how does the brain work?

On Fri, 05 May 2017 04:43:41 +0200, Emanuel Berg
wrote:

John B Slocomb writes:

Nope. In Imperial China the majority of the opium
smokers were not the"nobility", they was the common
folk.

It might have something to do with them being a much
larger portion, of course.

Of course that is true but as I commented in another post, opium was
known in China long before the arrival of the British. And undoubtedly
used to some extent by the richer classes.

What the British did was provide cheap opium which the multitudes
could afford.


But I suppose even to this day drug misuse and
everything else miserable is always more common among
the common folk.

In fact China, in the Imperial period, was ruled,
not by "nobility" but by a large bureaucracy who had
successfully taken and passed perhaps the most
stringent civil service testing in history.

Still, it doesn't seem they got that many things done

But they did. Read a little comparative history.

They built the Great Wall, which I have read is the only man made
edifice that can be seen from outer space. They constructed the Great
Canal which stretches for some 1,700 km. It appears that this was an
on going project and there is evidence that construction may have
started as early as 700 BC. In 1400 London had an estimated population
of something like 40,000. Nanjing had an estimated population of
500,000.

Unfortunately the wheels came off in the 1600's with the fall of the
Ming Dynasty, largely due to China (the Middle kingdom) coming to
believe that they required nothing from the outside world and, as
Japan did, cutting themselves off from the world.

On Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 7:43:44 PM UTC-7, Emanuel Berg wrote:

Still, it doesn't seem they got that many things done

Eh? What do you know about it? China ran MUCH better than most other countries. It had a population so much larger than any other country that if they didn't run efficiently they didn't run at all.

I believe that there is a note of learning to drive properly among many commuters as well. I asked an American/Chinese why Chinese drivers are so bad. He said that in China you have to fight for everything that you can get including the simple space to live and that carries over to their driving here. So perhaps in a generation or two that will lighten up.

Oh Jeez. Tom do you have any idea how the Chinese treat the Uyghurs?

https://www.google.com/search?q=chin...w=1331&bih=678

On Friday, May 5, 2017 at 9:15:01 AM UTC-7, Doug Landau wrote:
I believe that there is a note of learning to drive properly among many commuters as well. I asked an American/Chinese why Chinese drivers are so bad. He said that in China you have to fight for everything that you can get including the simple space to live and that carries over to their driving here. So perhaps in a generation or two that will lighten up.

Oh Jeez. Tom do you have any idea how the Chinese treat the Uyghurs?

https://www.google.com/search?q=chin...w=1331&bih=678

Doug - exactly what relationship does that have with anything that has been said here?

Still, it doesn't seem they got that many
things done

Eh? What do you know about it? China ran MUCH
better than most other countries. It had
a population so much larger than any other
country that if they didn't run efficiently
they didn't run at all.

China is so big, it is more like a world to
itself than a nation like Japan, probably not
even comparable to today's Brazil, Russia, or
the USA. India is perhaps the only comparison?

China of lore and legend is a completely
different issue and there is no denying all the
amazing things they did, but creative,
industrial, and "monumental".

However in the 20th century and probably
a couple of hundred years before that they seem
to have lost something, which the encounter
with the British shows. Not exactly as the
encounters with the Mongols in the 13th
century...

And, if the bureaucracy were able to solve the
issues in China in the 20th century, why did
the country disintegrate completely with the
war lords running amok, not being capable of
fighting of the Japanese, and why did it
require an all but endless civil war and bloody
revolution to get the country back on track?

--
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

On Friday, May 5, 2017 at 1:48:19 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Friday, May 5, 2017 at 9:15:01 AM UTC-7, Doug Landau wrote:
I believe that there is a note of learning to drive properly among many commuters as well. I asked an American/Chinese why Chinese drivers are so bad. He said that in China you have to fight for everything that you can get including the simple space to live and that carries over to their driving here. So perhaps in a generation or two that will lighten up.

Oh Jeez. Tom do you have any idea how the Chinese treat the Uyghurs?

https://www.google.com/search?q=chin...w=1331&bih=678

Doug - exactly what relationship does that have with anything that has been said here?

