I like history, but I'm not familiar with Islamic History. As such, when I read it, I always find that a name or two that I recognize will jump out and then I'll be lost again. There's just so much context that I'm missing that it feels almost like jumping into a fantasy novel.
But even with history that I am familiar with, I'll find that it only extends back so far, say to the French Revolution and then I'm once again needing to learn new names and ideas and lore. And when I'll read or listen to things about it there will be some MAJOR event that I'm learning about for the first time.
As for science I think the biggest impediment has been the idea that there is some secret or forbidden knowledge. I think for instance of Forceps. How many more people could have been saved if that had been more common? Or all the closely guarded maps of the "Age of Exploration". Not that I have a solution but even now I think the idea of a tech advantage or limited use knowledge is likely holding people back.
I don't know enough to say but there are a lot of clever people all over the world coming up with solutions to problems that I'll never face. Even in an era of relatively little progress, someone's coming up with a new way to do something. And it takes time with some tech for there to be enough familiarity that a person can improve on it. So I imagine that the Mongols being so widespread might have enabled many ideas to spread and become a springboard for later ideas even if it wasn't an immediate burst of innovation.
Mongols weren't innovators in arts and sciences, unlike their un-paralled expertise in warfare, but they certainly made a few key inventions and spread a few others which we still use today, such as passport (invention), gunpowder and paper currency (invented in China popularized by Mongols).
Nicely done, Prateek! I'm gonna share this piece via Notes so folks can see that we once again passed a mental torch in this footrace of understanding.
I like history, but I'm not familiar with Islamic History. As such, when I read it, I always find that a name or two that I recognize will jump out and then I'll be lost again. There's just so much context that I'm missing that it feels almost like jumping into a fantasy novel.
But even with history that I am familiar with, I'll find that it only extends back so far, say to the French Revolution and then I'm once again needing to learn new names and ideas and lore. And when I'll read or listen to things about it there will be some MAJOR event that I'm learning about for the first time.
As for science I think the biggest impediment has been the idea that there is some secret or forbidden knowledge. I think for instance of Forceps. How many more people could have been saved if that had been more common? Or all the closely guarded maps of the "Age of Exploration". Not that I have a solution but even now I think the idea of a tech advantage or limited use knowledge is likely holding people back.
I don't know enough to say but there are a lot of clever people all over the world coming up with solutions to problems that I'll never face. Even in an era of relatively little progress, someone's coming up with a new way to do something. And it takes time with some tech for there to be enough familiarity that a person can improve on it. So I imagine that the Mongols being so widespread might have enabled many ideas to spread and become a springboard for later ideas even if it wasn't an immediate burst of innovation.
Mongols weren't innovators in arts and sciences, unlike their un-paralled expertise in warfare, but they certainly made a few key inventions and spread a few others which we still use today, such as passport (invention), gunpowder and paper currency (invented in China popularized by Mongols).
Nicely done, Prateek! I'm gonna share this piece via Notes so folks can see that we once again passed a mental torch in this footrace of understanding.
Thanks Andy!