Why the West Rules - For Now

[Jubber]

I blame the Normans.

It's all their fault.

Norman Wisdom was cool. I liked the film where he was the milkman.

[Ignis Fatuus]

Interesting article in, of all places, the Mail.

Surprisingly thoughtful for the Mail.

I'm not sure I go for the story that the West became dominant through going through the Neolithic Revolution earlier and easier than everybody else. We may have done so, but if that were the deciding factor, we would have been dominant for ten thousand years. But we haven't been: even just one thousand years ago, if you looked at the world's civilisations, the big ones would be China, W Europe, and the Muslim world. No sane man would have bet on Europe then, but we tripped across a trump card: commercial empire, built on navigating the oceans.

[MrMark]

Aren't we supposed to go through a period of extreme decadence first? Tying people to corpses in arenas and perpetual orgies involving donkeys and stuff? I was looking forward to that bit.

Our version was called "18-30 Holiday Club"

[xoggoth]

Aren't we supposed to go through a period of extreme decadence first? Tying people to corpses in arenas and perpetual orgies involving donkeys and stuff? I was looking forward to that bit.

[Clippy]

Interesting article in, of all places, the Mail.