history

[work in progress]

ancient india

(todo)

See also: ancient India

ancient greeks

  • Major influence on: arts (architecture, music theory, literature, sculpting, pottery), language-alphabet, philosophy, mathematics, civics (governement), healthcare, military tactics

polymaths

  • Aristotle (384-322 BC)
    • video: intro
      • “Aristotle was the original Renaissance Man - long before the Renaissance. He wrote about biology, ethics, logic, physics, rhetoric, politics, and countless other subjects. In sum, Aristotle’s work comprised the first systematic form of Western Philosophy. Aristotle is also considered the first genuine scientist in history.”
    • video: more intro

philosophy

science

mathematics

language

  • “Greece was the first civilization to use an alphabet. It was developed after the Dark Ages and consisted of 24 letters. Believe it or not, the word “alphabet” originates from the first 2 letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and beta. Today many letters of our modern alphabet originate from the Greek alphabet, including letters such as A, B, E, and O.” *
  • “The Roman alphabet, nearly identical to the one we employ but limited at the time to block capitals, resulted from the modification of a Greek variant sometimes known as the Euboean or Western Greek alphabet.” *
  • “Cyril and Methodius created the Cyrillic alphabet in 862 AD, fist in Bulgaria, and then it spread in Russia, Serbia, and other countries. The cyrrilic alphabet is based on the Greek but they have added 9 more letters, which we do not have in the Greek language. The Greek Alphabet has only 24 letters.” *
  • “The Oxford Companion to the English Language states that the 'influence of classical Greek on English has been largely indirect, through Latin and French, and largely lexical and conceptual…'. According to one estimate, more than 150,000 words of English are derived from Greek words. These include technical and scientific terms but also more common words like those above. Words that starts with 'ph-' are usually of Greek origin, for example: philosophy, physical, photo, phrase, philanthropy. Many English words are formed of parts of words (morphemes) that originate from the Greek language (phobia, micro, demos, …).” - *

libraries

  • “The first library in the world, the Library of Alexandria, was actually built in Egypt. During this time, Egypt was colonized by the Greeks after it had submitted to Alexander’s rule. The Macedonians started spreading the Greek way of life to all of the conquered lands, including Egypt. After Alexander’s death, there was a power struggle. Eventually, the Kingdom of Egypt came under the rule of Alexander’s general, Ptolemy (not the scientist Claudius Ptolemy!).” - *

literature

  • Homer works: …
    • “From antiquity until the present day, the influence of the Homeric epics on Western civilization has been great, inspiring many of its most famous works of literature, music, art and film. The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education; to Plato, Homer was simply the one who ”has taught Greece“” - wikipedia
    • Illiad
    • Odyssee

sculpting

pottery

drama theater

architecture

civics

  • Athenian democracy
  • “The Greeks created the world’s first democracy. Athens first started out with a monarchy and then advanced to an oligarchy until it finally reached a democracy. The democratic government consisted of 6,000 assembly members, all of whom were adult male citizens. The assembly voted on issues throughout Athens. In order for a law to pass, the number of votes needed to be a majority. But in order to banish or exile someone, all 6,000 votes were needed.” - *
  • video: intro

civil engineering

  • worlds first flush toilets? Yes
  • worlds first stone roads? Almost (“Notably, in about 2000 BC, the Minoans built a 50 km paved road…”)
  • worlds first cities? Not quite, but the Polis (“city state”) was quite modern.

sports

  • “The Olympic Games started in ancient Greece. The participants were the city-states of Ancient Greece and its colonies. The Olympic Games were held every 4 years in honor of Zeus, the king god. The prizes for winning were fame and glory, along with having statues of the winners erected and sometimes even putting the winners' faces on coins. Today we still celebrate the Olympic Games and still continue some of the old traditions, such as the olive leaf crowns and the opening and closing celebrations.” *

military

history

world war I & II

The “second 30-years war”

libya war

”The world has never yet known peace. War has always been the basis of human relations the world over.” - W. Russell
“War does not determine who is right - only who is left.” - Bertrand Russell
“Come what come may, time and the hour run through the roughest day.” - W. Shakespeare

japanese culture

(todo)

  • “Japanese Culture: The Nature of Zen” (57min)
    • Zen (direct understanding)
    • Zazen meditative discipline
    • Koan: “a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the “great doubt” and test a student's progress in Zen practice” more info
      • “What is your original face before you were born?”
      • “When you can do nothing, what can you do?”
      • “I am the slave who set the master free.” - Rumi
      • “In stillness beyond silence, what is there?

