Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Why the West, and less so the rest?

We often pride in the Eastern culture, history, past achievements, but why is it that the West has prospered more than the rest of the world? When writing, medicine, first civilizations were in places like Babylon, Mesopotamia, Egypt, why their current state is not as advance and prosperous as the west? I always wondered about this question. I initially thought the west has learned from experiences and mistakes of the rest, took the lessons learned, and prospered. But could not the owners of those mistakes do the same? Historian Niall Ferguson answers this question by summarizing the ingredients of the west's prosperity as:

1- Competition
2- Scientific revolution
3- Property rights
4- Modern medicine
5- The consumer society
6- The work ethic

Learn more here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/niall_ferguson_the_6_killer_apps_of_prosperity.html

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