There is the logic of the line – create the fastest route between Point A   
   and Point B. There is also the logic of the circle – that of tracing a   
   distance from the center to all all points at that distance from the center.   
   Combining the two is the    
   spiral that repeats cyclically around X and Y dimensions while trending   
   upwards along the Z dimension.   
      
   The civilization can be seen to reflect the spiral. The natural cycles of life   
   – birth, youth, adulthood, old age and death – and all the social concerns   
   associated with the preceding, keep repeating cyclically. Whereas   
   scientifically and    
   economically the civilization builts on itself, using the linear logical mind   
   to realize an ongoing improvement. Technological progress is therefore linear.   
   Whereas socially, what we appear to see is cyclical, with each generation   
   fulfilling the needs    
   particular to its age and then morphing into the needs of the next age, to be   
   replaced eventually with the next generation.   
      
   Progress is seen therefore as being both technological and social. I do not   
   believe that there is such a thing as social progress. Societies change all   
   the time in all sorts of ways and for all sorts of reasons. There are natural   
   and social dynamics that    
   we see expressed at the natural and social level (dimensions X and Y) and   
   there are man-made dynamics that are expressed in science and technology   
   (dimension Z). The first is cyclical, the second is linear. Together they form   
   the spiral of civilization.   
      
   The social situation is frequently the function of whatever age group is   
   dominant. We see this especially with the baby boomers – the generation   
   around which the world has revolved for over half a century. When they were   
   young, the social attitudes    
   were very relaxed, and many believed that what was happening was progress   
   toward greater freedom and women’s equality. When they became parents   
   themselves, they created a much more striated climate – either to protect or   
   to control their children.    
   This is not an anomaly, and the same thing happened in 19th century with   
   transition from Romanticism to Victorianism and in early 20th century with   
   transition from Bohemian period to 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Every generation   
   makes its cyclical progression    
   through the ages; and every age has its own needs.   
   At the same time, each generation possesses its own character.    
      
   The World War II generation lived under many different ideologies, but   
   everywhere it possessed the same character – hard-working, family oriented   
   and nationalistic. The baby boom generation has been seen as a bunch of   
   selfish brats both in America and    
   in the former Soviet Union. There are reasons for this, that I am not going to   
   go into at this time. However we all see different character in different   
   generations.   
      
   Each generation raises its children the way that it wanted itself to be   
   raised. It rarely works, as their children are not them. The World War II   
   generation, growing up in a depression and a war, wanted to provide its   
   children peace and prosperity; but    
   their children wanted freedom. The hippies gave their children freedom, but   
   their children wanted stability and structure. Each saw its ways as an   
   improvement upon the preceding and, in some cases, as progress. It was no such   
   thing; in all cases it was a    
   fad.   
      
   Social conditions are therefore cyclical in nature. Whereas economic and   
   technological progress is in fact linear. We are both creatures of lines and   
   creatures of circles, and together they form a spiral.   
      
   https://sites.google.com/site/ilyashambatthought   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)