The title is a bit over dramatic but, per the title, if you could contribute with one piece of knowledge to a book that every single individual should learn from in order to kickstart a civilization, what would be yours?

My personal choice would be the process of soap making, from scratch.

    • MaybeItWorks@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Considering no one has truly figured out how to make a Democracy survive, I’m impressed this is your contribution. You should probably be writing books before this one, if you have answers.

      • Astroturfed@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yo dawg, simplistic, reductive answers to complex issues is what the world needs. It’s been working so well for the republican party for decades. Bonus points if you don’t believe any of what you say.

        • MaybeItWorks@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Yo dawg, I actually agree with you that this is the problem. It’s why I responded to OP that it’s absurd to suggest that they have the skillset to meaningfully contribute to the topic. America’s founding fathers basically dedicated their lives to democracy. The wrote books on books on books and yet here we are.

          I said this in a comment elsewhere, but democracy and human behavior are always going to be at odds. If someone could write a chapter in a book to help a new society properly understand and fight for democracy, it would be done by now.

          I think OP is just arrogant to even respond that he/she is qualified to contribute such a thing. It’s some main character syndrome bullshit if I’ve ever seen it on here.

          • Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 year ago

            Yo dawg, the founding fathers were mostly the same rich ownership class that we see are today profiting off of political gridlocks. Our democracy is deeply imperfect thanks to the efforts of some of them, and I dont think democracy as a concept should be judged by success and failures in America. I don’t think OP needs to be qualified, it’s just a thought experiment.

            If someone could write a chapter in a book to help a new society properly understand and fight for democracy, it would be done by now.

            Unironically Common Sense does attempt to explain this, and American founding fathers used this work as the template for our currently existing for of government.

      • WeAreAllOne@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Considering the fact that democracy depends on the contribution of all citizens, surely you would need to learn quite few things since your comment did not contribute anything.

        • MaybeItWorks@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Ok, I’ll bite.

          Why are you qualified to contribute this chapter of a book to kickstart society? I’m totally open, maybe you are a constitutional scholar and I’m way out of line. I would like to understand why you believe that this is your chapter to write.

          • simplecyphers@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            They probably aren’t. But they are qualified to comment on a theoretical post about the subject.

            OP is asking what each person would contribute, not that each person must contribute something that they are qualified to. Which, for the most of us, is nothing. So get off your “intellectual” high horse and contribute to the conversation or change your non-contributions to silence instead of pedantic bullcrap.

            • MaybeItWorks@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              I guess I misunderstood the question as being what we we’re capable of personally contributing.

              If it’s just hypotheticals, I would contribute antibiotics and how to make those.

              • trafguy@midwest.social
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                1 year ago

                I read it as “what do you have enough knowledge of that you could aid in the birth/advancement of a new civilization?” Doesn’t matter if you have it fully figured out, just what knowledge can you provide that would be highly valued if all knowledge were otherwise lost.

        • MaybeItWorks@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          I’m not sure your comment contributed much either. Just comes across incredibly arrogant to me.

          The follies of democracy are mostly due to human behavior. It’s a complex topic and the idea that YOU can distill it into something meaningful is laughable to me. America’s founding fathers spent most of their lives dedicated to this and look where we are now.

          It’s cool, you all can downvote me for being realistic. I thought this was an exercise in actual skills one could contribute, not pipe dreams. At some point, humans have to reconcile with human behavior not being congruent with democracy, but sure, you’ll write a chapter and society will figure it out.

          Come on, y’all have to be more in touch with reality than this, right?

            • MaybeItWorks@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              I’ve been informed that I misunderstood the question and we can offer to contribute whatever we would like regardless of our qualifications. If that’s the case, I would propose antibiotics.