RE: The only woman to win the Fields Medal was a Muslim
April 13, 2018 at 8:22 am
(This post was last modified: April 13, 2018 at 8:35 am by The Grand Nudger.)
-adden
Beyond the self aggrandizing tendency in the histories we write for ourselves..it's fair (and even generous) to say that theocratic states by their nature stifle inquiry out of necessity. There's only so far you can take something until it crosses the line in magic book (or until someone uses a line in magic book to cross your throat for any number of ulterior reasons).
Had the west not engaged in christendom..and the middle east not engaged in islamism...there's no reason to assume that the arc of discovery would have been terminated...entirely the opposite. The affrontery of the whole thing is that...kicking and screaming and gutting people the whole way, when human beings do manage to drag these barbaric theocracies up against their own will and efforts..they;re all to willing to implicitly or explicitly claim the advances made under protest for themselves and their attendant cultural apparatus.
Monotheism (religious and colonial..though it might be redundant to separate the two) set us back a thousand years or more...and knowing this....it doesn't seem like any sort of gratitude or credence would be warranted for the few things that slipped through their horrid fingers over those years, ultimately massing up and building the bedrock of the modern world as we know it. Particularly when they've spent their time since the fall of theocracy fighting tooth and nail to put every genie back in every bottle and return us to that previous state of ignorance.
@poly
That's true, over time., the regime managed to appropriate not only the culture and accomplishments of conquered populations...but their children as well. May as well credit the united states for the invention of native american agricultural systems, while we're at it. I think people would be surprised at how many things we consider part of the modern world were invented by pre-columbian cultures...and even their later, thoroughly screwed post contact descendants.
-and don't even get me started on china..they're like the simpsons of world history..whatever it is you want to do...they did it first.
Beyond the self aggrandizing tendency in the histories we write for ourselves..it's fair (and even generous) to say that theocratic states by their nature stifle inquiry out of necessity. There's only so far you can take something until it crosses the line in magic book (or until someone uses a line in magic book to cross your throat for any number of ulterior reasons).
Had the west not engaged in christendom..and the middle east not engaged in islamism...there's no reason to assume that the arc of discovery would have been terminated...entirely the opposite. The affrontery of the whole thing is that...kicking and screaming and gutting people the whole way, when human beings do manage to drag these barbaric theocracies up against their own will and efforts..they;re all to willing to implicitly or explicitly claim the advances made under protest for themselves and their attendant cultural apparatus.
Monotheism (religious and colonial..though it might be redundant to separate the two) set us back a thousand years or more...and knowing this....it doesn't seem like any sort of gratitude or credence would be warranted for the few things that slipped through their horrid fingers over those years, ultimately massing up and building the bedrock of the modern world as we know it. Particularly when they've spent their time since the fall of theocracy fighting tooth and nail to put every genie back in every bottle and return us to that previous state of ignorance.
@poly
That's true, over time., the regime managed to appropriate not only the culture and accomplishments of conquered populations...but their children as well. May as well credit the united states for the invention of native american agricultural systems, while we're at it. I think people would be surprised at how many things we consider part of the modern world were invented by pre-columbian cultures...and even their later, thoroughly screwed post contact descendants.
-and don't even get me started on china..they're like the simpsons of world history..whatever it is you want to do...they did it first.
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