| >no need for invading foreign lands. Apart from India itself being invaded by the Hindu culture. If I am not mistaken, then the lowest castes are the tribes that resisted conquest the most. It's conquests all the way down. >The internal divisions were nicely exploited by Mughals first and British after. >The pertinent question is why didn't these societies ever develop like the West ? The usual argument is that Europe prospered because of the internal struggles and conflicts. But as you write, India had them too.
India also invented 'Arabic' numbers, and had iron very early on. Similarly, why did Arabic culture stall when they translated and thus had access to all the Greek treatises? Why didn't the Romans or Greeks get to it initially? Could Weird be right, and it was the destruction of tribal structures? There was a submission about Singapore some days ago that mentioned in passing that the long-term leader introduced Western thinking - whatever that is. Personally, I think that it is observable in nerd culture. If you have a bunch of nerds, but no math, chemistry or physics, then it will take some years and it will be reinvented. With those weapons, whoever is left with some bully tendencies can conquer the world. The question is: why are there not enough nerds in other cultures? Maybe for lack of the printing press? Not for the books, but books need paper, and you need cheap paper to write down your notes. |