James McCormick has a fascinating book review over at Albion's Seedlings, on how westerners think differently, because of our use of math and the scientific method. Sadly, it's a trait that we may be losing as a society, because we value it too little.

It was a Neo-Platonic vision of the world as a stable, static, measurable entity … subject to investigation, understanding, and practical control.

This arose from a blending of Athens and Jerusalem (Greek philosophy & a Judeo-Christian worldview) together with an open source mentality.

"If it works, steal it and assimilate into your own culture"

If the Anglosphere stops stealing the best from other cultures (compare the English language which regularly and routinely snatches words from other languages versus the French language which seeks to maintain an original purity) the Anglosphere will destroy the very exceptionalism we desire to perpetuate.

If the Anglosphere becomes self-referential (inward looking rather than outward looking) it will cease to be the Anglosphere.

= = =

Today, India perhaps has the best potential to blend Anglosphere influences with Eastern influences to create a new culture greater and larger than what has come before.

Regardless of what the Anglosphere did between 1400 and 1900, as the stock brokers say "past performance is no guarantee of future results"

We keep hearing how Asian teenagers out perform U.S. teenagers across the board, especially in math and science. (asian students are doing better here too) I am not sure when this measurement began, but I've been hearing it since I was in jr high school.

If we haven't been overrun by the "east" in 40 some odd years, what dramatic shift will overtake us? I realize that every great world powers time at the top is getting shorter, but we are not an "empire" so we can only be beaten, IMHO, at the cash register.

So long as we are the inovators we will remain on top. The "east" may be able to produce products cheaper but they don't create the technologies they are manufacturing.

I am not saying there arent plenty of bright people coming from the "east". But, my experience from 25+ years working around engineers, is that they are coming here, because they cannot grow as much there as here. I never met a engineer from Japan, Korea, India, Pakistan or anywhere else for that matter, with a burning desire to return home.
I would say this also applies to Europe to a certain extent.

I posted here just days ago about the differences in our schools over the last 40 or 50 years.

Has anyone anyone compared what the "eastern" students learn NOW, as opposed to 40 or 50 years ago? Are their schools better, worse or on the same downward slide as ours? Is the change in our schools the cause of the different scores?

What I've said may seem off topic, but I question the differences in our / their thinking about what should be taught, math & science, versus what should not, multiculturalism.

A multicultural class in an Asian school seems a stretch, especially in the largely Moslem countries. Abdul has two daddies or Ichiro has two mommies, probably isn't going to push physics to the back seat of the curriculum.

I do find these types of discussions highly thought provoking. I caught Guns, Germs, and Steel on PBS a little while back and thought it offered an interesting perspective. I am a big believer that major events find themselves pivoting on seemingly inconsequential components and attitudes. I wonder what will become that one indeliable component of Man's transition into the space age. Me personally, I think it will be evolution of ball valves, actuators, and controls. In order to depend on these systems to carry us around in space for years on end they will need to reach a level of elegance and reliability that they become completely, %100 taken for granted -- much as a beating heart. I mean if you think about it how often is a launch scrubbed, or worse, produces an anomaly because of a balky valve.