This is nonsense. Kauffman’s post is out of context – a context he doesn’t under

This is nonsense.
Kauffman’s post is out of context – a context he doesn’t understand.
What made the west different and extremely so occurred on the steppe 5000 years ago. The central strategy of the west has been consistent during that period.
The medieval period’s use of Bipartite Manorialism was an economically eugenic program amplified by the Church’s attempt to break up the great noble families and their land holdings so that the church could capture the land and then rent it out becoming the largest landholder in europe. (and the most corrupt).
The side effect of this economic undermining by the church was the suppression of clannishness that combined with manorialism led to the expansion of european high trust. That high trust was amplified by the imitation of court behavior out of self defense by the upper middle then middle classes.