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Remember the "Dark Ages"? It was the Muslims who brought "The Western World" out of that.
From the fall of Rome to the Renaissance, it was the Arabs who kept their wits about them, and retained knowledge of mathematics and engineering and medicine and literature, so the Christians could re-learn it from them.
What does Spain and electricity have to do with it? I didn't bother to make that connection, because I didn't think there was one. So I'm not surprised that you didn't make that connection either. But I made the relevant connection.
What does Spain and electricity have to do with it? I didn't bother to make that connection, because I didn't think there was one. So I'm not surprised that you didn't make that connection either. But I made the relevant connection.
Had you not read your own link? The article references SPAIN, which is a Western European country. Still, it makes no sense to go from that country's library system to the "discovery" of electricity. If muslims were in charge of the world, we would all still be in the dark, using candles, and riding camels.
Had you not read your own link? The article references SPAIN, which is a Western European country. Still, it makes no sense to go from that country's library system to the "discovery" of electricity. If muslims were in charge of the world, we would all still be in the dark, using candles, and riding camels.
Educated and enlightened people used to call Western Europeans "barbarians" and "vandals". Teutons and Gauls didn't even have a written language, a mere 20 centuries ago. Remember? That was before Western Europe "stole" eastern ideas about civilization. If Western Europeans were in charge of the world, we'd still be painting ourselves blue and assembling at Stonehenge.
The first known prototype of a galvanic battery is in a Babylonian museum.
Every time we travel the world we are shocked when we see how people live in third world countries. Even though these countries are called developing countries, I see very little development and if anything things are getting worse. You could blame it on a variety of things but I have to think much of it is a cultural and intellectual issue. The people in general are not to smart and do not have the intelligence, drive or creativity to improve the life of their country.
If a magic drug could be found and it raised the IQ of everyone in the country 40% wouldn't they start to prosper?
South Korea and Singapore went from complete poverty after the war to prosperity due to the intelligence of their people.
Given the disparity of wealth in this country could you say the same for states?
Originally Posted by Weekend Traveler If these folks are so happy in their life in the third world hell hole then the United States can stop sending them billions through the foreign aide and the world bank. OK.
Our billions of foreign aid mostly goes to their dictator to keep his secret police up to date, so they can tortuire anybody who objects to the terms under which the World Bank LENDS them money at high interest rates. US aid that is not police/military is tied to agreements to buy US-exported products from corporate profiteers.
I've lived in "hell-holes" like Jordan, Indonesia and Paraguay, where I rented little houses on ordinary streets in ordinary towns with ordinary neighbors who have never seen a penny of our foreign aid. Please tell me what it is that I missed, so I can readjust my recollections of life there to conform with your official version.
Every time we travel the world we are shocked when we see how people live in third world countries. Even though these countries are called developing countries, I see very little development and if anything things are getting worse. You could blame it on a variety of things but I have to think much of it is a cultural and intellectual issue. The people in general are not to smart and do not have the intelligence, drive or creativity to improve the life of their country.
If a magic drug could be found and it raised the IQ of everyone in the country 40% wouldn't they start to prosper?
South Korea and Singapore went from complete poverty after the war to prosperity due to the intelligence of their people.
I really don't know that this is a question that can actually be answered with any sincerity or certainty. IQ is such an imperfect measure of intelligence anyway. And besides, what you are talking about are people who are not necessarily less intelligent than others, they just haven't been afforded the same opportunities as those in the advanced nations. I mean, just because a South American native can't quote "The Raven" for me does not mean he is stupid. It means he's never been given a copy of "The Raven" But then that same man may take me into the jungle and teach me how to survive on the native vegetation and stay away from dangerous animals and poisonous vegetation. Maybe even school me on some ancient art that has fallen into obscurity over the ages. His intelligence would certainly rival my own, we just have different knowledge bases.
There is no way to know what wonders these people may be capable of in a more advanced society. And perhaps they are truly the blessed ones to have been left on the wayside of advancement. I have been reading Henry David Thoreau recently, and this was a truly intelligent human being. But he lived simply, and loved nature, and lived as one might in a third world country. He lived that way because he believed our way of life was corrupt and doomed to fail. He is one of the greatest writers our country has ever known. And he would have fit in better with a tribe of wild Indians.
I think that those that look down at the disadvantaged and believe it is because of lower intelligent are really the ones lacking intelligence.
They have less education, and that is part of their disadvantage, but in no way means they are less intelligent or resourceful. Could you survive if you had all their disadvantages?
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