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Comment by EliRivers | Hacker News Reader

I sometimes wonder if feeling good about "ancient culture" and "proud history" creates an attitude that there's no need (or no point) to add to any of that in the present. For how long can a people use the achievements of those who died a thousand years previously as a crutch to not to live up to those achievements.

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It's a bit reversed. The history doesn't make people lazy, but lazy people rationalize their laziness by claiming clout from history.

Peoples who achieved more than their ancestors have less history to be prideful of, since they are proud of their present.

Kinda tracks. India, Italy, Greece, pride themselves on culture and lacks in development compared to peers. US, China (after cultural revolution), Germany don't and are top among their peers.

I'd dispute the claim on China, at least for today's China. Anecdotally, the Chinese are very conscious of their/our "ancient culture" and "proud history".

It's also in state sanctioned ideology too, eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Dream

`Xi said that the Chinese Dream is the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation"`

If more literally translated, this is pretty much the Chinese version of "Making China Great Again".

You're probably correct that this doesn't apply during the cultural revolution (and maybe for the most of the 20th century), but that's like a long gone boomer era.

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