Admittedly, nothing

osmosis

On Fri, 05 May 2017 23:00:37 +0200, Emanuel Berg
wrote:

Still, it doesn't seem they got that many
things done

Eh? What do you know about it? China ran MUCH
better than most other countries. It had
a population so much larger than any other
country that if they didn't run efficiently
they didn't run at all.

China is so big, it is more like a world to
itself than a nation like Japan, probably not
even comparable to today's Brazil, Russia, or
the USA. India is perhaps the only comparison?

China of lore and legend is a completely
different issue and there is no denying all the
amazing things they did, but creative,
industrial, and "monumental".

Well, they did developer a system wherein the largest nation in the
world fed and clothed their citizens far better then any other nation
in the world. And they did this when the rest of the world was still
wiping their butts with their fingers.

At the height of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) China ruled more than
one-third of the world's population, and had the largest economy in
the world. By area it was one of the largest empires ever.


However in the 20th century and probably
a couple of hundred years before that they seem
to have lost something, which the encounter
with the British shows. Not exactly as the
encounters with the Mongols in the 13th
century...

Rather like Denmark, isn't it. After all the "Danes" conquered much of
England and Ireland and ruled it up until somebody came along and
kicked them off the throne :-)


And, if the bureaucracy were able to solve the
issues in China in the 20th century, why did
the country disintegrate completely with the
war lords running amok, not being capable of
fighting of the Japanese, and why did it
require an all but endless civil war and bloody
revolution to get the country back on track?

It is a rather complex subject but essentially China found that as
they were, actually, self sufficient there was no reason to associate
with the rest of the world and didn't. Unfortunately while China
stagnated the rest of the world didn't, and when confronted with a
vastly superior technology they disintegrated.

John B Slocomb wrote:

And, if the bureaucracy were able to solve
the issues in China in the 20th century, why
did the country disintegrate completely with
the war lords running amok, not being
capable of fighting of the Japanese, and why
did it require an all but endless civil war
and bloody revolution to get the country
back on track?

It is a rather complex subject but
essentially China found that as they were,
actually, self sufficient there was no reason
to associate with the rest of the world and
didn't. Unfortunately while China stagnated
the rest of the world didn't, and when
confronted with a vastly superior technology
they disintegrated.

OK, so they were over-confident and arrogant,
and in the beginning they could back this up
but soon that changed and they didn't. It is
just like in fantasy and science fiction movies
where the nemesis always loose because of
over-confidence.

Actually when you meet Chinese people many seem
cold and perhaps not exactly arrogant but not
to eager to communicate either, put it that
way. I am unsure if this is some cultural thing
which I incorrectly interpret as arrogance or
if that is actually what it is.

Compare Japanese people which are very social
and friendly (except when they drink alcohol).

--
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

On Sat, 06 May 2017 04:17:11 +0200, Emanuel Berg
wrote:

John B Slocomb wrote:

And, if the bureaucracy were able to solve
the issues in China in the 20th century, why
did the country disintegrate completely with
the war lords running amok, not being
capable of fighting of the Japanese, and why
did it require an all but endless civil war
and bloody revolution to get the country
back on track?

It is a rather complex subject but
essentially China found that as they were,
actually, self sufficient there was no reason
to associate with the rest of the world and
didn't. Unfortunately while China stagnated
the rest of the world didn't, and when
confronted with a vastly superior technology
they disintegrated.

OK, so they were over-confident and arrogant,
and in the beginning they could back this up
but soon that changed and they didn't. It is
just like in fantasy and science fiction movies
where the nemesis always loose because of
over-confidence.

Actually when you meet Chinese people many seem
cold and perhaps not exactly arrogant but not
to eager to communicate either, put it that
way. I am unsure if this is some cultural thing
which I incorrectly interpret as arrogance or
if that is actually what it is.

Compare Japanese people which are very social
and friendly (except when they drink alcohol).
And NEVER try to tell a Japanese engineer anything. Come to think of
it, that's pretty common among engineers anywhere - but REALLY
noticable with Japanese.