What is the difference between primitive and modern culture?

Question

we've known that primitive culture may refer to something tribal and modern culture as somewhat civilized.. but in depth, how different are they?

Answer 1

In primitive they hunted and cooked their food, made their own clothes...in modern we have stores and resturants.

Answer 2

The biggest difference between primitive and modern culture is the fact that man can now control his environment, heat , air conditioning,  etc

Answer 3

democracy/demoracy/greed in all life.

Answer 4

The term 'primitive culture' is not at all a useful term to describe any culture or society, especially since it's so loaded with value judgements, that somehow non-primitive cultures are 'better'.  It's better to speak of particular cultures and societies in reference to others.  If we are comparing small-scale foraging societies, past and present, with the large-scale societies based on nationalism and urbanization, that would be something altogether different.  Further, as I encouraged my intro class, comparing cultures means looking at similarities as well as differences, as they go hand in hand.  So, how are such cultures similar as well?

Answer 5

Their technology is primitive but very useful. And these tools make the start of concepts that help make newer and better tools. Like a modern knife came from a sharp rock. Or a plate came from the idea of a coconut shell.

Answer 6

Primitive culture is prehistoric.  Modern culture is what happens now.  There are tribal and post-industrial societies now.  It is believed that there was considerable variation in primitive culture.  Compare the iron age Celts with the Assyrians for example.

Answer 7

Guns.

Answer 8

not much.

Answer 9

Aside from technology... not much.

Its all a matter of perspective.

Answer 10

Just the complexity of the social structure.  Primative cultures have advanced knowledge of medicine by virtue of botany, they have tools that suit their needs so there is no reason to build anything more advanced.  As population grows, it's need for food grows, which means the society must become more complex to meet those needs.

Answer 11

Primitive culture: eat with hands, say ugh.

Modern culture: eat with hands, while driving down highway, admiring self in mirror, talking on cell phone, saying "i'll be there in five minutes."

Primitive culture: write on cave wall

Modern culture: post on Yahoo Answers

Primitive culture: sleep on rock

Modern culture: sleep on bed

Primitive culture: eat cat

Modern culture: feed cat

Technological aspects...

Technology grows upon itself so I would say the major difference is that there is more.  We've learned from past mistakes (don't make a bridge this way or it will collapse), made significant discoveries (some people spent their lives doing so or paid with their lives and didn't even mean to), and we have accelerated the rate at which our technology moves forward.

I think it is interesting to note some of the reasons why it moves forward faster today: communication.  We started by talking, but recording information was the biggest step in my opinion.  We learned to write, then we learned to reproduce writings.  Then, using technology, we learned to reproduce writings cost effectively.  And how about today?  We have the internet!  We can learn what other people have already figured out and what people are currently doing while sitting on our butts eating popcorn and watching TV in HD.  

Of course, with all this information that helps our technology grow, we also have a more difficult time keeping it organized.  One cave wall wasn't a big deal but personally, I struggle just to keep my planner organized.  I have several pages of lists of things to do, to buy, to research, to call, to discuss, and so on for home and work... I should put up a post asking how to best organize my planner and notes lol... <writes that on his list of things to post> .

So... technology builds on itself, information is a catalyst, and organization helps keep things running smooth when the information starts to overflow.  And as we go the younger generations are exposed to more information earlier, more techniques to manage and search the information earlier, and down the road they end up doing things that we see as amazing.

Answer 12

Perhaps a few picture thoughts?

Recently discovered in old working autism is the hope for a link between old and new versions of man. It seems like Old autistic people that have over come have discovered the building blocks of the human mind and tamed our wild cave person senses. It took many of us 40 years to learn life as we are programmed but amazingly the result at 40 plus is your normal thoughts and emotions.

If we can finish breaking out of our shell and get Autism or anthropology or science of any type to admit to us we could add 1000s of pages to the psychology books and connect old and new man. Our Keen Autism Senses  that confuse modern helped too much  modern autistics open up whole new links in evolution circles. Our Thought process is both MR/DD and Einstein and I wonder If normal people just don't use a streamlined version of autism thoughts?  Here is a real shocker there is little difference between the village idiot , and Einstein or a normal social person only a few misplaced picture thoughts. Picture thoughts are the (seemingly) core thought the brain generated thoughts we convert to yours.  

Interestingly All humans seem to share them and most people lucky enough to be 'normal' just do autism thoughts instantly out of the crib, Others of us had to learn the autism Thoughts  (never in a text book before) and then normal ones like you use are the result.   If this Autism Theory is proven It might well result in the living misisng link and the exposure of man's core thoughts.  Let us hope   Oh BTW it will prove there is little differance between primitive and modern culture, just a little luck and lot of chance.

Answer 13

In depth, they are not so different. Both are the result of a group of people using what technology they have available to them to secure for themselves the things they need to live (shelter, food, security), the reasons they need to live (spirituality, values), and the means of passing along what they've learned to the next generation. You could distinguish between the two based on technology. I don't think that there is much of a difference between primitive and modern culture, or even that those terms mean anything, except as a reference to the technologies that are used by the people who share a common way of doing things.

Answer 14

primitive is indicative of early stages in any thing..

Answer 15

A modern culture uses larger words to express its ignorance and prejudice.

A modern culture uses advanced (by our standards) weapons to kill those different from us.

We have developed elaborate systems of laws which allow us to abuse and steal from less developed peoples.

Primitive cultures didn't have a language  with which to excuse their abuses; they just went ahead and did the abuse.

Primitive cultures had simple weapons and had to make do with killing fewer people who did not look like them.

There has always been a pitifully few individuals in each stage of human evolution who exhibit above average intelligence and make achievements for which we all take credit.

Have I omitted anything?