Looking for Scholarly 411

[lucky22]

In CIV I, discovering medicine allows one to build Shakespeare's Theatre.

Does this represent A) the development of verse as a mnemonic tool for medical students, B) improvements in public health allowing for increased public aggregation in wetter, more disease-ridden climates, C) the growth of an urban middle class or D) the general advent of a secular Rennaissance? What was Sid thinking and does anyone have any books to mention which might make the jump more concrete in the mind of a curious person?

[Verrucosus]

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one giving some thought to riddles like this one.

Both the civilopedia entry and the manual (p. 98) regard Medicine as an advance of antiquity. Shakespeare being part of the Rennaissance, it's hard to see any direct historical link at all. My speculation is that the connection is an intellectual one (like the Pyramids not actually allowing concepts like communism and democracy to develop, but rather being the result of a highly efficient government). In a very abstract sense, both Hippocrates and Shakespeare are about the question: "What is man?" (The fact that Yoric's skull is used to represent the Theatre points to Hamlet.)

I wonder what answer Sid Meier or Bruce Shelley would give if they were asked something like that. There are tons of questions like this one that are never asked. I tried to think of a gameplay-related reason for the Theatre being attached to Medicine and not any other advance, but I could not think of one.

[wodan11]

Quite often, you may find the answer is: E) None of the above. Simple synchronicity. Civ is designed to "pace" the game along the same lines as things happened in real life. Sometimes this means putting a unit, building, tech, or wonder at a certain place just because that's about when it happened in history.

I myself happen to disagree with that and wish it would be one thing changed in Civ 5. I personally would love to see a more "free form" tech tree, where we can see things happen which did not happen in real life. What about a world where steam science and pneumatics become quite advanced, but combustion engines aren't really discovered? What about civilizations where medicine and biological sciences are advanced far in advance of the physical sciences? (Actually, I believe the ancient Maya come close to fitting that bill... we have to ask what would have happened if Europeans did not discover and influence the new world civilizations?)

[sslawman]

is there anyone here to offer help in loading civ4..???