YOU ARE MAKING A MISTAKE
(re other, older, civilizations)
You are all making the same mistake between innovation (which is a function of wealth available for investment) and what one DOES with that innovation. The question remains: why did china stagnate (we know). Why did India stagnate (we know). Why did judaism stagnate (we know), Why did islam stagnate (we know). Why did christianity stagnate (we know). And why did the west recover in the modern world (we know).
The west isn’t always first. We are however FASTEST.
From the age of the chariot to the present, that is what separates the west from the rest: we use truth to outmaneuver opposition regardless of threat to the dominance hierarchy – and we can do so because we maintain many small markets that constantly adapt, rather than a large bureaucracy that calcifies.
There is no comparison to the west, and the only one even close is china. The optimum for western civilization would be either the west builds a great wall against the steppe and desert tribal peoples (primitives), as has china, and stay within our boundaries as has china, or to complete our transformation of the planet, but WITHOUT integrating with the local peoples.
Our attempt at discount: the best of both worlds, which is the problem in the ancient world and in our modern, is to assume that primitive peoples are able to exist in, or operate, high trust polities with markets that present consistent threats to the dominance hierarchy. As far as I know, only the west is able to do so.
Source date (UTC): 2017-06-28 11:40:00 UTC