Cultural selection discussion

Thanks for your comments on my theory.

The reason why I haven't made any predictions for Russia is because the important things have already happened there! What I am predicting is that we will have glasnost and perestroika in China too, though of course not exactly the same. From now on, Russia will just approach the general cultural convergence in Europe.

When I say in my book that the Soviet Union was more regal than USA, you shouldn't think that the difference was extreme. The Arabian countries, for example, were much more regal in that period. These differences are gradually leveling out now. In fact, I suspect that Russia will soon become more kalyptic than USA. Anyway, you shouldn't think of everything in former Soviet Union as extremely regal. In fact, as I have written, the culture in Czechoslovakia was actually quite kalyptic under the surface.

You are asking about literature. I have in fact written about literature in my book (p. 221). I didn't write very much, though, because the message in literature is often very obvious and hardly needs interpretation.

Regarding teaching:
Teaching is cultural reproduction, whether r or k. I fully agree with your statement that it is not possible to reduce all the cultural and spiritual values to the r/k dichotomy. This is just one dimension among many. Culture has many dimensions - in fact as many as you care to define. But the r/k dimension is a very important one because of its explanatory power.