Sometimes this is formulated as Europeans possessing superior rationality. By the way, you'll never guess where the people who make this argument tend to come from unless you guess that they come from Europe. And then others argue that only Europe had the culture of science and invention that made the creation of these revolutionary technologies possible. Another argument is that freer political institutions encouraged innovation and strong property rights created incentives for inventors. And finally, people often cite Europe's small population because small populations require labor-saving inventions. Oh, it's time for the open letter? An open letter to the steam engine.