Ian Morris - Why the West Rules - For Now

[@janhhm]

Having been preoccupied with our possible futures for the past few years, I have found Prof. Morris' book the best source for thinking about the future. And the bonus is - it is very well and entertainingly written!

[@kwanarchive]

I disagree with his claim that the East Asians would have plundered the Americas if they got there first. China was establishing trade relations all round the Indian Ocean during the Ming Dynasty, where Europeans would later begin colonization rather than trading.

[@Sovnarkom]

yeah the fact that they already dominated their own region meant they had no itch to conquer peripheral areas ... Europe took over the world without first conquering Europe

[@Sovnarkom]

Japan's story was very different. The same could be said for Mongolia. So while that rule doesn't apply to China that spent their history as a regional hegemon ... it does apply to the rest of East Asia. Remember that Rome and Persia also tapped into Indian Ocean trade without attempting to capture overseas territories. Size changes the calculus.

[@kwanarchive]

@mary the sun The Ming Dynasty had a better navy and firepower than the West. They definitely could've, and they didn't. The Chinese weren't Mongols. In fact, for the longest time, the Chinese even preferred to try to buy off the nomads, or tried to get nomads to fight against other nomads rather than take them over. China has mostly been inward looking.

[@malcadorthesigillite7840]

@@Sovnarkom It was also the West that brought the Japanese out of their policy of isolation, they probably took some notes from us.

[@Sovnarkom]

@@malcadorthesigillite7840 That’s a fair point but looking into earlier Japanese history … they had two periods of nearly 300 years of civil war between smaller shogunates. This is a parallel to the constant warfare in Western Europe before the age of exploration. Toyotomi Hideyoshi attempted to conquer China (via Korea) in 1592. This wasn’t long after he unified Japan. That war ended in a stalemate but left over 1,000,000 Koreans dead.

[@herbsHA]

If you wantto watch a sale pitch ....continue

[@jaumemoletibrun]

'Only geography matters'. 'geography definition changes', = empty argument. The irony is that he's an ancient Greece scholar and he finds nothing special in the West...

[@lacedemonians]

So, if a few family groups of Australian aborigines had been dumped in Europe, then they would rule. *eye roll*