Greeks values individual intelligence while the romans valued individual honour. Honour cultures enable collaboration because honour can be fulfilled by performing one’s role well as part of a machine. However, since honour can be fulfilled by simply repeating the life of one’s father more perfectly honour cultures tend to stagnate unless new ideas are constantly stirred in. The romans being at the centre of the Mediterranean world and sharing some greek heritage were perfectly situated to receive this admixture. The result was the most powerful empire ever seen. However, when Greece lost it’s vitality Rome was only able to animate it body and not it’s mind. When Greece died it lived on in Italy as a zombie until the renaissance.

Japan serves as an example of what Rome would have been if the Italian peninsula was moved into the pacific and thereby separated from the vitality of Greek culture. Japan too is an honour culture and interestingly both arrived at seppuku as the most honourable way to die. And both used and saw an extremely honourable death as a way of making up for any irrecoverable dishonour suffered in life. Japan like Rome settled on feudalism from civil war when not stimulated by the conquest of external ideas or territories. And Japan like Rome showed the power of mixing an honour culture with fresh ideas when industrial shipping changed the temporal geometry of globe and allowed fresh ideas to be mixed into the country against its will. Within 10 years of being shown muskets Japan becomes the leading manufacturer of them. Likewise with textiles, then automobiles and later computers Japan would take ideas from the outside world and in return show the world how to make them. And like Rome they used the this new power to rapidly conquer the world. Unfortunately for the Japanese the Americans were not yet demoralised like the greeks and they demonstrated to history what an individualistic society can do when just enough nationalism is stirred in.

In an individualistic culture people derive happiness by comparing themselves favourably to their peers. But since by definition not everyone can be above average much of the population must instead compare their rate of learning. But learning is hard work so some of these people must look elsewhere for contentment. Honour serves this role. It substitutes for competence. However, honour is primarily a biologically provided idea. It’s most easily experienced by people who are born with the sense. But people born without a strong sense of honour can still develop it with the h

It’s easier to build a machine from an honour culture than from an individualistic culture.

Individualists destroyed honour culture just as they went on to destroy Christian culture.

Honour cultures create great opportunity for a Caesar to do great things. However, two caesars makes a civil war and many makes feudalism.