Well, you have stated that quite succinctly!!!! But, your point is well taken. Mankind is not kind toward man. And not very smart when it comes to sacrificing or planning ahead. I can even see in my lifetime that we are not the great power that we were directly after WW II. And probably all our luxuries and comforts have spoiled us to the point where we are so self-indulgent that we don't want to work any more..... or to do without anything that satisfies us immediately. Happy thoughts, huh? mas -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Darrell A. Martin Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2011 12:52 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [VERMONT] Cataract surgery in 1885 On 3/1/2011 4:14 PM, Mary Anne Smith wrote: > It's frightening, isn't it? All these "advanced" civilizations of long ago > are now extinct. What happened to them? if they were all so smart??? > > I know one was buried in lava in Italy...but that doesn't explain all the > rest. Hi: One hundred thousand hungry barbarians with primitive culture and sharp swords (or working assault rifles) will destroy one thousand civilized people with hot and cold running water and flush toilets, every time. No advanced civilization, yet, can handle a massive nearby volcanic eruption, a large enough tsunami, or a series of 9.2 earthquakes, even if its literacy rate is over 98%. When an advanced civilization uses up its natural resources, threatening the food supply, its people will choose eating over poetry every time. When an advanced civilization packs too many people into too small a space, its advanced medicine will eventually not be able to react fast enough to stop the next virulent disease. When an advanced civilization makes it possible for some people to be consumers without being producers, and values its consumers as much as its producers, human nature will set in, every time. Eventually you have too few producers, and the civilization collapses of its own weight. In other words, War, Disaster, Famine, Plague, and Laziness. Darrell *************************************** List Guidelines: http://home.sprynet.com/~darrellm/list_rules.htm Visit the Gateway to Vermont Web Site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message