Ray, I am a little slow this morning. Could you go into a bit more detail on the link between your comments and mine?
Thanks, Bill On Fri, 6 Jun 2003 09:43:35 -0400 "Ray Evans Harrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Using this mode of thought you could justify terrorism as a good > thing. > Maybe the West is just addicted to speed. Think of how everyone is > happy > that the Communists are gone except for China, North Korea and Cuba. > So > now the great beast to fear is China when our cousin across the > ocean is > building the currency that will do us in, not China. Would it not > have > made more sense to have gone slower and NOT destroyed the Soviet > Union and > proliferated all of those weapons while integrating through > diplomacy the > two economies and cross developing cultures. Using the competition > between > the two to keep each honest and unwarlike? > > REH > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 9:14 AM > Subject: Re: [Futurework] Re: Short-circuiting history (Don't make > it too > easy for people!) > > > > Could it be for the same reason that the US is last in cell phone > use and > > technology? We have invested more heavily in outmoded copper wire > than > > any other nation and spent heavily on ethernet to create excess > bandwidth > > that may become irrelevant until satellites get oversubscribed. > > > > Bill > > > > On Thu, 05 Jun 2003 21:20:24 -0700 Stephen Straker > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > "Brad McCormick, Ed.D." wrote: > > > > *However*, long before Bernard Lewis asked "What went wrong?" > > > > anent Islam, Joseph Needham spent a long lifetime asking: > "What > > > > went wrong?" (OK -- more accurately: "What failed to get > > > > started?") in China. > > > > > > > > Needham's conclusion, which he did not like, was that Europe > > > > "took off" into modernity whereas China stagnated because > Europe > > > > had capitalism and China didn't. > > > > ... > > > > Why didn't China "take off"? (Maybe they had too > > > > much leisure?) > > > > > > Brad - I don't think this quite gets Needham right. His > > > question took more the form: given that ancient and medieval > > > Chinese technology and its implementations are vastly > > > superior to those of the west, why was there an industrial > > > revolution in the west and not in the east (& correlatively, > > > the modern techno-science that was part of the process). > > > > > > To say that Europe had capitalism and China didn't would be > > > too close to a tautology for Needham. As I read his answer - > > > especially in an essay "Science and Society: East and West" > > > (1964) - the essential matter is intense & repeated social > > > breakdown in Europe - which has many causes, the formations > > > of early capitalism among them - whereas Chinese history is > > > characterized by long periods of social stability only > > > rarely punctuated by upheaval and social change. Social > > > dislocations in Europe allow for the emergence of new > > > activities. new social roles, the scientist-engineer > > > (pioneered in some ways by the artist-architect-engineers of > > > the Renaissance) and the capitalist-entrepreneur among them, > > > and consequently the social activities of modern science, > > > the premium placed on innovation, etc. > > > > > > So, interesingly, "too much leisure" in a sense is right. If > > > everything is ticking right along and society is not > > > breaking down all around you, one can proceed in a leisurely > > > way. Stability. Tradition. No crises. > > > > > > sound right? > > > > > > Stephen Straker > > > > > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > Vancouver, B.C. > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Futurework mailing list > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > > The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! > > Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! > > Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! > > _______________________________________________ > > Futurework mailing list > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > > ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
