What is Culture?

"Culture is a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another." (http://www.tamu.edu/classes/cosc/choudhury/culture.html)

It's food.

It's art.

It's religion.

It's language.

It's...technology?

Where does science fit into culture, does culture affect science? Or does science affect culture?

And furthermore, how does global involvement influence cultural diversity. I have been thinking lately about diversity. When I was traveling up from Puerto Escondido with my new anthropolgist friend, we discussed at length the indigenous cultures of Mexico, and how the markets represented their culture and was one of the remnants of their pre-columbian traditions. He said he always made it a point to stop in and check on the native markets that were en route to his destinations. We stopped in a small village which he said had a superb market. Upon arriving, my friend looked confused. We stopped and asked people where the market had gone and to his surprise it was gone. They had built a giant where-house on the out-skirt of town and built a giant concrete "square" in the center of town, where the traditional market had been for years. After hearing about this, my friend became sad and said that the traditional market had been beautiful and full of culture and history, now it was gone. He simply said "the times change". This sparked a conversation about change, globalization, and corporatization leading to loss of cultural diversity. I told him that I thought that diversity was the natural harmony of the earth, which leads to progress and that for a future, we need a history. He laughed at me. He said he had been doing this for over 40 years and that it is human nature to shift cultural paradigms. Shift?

This left a bad taste in my mouth. It makes me feel entirely too naíve. To better understand how diversity is affected by global markets, I feel I need to understand better what culture is, and what diversity means. And how does technology fit into the globalization? Without technological progress in industry, communication, agriculture, we would have less of a global impact on diversity in general, right?

Once again, I have loaded my plate up with a lot to chew, and a very feeble digestive tract.

So I flipped the coin, and I remembered the other side to it: progress.

Once again, how does technology affect culture. I have decided to explore communication, furthermore: the internet. Since more and more people are getting connected to the internet across the globe, more and more people have access to a network of ideas and people that are not limited to a geographical region. This relatively open source for exchanging ideas has, and will continue, to shape the way cultures are created and proliferated. It seems that culture is no longer as geographically bound as it once was, and furthermore is rapidly changing the way people are culturally identified. These ideas excite and fascinate me, because I feel that we are on the cusp of a giant cultural shift, or have begun a giant cultural shift. Going back to my idea of diversity and growth, history and future, the internet is allowing for an explosion of diversity.

So goodbye indigenous markets, and hello internet profiles and updates. Now, what happens if the giant overloaded network crashes?

Just like a tough steak, or a big torta, this I'm going to need to chew on for some time. Meanwhile, I'm going to hit the "mercado" and load up on some tortillas, roasted grasshoppers, and handmade clothes.