In response to:

Intellectuals and Race

AZYaateeh Wrote: Mar 12, 2013 12:33 AM
I doubt very much that China was more advanced than Europe in the 15th century, considering Europe in the 13th century was more advanced than China in the 17th. The Chinese didn't have the arch, the camshaft, the stone chimney, or eyeglasses, and they thought the Earth was flat; Europeans had demonstrated the Earth was round in the 2nd century BC (and contrary to urban legend, it was till widely known in the medieval period), and the Romans invented the arch sometime around the 5th century BC. The camshaft, stone chimney, and eyeglasses were invented in the 11th or 12th centuries, BY EUROPEANS—who also invented the hang-glider in 1010 and two different revolutions in plough design, which caused the population to explode, in the 800s.
tgwWhale Wrote: Mar 12, 2013 9:37 AM
You are cherry-picking data to prove your point. The Chinese had in general a far more advanced economy. They had paper, printing, and gunpowder. They were far better organized politically. But you are correct in that the Europeans seem to have been generally ahead in mechanical things.

it is only with the Renaissance (16th century) that the Europeans really started getting ahead in just about everything. One of the reasons for the rapid growth in European knowledge was the rapid dissemination of paper and printing -- which were invented in China.
AZYaateeh Wrote: Mar 13, 2013 11:50 PM
LOL you think the Renaissance involved any advances in anything but art and military tech? You're adorable. Tell me, have you heard we've discovered GALAXIES, Mr. "My knowledge stops at 1956"?

Aside from the fact Europeans had a MASSIVE paper industry in the 11th century, the Chinese economy was based on slavery. The Europeans were already MASS PRODUCING paper and textiles, in factories powered by waterwheels, by the time of the Second Crusade.

Please stop getting your layman mythology on me, I might catch your ignorance.
AZYaateeh Wrote: Mar 12, 2013 12:35 AM
"*s*till widely known in the medieval period", that is.

Basically "advanced China, primitive Europe" is a myth that collapses when you actually make detailed comparisons; the same is true of "advanced (or tolerant) Islam, primitive (or oppressive) Christianity), in the medieval era.
OBAMA-DRAMA Wrote: Mar 12, 2013 1:08 AM
Dan107 Wrote: Mar 12, 2013 10:22 AM
Where did our number system come from?
Dan107 Wrote: Mar 12, 2013 10:23 AM
Where did our number system come from?
Ms Kelly Wrote: Mar 12, 2013 1:46 PM
An advanced civilization is not determined by a few people having superior knowledge. If a large part of a society were living in hunger and squalor, why would any of them care if a few academicians among them knew that the earth was round?

How well the majority of one population lived compared to the majority in another population would determine whether or not they were “advanced”.
AZYaateeh Wrote: Mar 13, 2013 11:46 PM
Hunger and squalor that caused the population to explode because of the unprecedented prosperity? The common man in the High Middle Ages had a standard of living that wouldn't be equalled again until the 19th century.

Try reading for comprehension, brainiac.
AZYaateeh Wrote: Mar 14, 2013 5:06 AM
Dan 107: Our number system came from India. 1, 2, and 3 are tally marks (2 and 3 are sideways and in cursive) and the others are the first letters of the Sanskrit word for the numbers, written in a variant of the Brahmi abugida.

Why, did you think they were Arabic? You're adorable.