music history

(todo)

science history

(todo)

computer history

(todo)

patent influence

history of dance

work-income-life

maslow hierarchy of needs
magnify image
Maslow pyramid & metamotivation
  • four pillars of life:
    • spirituality (“know thyself” / self-knowledge, life purpose, inner peace and happiness)
    • work (income, social status, life expression, calling)
    • relationships
    • health (eat, sleep, warmth, …)

psycho-social economics

  • ”Workism Is Making Americans Miserable“ 1:
    • “John Maynard Keynes predicted a 15-hour workweek in the 21st century, creating the equivalent of a five-day weekend. “For the first time since his creation man will be faced with his real, his permanent problem,” Keynes wrote, “how to occupy the leisure.” (…) They failed to anticipate that, for the poor and middle class, work would remain a necessity; but for the college-educated elite, it would morph into a kind of religion, promising identity, transcendence, and community. Call it workism. (…) “What is workism? It is the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production, but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose; and the belief that any policy to promote human welfare must always encourage more work.” (…) “The best-educated and highest-earning Americans, who can have whatever they want, have chosen the office for the same reason that devout Christians attend church on Sundays: It’s where they feel most themselves. “For many of today’s rich there is no such thing as ‘leisure’; in the classic sense—work is their play (…) “in a recent Pew Research report on the epidemic of youth anxiety, 95 percent of teens said “having a job or career they enjoy” would be “extremely or very important” to them as an adult. This ranked higher than any other priority, including “helping other people who are in need” (81 percent) or getting married (47 percent). Finding meaning at work beats family and kindness as the top ambition of today’s young people. (…) “a culture that funnels its dreams of self-actualization into salaried jobs is setting itself up for collective anxiety, mass disappointment, and inevitable burnout.” (…) “We’ve created this idea that the meaning of life should be found in work,” says Oren Cass, the author of the book The Once and Future Worker. “We tell young people that their work should be their passion. ‘Don’t give up until you find a job that you love!’ we say. ‘You should be changing the world!’ we tell them.” (…) “Among Millennial workers, it seems, overwork and “burnout” are outwardly celebrated (even if, one suspects, they’re inwardly mourned). In a recent New York Times essay, “Why Are Young People Pretending to Love Work?, …” (…) “A staggering 87 percent of employees are not engaged at their job, according to Gallup. That number is rising by the year.” (…) “On a deeper level, Americans have forgotten an old-fashioned goal of working: It’s about buying free time.”
  • “Henry David Thoreau famously stated in Walden that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” He thinks misplaced value is the cause: We feel a void in our lives, and we attempt to fill it with things like money, possessions, and accolades. We think these things will make us happy. When they don’t, we just seek more of them.”
  • ”Monique leeft op straat:
    • “Monique heeft geen werk en geen huis, maar is nog nooit zo druk geweest. ,,Het gaat om overleven. Als ik even stilsta, ben ik verloren.”
    • schuldenproblematiek, relationele problemen, psyschische problemen, jeugd / generationele trauma's, chronische ziekten, physieke / mentale beperkingen, …
  • Walter Russell (bellboy story):
    • “He early discovered that wealth may be more of a handicap than a help because the comforts and luxuries it can give sidetrack one’s desire for a successful life and develop instead a desire for ease.”
    • ”Law of Balance”: ”… the solution of all of life's problems lies in our knowledge of how to manifest that love principle. That is all that life is for.“ (…) “The underlying principle of Balance in Nature’s One Law is equality of interchange between the pairs of opposites in any transaction in Nature. That principle must eventually be observed by big business, and the go-getter salesman who selfishly thinks that the sale he makes is the only thing that counts is not giving equally for what he takes.”
    • the good samaritan

stage 1: what do you really need?

  • food (a basic nutritional diet is not expensive)
  • water (cheap)
  • medical care (cheap)
  • clothing (cheap)
  • money
    • stealing …… parasitizing
    • begging … social welfare … donations
    • working …… legal profiteering (“zakkenvuller”)
  • nature?

stage 2: what would you really like?

  • wrt relationships, friends and family
  • wrt material possessions
  • wrt geographical surroundings (housing, leisure, travelling)
  • wrt cultural surroundings (city life, events, sport clubs, etc.)
  • wrt type of work profession
    • work attributes: money income / intellectual / physical / colleagues / responsibilities / creativity / free time
    • amount of income versus hours worked
    • perhaps multiple jobs/careers and skill sets?
    • plan ahead or follow your 'heart & instinct'?

stage 3: what would you really like to be?

  • … “to be or not to be”

various ideas

  • Aborigines of Australia (history, culture, mythology)
  • urban planning around the world (city life, …)
  • ethnic discrimination & anti-semitism history
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