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Vincent Paul

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A solution for the future challenges: culture-mimicry

How about Culture-mimicry? Biomimicry is an amazing idea. Janine Benyus' talk is so brilliant, I am inspired to adapt my whole study to it.

Not only in the biological world there are experts on using and enhancing our planet's resources to thrive in. By seeing other cultures as resources of knowledge, I would like to know what lessons we can learn by studying other cultures which are experts in self-sustaining systems.

Just like Janine Benyus says: "those organisms that have not been able to figure out how to enhance or sweeten their places, are not around to tell us about it". Combined with Wade Davis arguement: " The modern industrial world as we know it is barely 300 years old. Now, that shallow history doesn't suggest to me that we have all the answers for all of the challenges that will confront us in the ensuing millennia. When these myriad cultures of the world are asked the meaning of being human, they respond with 10,000 different voices."

If adapt the most consuming 'western' way of living to the cultures which are enhancing their environment AND their own quality of living, wouldn't that be a potential solution to many big challenges we are given for the upcoming decades?

However culture doesn't exist because it 'survived like organisms and enhanced the environment it lives in' (our western polluting consumerist society is an example of that)

I hope to find systems of reasoning and social structure to enhance, improve conditions and live.

So my question is: Is studying cultures to find more sustainable ways of living and thinking than the western consumerist way an idea worth studying? In short: is Culture-mimicry possible?

Related Talks:
Topics: better world biomimicry change process cultural shift environment philosophy resource sharing society
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    Salim Solaiman 50+

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    May 7 2011: My feeling is that even the CULTURE that can adapt to the changes coming over time survives (if there is no deliberate attack to be erased like species being extinct due to ruthless activity of human being). Culture survives by a process of "fusion".

    For culture with MIMICRY (copying of surroundings happens in MIMICRY) it will lose it's instinct originality , normally CULTURAL FUSION happens.

    In this age of strong connectivity we will see more CULTURAL FUSION . More adaptive the culture is through fusion will survive thats my hypothesis.
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    Collin Sine

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    May 7 2011: Check out my latest thread on my full profile, It contains Love, Peace and Happiness. Innovative ideas that will work. Our legacy will be fulfilled knowing are children are in GOOD hands.

  • Brian Beauchamp

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    May 6 2011: I think that it would be a really interesting social experiment to produce a global cultural moral compass for mankind. A sort of universal base line of good behavior if you took a cultural inventory of normative values for all, religions governments and societies and index them by the percentage of mankind that would find those values expectable you would really have something interesting

  • Jonathan Smith

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    May 6 2011: Sure, I think taking and adapting parts of past and alternate cultures and integrating them into more mainstream Western culture could help humans adapt better to the environment. Memes, ways of thinking, values, morals, and activities (and on and on) of various other cultures must surely be useful. So, it really wouldn't be mimicking other cultures, but adapting the values of some of them that are deemed to be worthwhile/helpful.
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