vacation blog

Playing Civilization IV on my spring break vacation definitely gave me a different perspective and outlook regarding societies and why some succeed and others fail. Sure success of a society can be regarded as strictly its ability to survive and grow as well as withstand the test of time. But to me and anyone who enjoys a high quality of life I am sure they will disagree with that and argue for a society to truly be successful it needs to grow advance and present its citizens with opportunities to relax and have pleasurable experiences. Sure the civilization of Papua New Guinea has been around for over ten thousand years, but what enjoyment and pleasure do people living in that society get out of their life. Sure I am basing this logic that materialism brings happiness. But having a great time in south Florida on the beach made me realize how lucky I am to live in a successful civilization. When does a farmer living in rural Papua New Guinea get a break or a vacation? Never.
Jared Diamond’s new book Collapse as well as Guns, Germs, and Steel address the factors that lead to the success of some civilizations and the failures of others. However neither book adequately addresses that success is not completely based off longevity or survival. Ask any person wither they would live a prosperous happy life full of luxuries and die and age 70 or live a life of struggles and difficulties and die at age 80. The vast majority would prefer the prior and enjoy themselves and die earlier. So when studying civilizations it is important to consider that there is much more to most people’s lives then just waking up working, eating, sleeping, and doing it all over again everyday for the rest of their life. However the game Civilization IV like Diamond neglects to see more in civilizations and lives then just survival and technology.
Playing the game and eventually winning the game is strictly based off ones ability to have a civilization last the test of time and simply survive through the years. Sure technological and agricultural advances all help a civilization and grow, become stronger and increase the likelihood of survival, but does the happiness of the citizens mean anything. Currently throughout the world the most important issue to all people is the quality of their life. No one wants to just work and barely get by. Current societies are separated into either developed or developing nations, or 1st, 2nd, and 3rd world nations. The key separating factors that separate the higher ranked countries from their lower counterparts are the varying qualities of life that the nation can provide for their citizens.
So when I played Civilization IV from my balcony I realized that there was so much more to a society that this game totally neglected. Sure the game addresses the key issues that deal with strategy of developing a long living successful society, but what issues are most important to people living on this world know and the people who walked in our foot prints in prior generations. Many civilizations have been overtaken and succumbed to outside invaders, but does that really lead to changes that matter to the people. In the game being invaded and losing control over your lands means you lost the game and your civilization failed. But to the average American colonist did life change after independence was gained, did it really matter to the average Joe? Or for a person of the Roman Empire living in the outside territories of the civilization when the society collapsed did it really matter to them, to be quite logical they probably never knew anything changed. The game treats independence and home rule the end all. But would the average nonracial American want to be overtaken and enjoy the same quality of life, or maintain independence and live a short life span in hellish conditions? Sure nationalism and independence motivate some and are the end all. But to the average person people just want to be able to enjoy themselves in a happy high quality of life.
So when I realized how little independence and home rule mattered to me, I was able to determine that to lot of people the game Civilization IV left out a very important characteristic of successful civilizations, the overall happiness of the people living in that society. A great military with secure borders means nothing if the people are constantly in a day to day struggle to feed themselves and their families. Diamond gets away with ignoring quality of life as a factor of successful civilizations because dominance, technology, and resources are both characteristics of powerful successful as well as enjoyable societies. Therefore the factors that contribute to a high quality of life are normally the same as the factors that lead to a successful society.