View source for World History Homework Three Answers - Student Four

JonathanL							2/19/09
World History							Week 3 assignment



1)   If I was forced to choose I would pick ancient [[China]], the reason being they simply have more detailed records of their existence, and their way of lifestyle, plus all the fighting that took place with the Mongols and what not, really solidify ancient China as one of the most fascinating cultures in the history of the world.

: Excellent point about the detailed records.  China keeps its eye on the past more than other cultures.

2.)    [[Buddhism]] is more universal then any [[religion]] in that it teaches of no afterlife.  All it talks about is inner peace, so if you think about it, you could be a Buddhist and another religion, sort of, at the same time.

:Interesting insight, but do you really think Jesus or one of his disciples could have also been a Buddhist?  Buddhism denies an afterlife, I think, and that conflicts with Christianity.  (Note: "than", not "then" in your first line).

3.)   This is the Yin-Yang.  The yin-Yang represents clashes between opposing forces.  The two contrasting spots on both halves represent that there is a little bit of one thing in the other, eg. Good and evil.

:Superb.

4.)  [[Hinduism]] is comparable to silly putty, in that it molds or adapts to its surroundings.  Hinduism is almost like the shadow you cannot step on.  No matter what you do to it, it always comes back on top.  Hinduism virtually encompasses every religion; the religion molds to fit the environment.  It is basically a small portion of every religion.  It will never completely die because as long as there is at least one other religion to draw from, Hinduism will remain standing.     

:Fantastic, may use as a model!

5.) “If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”   This is my favorite because its practical view is, if you know what you can do, and your opponent can do, then there is no need for you to “lose.”  Staying within your own boundaries is key to anything in life.

:Terrific.

H4)  China’s greatest contribution to the world was gunpowder.  First used in rockets, they soon realized that this magnificent substance had a unusually high burn rate, which made it useful to launch projectiles.  Original black powder is much more susceptible to heat, as well as it burns unevenly.  Bombs work much better for black powder because the concern of efficiently is not as great.  Say the Chinese had modern day smokeless powder back then, they would have conquered the world.

:Excellent, though I don't think it's so powerful a weapon as to enable them to conquer the world.

7.)  I guess because you can “travel” on both and you can exchange information, but not really.  That is kind of like saying a street is like the internet.  Yes they both can carry information if that is what you want to call it, but then you could make a far fetched comparison to just about anything, like a person is a “work horse.”  Yes they both do work, but a person and a horse are not the same, like a road and the internet are not the same. 

:OK.

H2)  [[Confucianism]] is not a religion.  It is more a rule system that pertains to being a good person rather than belief in a specific after life and a specific God.

:Good.

H?)  This is not in the lecture, but it pertains to Jesus.  I wonder why God had Jesus die at such a young age.  I mean obviously it was perfect timing for reasons we do not know, but don’t you think [[Jesus]] could have converted more people had he lived a bit longer?

:Good mystery.  Perhaps Jesus wasn't as young as we think.  The Bible simply says he was less than 50.  But more to your point, Jesus as one person could never reach nearly as many as his dozens and hundreds of initial disciples could.  They could not spread out and evangelize the world until Jesus left them, and an older Jesus would have meant older and less active disciples.  Sounds plausible to me, anyway.  In other words, like a successful business, Jesus leveraged and delegated authority for success.

H3)  At the current pace, Islam will rank as the world’s leading religion in 100 years.  Everything else will be the same, except Christianity and Islam will flip flop.

:Imagine that!

H5)  Zero is so abstract.  It probably took so long because we generally think of a number, something having a definite value, as representing a real quantity that we can see or feel.  Zero on the other hand represents a quantity that does not exist, it represents nothing.  It seems so rudimentary when we talk about it today, but I am sure that it took true genius to discover, not invent the quantity zero.  I do not think man can “invent” anything.  We can only discover.  If we could invent, that would have to mean that we thought of something that God did not.  Of course that is not true.  God inspired the thought, we really just “uncovered” what he left us to find.

:I agree: we discover.  Super answer, may use as a model.

:Terrific homework, including that insight extra work!  100/100.  Congratulations.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 21:35, 21 February 2009 (EST)

[[Category:World History lectures]]