Here's a thought

Here's a thought: what if, even if we DO believe in individuals and the integrity of the Person as the fundamental unit of being, our cultural advances only come when society is 'ready' for it? Ready not as in being willing to accept a new idea (God knows that never happens) but ready as in possessing the pre-requisite ideas (think of Alpha Centauri here if it helps) that somehow must logically build up to a new development? 

For example, many of the major scientific discoveries of our century, and indeed the last few, were made simultaneously, or within the span of a few years, and completely independently. Calculus springs to mind, certainly, as does relativity. Perhaps Newton and Leibniz only made the last logical leap from the precipice of the mountain of collected human mathematical wisdom. In fact, this is probably almost certainly true, but it does have some implications about culture. I believe it was Newton who said that he had only stood on the shoulders of giants (or was it Einstein? I forget). 

The implication : How can I create in a society so dead as ours? Scientific ideas are transferrable by hard and fast rules: papers and calculations. Cultural ideas are not. Certainly Rilo Kiley's excellent album Under The Blacklight would not have been possible 30 years ago. Neither would The Remains of the Day. Virginia Woolf's majestic oeuvre would have been without a foot to stand on without the works of Austen and the Bronte sisters. Cultural ideas need their prerequisites as much as science and math do, but science and math are universal languages and culture is not. Hence: am I limited to the primevial state of my country's culture? 

adam