johan's Journal

While reading an in-depth FAQ about Port (the alcoholic beverage), it occurs to me that one hallmark -- perhaps even the definition-- of (American or in some cases European) "civilization" is having lots of people who care a lot about things that don't really matter. (Things that don't substantially affect the survival of members of the society.) In otherwords, when people can devote their entire lives to the arcane knowledge required to producing vintage Port, or run Unix machines, then you have "civilization."