Cities

Today I have a few questions that I have been asked. What would a person looking at a modern city see as the largest and most important building or buildings? What does this suggest about priorities of modern culture, as opposed to ancient cultures? What is or are the most valid criteria of whether a culture should be regarded as a civilization? What qualities ought to be present in a society for it to be considered "civilized"? So here I go on answering these questions.

In a city, I'd say a person would see it's capitol building or the mayor's work building as the most important. Why? Because the capitol is seen as the highest area in the city, or the mayor is the one who runs the city. I'd say these, or the best restaurants they have been to in that city. Can you tell I'm hungry? This suggests that the priorities lie with how laws and regulations matter to people to make sure that they are in a safe environment... or that they are hungry, versus the ancient culture where they matter more on their gods being with them when they need help. When I think civilization, the criteria that comes to mind are ordered and sustained. I have chosen these because a civilization must be able to live for many more years to come and people need to be able to work together. There are many qualities such as few killings/fights and not in the news very often for wrong reasons. This can also bee seen as people able to live well together and nothing illegal known to be going on in that civilization.