Chinese Math Students Vs English Math Students

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The solar system is complex and chaotic, so "unpredictable" tends to be sit uation dependent.

But it's a lot more wasteful. Complete central planning - which is what the USSR aspired to - doesn't work well either, but it was good enough to beat the Germans in WW2.

Modern socialism is all about the well-regulated free market. Enough freedo m to let entrepreneurs invent new products and new markets, but enough cont rol to prevent them conspiring together to set up cartels and monopolies, o r write tax-avoidance loop-holes into legislation.

The US talks a good talk about the free market, but when legislators are bo ught and sold, you haven't got the kind of free market that works well for the population as a whole. It's now government of the rich, by the rich, fo r the rich, and rather short-sighted rich people at that.

Well, Chinese civilization predates democracy by millennia, and China has never been democratic. The 70-year aberration was the momentary deviation from capitalism. The form of government didn't really change, although the emperor was replaced by the general secretary of the communist party. In both cases, the power was absolute.

I know that we in the West like to think that democracy and capitalism necessarily come hand-in-hand, and in the West it usually does, but in fact and history these are independent.

Joe Gwinn

This is my theory as well. I tried this theory out on a Chinese colleague (born in China, has accent). He thought a while, and then said that it was likely correct, observing that at times when the central power was waning, the arts and sciences flourished, and vice versa.

He was also impressed that I knew any Chinese history at all.

That's exactly how it must be for progress - impossible for a vested interest to prevent creative destruction.

Joe Gwinn

England is a small island nation surrounded by seas and with a history of exploring, sea faring and trading with distant nations.

China was already on the large side for reliable administration with the communication technologies of the day. Inclined to corruption...

They were certainly capable of making low iron glass and used more lead and barium in their glass mix than was common in the West.

They were certainly technologically a long way behind Europe by the time the two civilisations started to interact. The notable example of the Jesuit missionaries in the 1600's when Ferdinand Verbeist ultimately befriended the Chinese emperor after a very shaky start.

The irony is that we know more about medieval technology from the wood cuts the Chinese made of his work on astronomical instruments and cannon boring than we do from our own records. The Chinese had become lazy but not all of them and they were smart enough to record what they had seen demonstrated. The odd cannon barrel with "Verbeist Fecit" has been found in the past. The woodcuts also come to light from time to time and have been studied by academics around the world.

No, England is not an island nation - it has land borders with Scotland and Wales. Perhaps you are mistaking "England" for "United Kingdom" - and then you would still be wrong, because Northern Ireland is part of the UK and has a land border with Eire. Or perhaps you were thinking of "Great Britain", which is (basically) the island consisting of Scotland, England and Wales - but that is not a nation.

Since you are (guessing from your email address) in the UK, you ought to know that.

But that Britain (and England before the United Kingdom was formed) is surrounded by lots of sea, and has a history of exploring, sea faring and trading with distant nations.

Damn good at fighting too.

True enough, but if Chinese technology had kept up, the Chinese would nonetheless have simply smothered those British gunboats, which were very far from home. Shore batteries can always defeat a ship.

Yes.

Never heard of him. Very interesting.

If China had had more emperors like the Kangxi Emperor in the intervening centuries, it would have gone very badly for the British.

And I think the core reason is here: It all depended on a series of emperors, and because China was very large and isolated, there were no real competitors close enough to be a problem.

But Britain had many competitors and/or enemies snapping at her heels, plus the many voices of a democracy, to prevent enduring complacency.

If this had happened in front of the emperor of China, there is a good chance that heads would have rolled.

I think that "Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel" mentioned this in passing, but didn't say it as clearly as the above.

Joe Gwinn

If you are interested and have free academic library access then this article has a lot more detail (I know the author).

I can't recommend paying $50 for it though.

The Turbinia is on display in the Newcastle discovery museum and if you are ever up that way and Lord Armstrong's Cragside home (the first in the UK to be lit by Swan's electric light bulbs) is well worth a visit too. They have recently rebuilt his 2kW Archimedes screw driven generator. It is about 1.5m diameter rotating spiral and a 20m drop.

He was a fantastic hydraulic engineer - way ahead of his time and if you like amazing gadgets he is your man. National Trust run it.

The woodcuts or rather prints from them are a part of an exhibition that appears from time to time in museums of science and technology.

During WWI the US Nave commissioned Alexander Bell to design and construct a hydrofoil vessel which when powered by a pair of Liberty V-12 engines was able to achieve a speed of 70 MPH.

A hulk and a reconstruction are in the Bell museum in Nova Scotia. I found it well worth the visit.

I'll get it through the library.

I had not heard of Lord Armstrong either. Probably due to a youth wasted in US schools, which are duty bound to teach US history. The problem with UK history is that there is far too much of it - so many kings.

This is the one:

Yes, I've seen them before, but the source was uninformative - the xxx archive or the like. No provenance.

Joe Gwinn

Armstrong isn't featured big in secondary school history in Australia either.

His role in inventing modern heavy artillery isn't something that gets a lot of attention. We got a lot more on the trade union movement.