[slushh]

In hindsight, he has misjudged the situation. Scientific education is not the key. If we accept that there are only two cultures, then the Russian decline shows that focusing on science was the wrong choice.

>Anyway, the Russians have judged what kind and number of educated men and women a country needs to come out top in the scientific revolution. I am going to oversimplify, but their estimate, and I believe it's pretty near right

>As the scientific revolution goes on, the call for these men will be something we haven't imagined, though the Russians have.

>If our ancestors had invested talent in the industrial revolution instead of the Indian Empire, we might be more soundly based now. But they didn't.

[pmoriarty]

Germany was one of the most scientifically literate and scientifically advanced nations at the start of WW2. Scientific knowhow did not prevent them from leading their society and the world in a catastrophic direction.