Paper 81 Overview: Development of Modern Civilization

This paper examines how modern human civilization developed through both biological evolution and cultural advancement, despite setbacks in the divine plans for world improvement. It traces humanity's journey from primitive existence to complex societies through the development of agriculture, tools, cities, trade networks, and social institutions that shaped our world. The influence of the Adamic bloodline, though smaller than originally planned, significantly accelerated human progress.

The paper also identifies critical elements necessary for maintaining and advancing civilization, including natural resources, accumulated wealth, scientific knowledge, population dynamics, language development, technological innovation, and effective leadership. These factors together determine whether a civilization thrives, stagnates, or collapses during periods of transition. The rate of progress dramatically increased with the invention of printing, allowing generations to more effectively build upon the achievements of their predecessors.

Despite the failures of previous plans for world enhancement through the missions of Caligastia and Adam, the fundamental organic evolution of humanity continued to advance the human species in progress and racial development. While evolution can experience delays and setbacks, its forward momentum cannot be permanently halted.

The influence of the violet race, though fewer in number than originally intended, produced remarkable advances in civilization. Since the time of Adam, humanity has progressed far more than during its entire previous existence spanning almost a million years, demonstrating the significant impact of even a limited Adamic influence on human development.

For approximately thirty-five thousand years after Adam, the cradle of civilization was located in southwestern Asia, extending from the Nile valley eastward across northern Arabia through Mesopotamia and into Turkestan. Climate was the decisive factor in establishing civilization in this region, providing the environmental conditions necessary for advanced cultural development. Major climatic and geological changes in northern Africa and western Asia eventually altered migration patterns, creating natural barriers that influenced the direction of human movement.

By about 15,000 B.C., these land elevations and climate changes had created a worldwide cultural stalemate, except for the continuing cultural fermentation among the Andites in Asia and those isolated by forests in Europe. Climatic evolution eventually forced Eurasian humans to abandon hunting in favor of the more advanced practices of herding and farming. While evolution proceeded slowly, it proved remarkably effective at gradually transforming human lifestyles from nomadic hunting to settled agriculture, a transition that often occurred directly in groups with significant violet race mixture.

The development of culture is fundamentally connected to the creation and improvement of tools. Throughout human history, tools have been effective precisely because they liberated human energy and potential for accomplishing higher tasks beyond mere survival. Those living in modern times with leisure for social and philosophical reflection should remember that their early ancestors had little opportunity for such thoughtful activities.

The first four great advances in human civilization were the taming of fire, the domestication of animals, the enslavement of captives, and the concept of private property. Fire, while the first great discovery, initially contributed little to scientific thinking as primitive humans sought supernatural rather than natural explanations for common phenomena. The domestication of animals provided humans with living tools, significantly advancing civilization, particularly in regions like Asia where suitable animals were abundant. The Andites of Turkestan were the first to extensively domesticate horses, giving them cultural advantages over other groups.

Around 12,000 B.C., climatic changes destroyed the rich grasslands of Turkestan, forcing its inhabitants to adopt new forms of industry and manufacturing. This environmental pressure led some people to raise domesticated flocks, others to practice agriculture, while the more intellectually advanced Andites turned to trade and manufacturing. In some regions, entire tribes dedicated themselves to developing specialized industries, creating the foundations for economic specialization.

The expansion of trade and manufacturing directly contributed to the development of semi-peaceful communities that accelerated the spread of culture and civilization. About twelve thousand years ago, independent cities began to emerge, surrounded by zones of agriculture and animal husbandry. These early urban centers, despite their primitive conditions and lack of sanitation, promoted higher living standards through industry. Early metallurgy developed unevenly across regions, with gold being the first metal widely sought by humans, followed by copper and eventually bronze, which was discovered when copper mining happened to occur near tin deposits. The traveling trader and explorer did more to advance historical civilization than all other influences combined.

By the dawn of recorded history, Eurasia, northern Africa, and the Pacific Islands were populated by composite races of mankind, resulting from the blending and reblending of the five basic human stocks of Urantia. Each of these original races had distinctive physical characteristics that helped identify them, such as skull shape: Adamites and Nodites were long-headed, Andonites were broad-headed, and the Sangik races were medium-headed, with variations among the different groups.

While skull measurements provided some clues to racial origins, skeletal structure as a whole proved more reliable for identifying the original five types: Andonic (aboriginal Urantians), primary Sangik (red, yellow, and blue races), secondary Sangik (orange, green, and indigo races), Nodites (descendants of the Dalamatians), and Adamites (the violet race). As these five groups extensively intermingled, their distinctive physical features became increasingly blurred. By the last twenty thousand years, mankind had largely divided into three general classes: Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid, each containing varying degrees of genetic heritage from the original five stocks.

Biological evolution and cultural civilization do not always progress in tandem; organic evolution can proceed unhindered even during periods of cultural decline. However, given enough time, these two aspects of human development eventually become interrelated as cause and effect. While cultural civilization requires an adequate foundation of racial advancement to flourish, Adam and Eve's contribution was not to introduce foreign arts but rather to enhance the inherent abilities of the existing races through their genetic legacy.

Through the development of agriculture, animal domestication, and improved architecture, humanity gradually escaped the relentless struggle for basic survival and began pursuing higher standards of material comfort. Through manufacturing and industry, people steadily enhanced the pleasurable aspects of mortal life. However, cultural society is not simply a club of inherited privilege with free membership and equality for all. Instead, it represents an advancing guild of earth workers that demands costly admission fees, imposes strict disciplines, and penalizes dissenters while providing the benefits of enhanced security against common dangers.

While biological evolution has continued its upward progression, cultural evolution spread outward from the Euphrates valley in waves that gradually weakened as the pure-line Adamic posterity dispersed to enrich the civilizations of Asia and Europe. Although the races did not fully blend, their civilizations did mix considerably. This civilization must be maintained and fostered, as there are no new sources of culture or Andites remaining to stimulate the slow progression of civilization's evolution.

The civilization developing on Urantia grew from several crucial factors. Natural circumstances, including available resources and climate, largely determined the nature and extent of material civilization. Capital goods and accumulated wealth were essential, as poverty does not allow for the leisure necessary for cultural advancement. Scientific knowledge steadily accumulated, with the printing press dramatically accelerating cultural development by facilitating the interaction of ideas. Other critical factors included optimal population size, effective use of material resources, language development, mechanical devices, quality leadership, racial ideals, effective coordination among specialists, effective systems for matching people with appropriate work, willingness to cooperate, and wise leadership capable of guiding society through inevitable periods of transition.