / Vortextual History
1. Yeats - Like a cycle but the events are always

Ancient History:

Fertlie Crescent - Mesopotamia in between Euphrates and Tigris

Three Stone Ages

Hunter gatherers were nomads

People then settle into villages they domesticate animals and plants and they start producing art

Oldest city is Jericho

Water becomes the most important reason for location of cities

In nomadic culture the best and fastest get the animals

When people settle they start to trade and they start to specialize in jobs like a pro farmer or hunter or builder

Then laws and government starts to form

When people settle down there is organized religion

All of this makes up culture

If I Discovered Something That Could Help Millions..,

If I discovered something that could help millions I would send it out right away to help those people rather than getting rich. If I was the one needing help I would want someone to save me and not do something for their own gain. I was always told that the purpose in life is help others and to be happy, not to get rich. Yes, getting rich would be a great thing and could solve many problems people have throughout their life, but I don't need to be rich to be happy. If I had the satisfaction of helping someone or possibly millions of people, getting rich would only be a bonus.

The Venus Of Willendorf

The Venus of Willendorf is a small statue that comes from the stone age. It is around 25,000 years old and is one of the earliest art pieces found. The Venus, as it is sometimes called, is a statue of an obese or pregnant nude woman. Many scientists, historians, and archaeologists believe that she was a symbol of a mother. The stone age people were hunter gatherers and they fought to stay alive.

The Venus of Willendorf doesn't show any direct connection with the domestication of animals. While in some areas there were domesticated animals around the time that this art piece was thought to be made, most humans were still hunter gatherers. The Venus has more to do with the ability to reproduce and survive than the domestication of animals.

http://www.pbs.org/howartmadetheworld/episodes/human/venus/
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/artifacts/venusfigurines.html

The Significance of Megaliths

Megaliths, or large stone structures used for rituals or burials, allow for the advancement of religion and cultures. People explained and expressed their beliefs through these structures and performed rituals that furthered their culture and thus furthering their civilization. These megaliths explains the beliefs of early civilizations in the way they were built. They are usually structured in a certain way to honor a god or a belief. Religion is a major part of culture and these structures are the remnants of these early religions

The Signifiicence of Agriculture in Culture

As people moved into Europe they brought farming with them. The early farmers just planted in natural fields, but soon invented the plow and cleared land just for planting. As farming technology advanced people could focus more on other technology like writing and advance their culture. This allowed for new technology as people moved into the bronze age and they experimented and discovered new things. Art became prominent because early cultures weren't focussed solely on food. Eventually these small cultures formed into civilizations because they were settled and could survive fairly easily.

Hegelian Theory of History Chart

Event 1. John sprains his ankle + Event 2. John gets jumped on the way home

= Event 3. John goes to the hospital

Event 1. John tells his parents what happened and how he got hurt + Event 2. John's parents get very angry.