Civilization: Is the West history?

[Leonid Brozhnev]

Dunno if any of you watched this bullshit on Channel 4 (UK), hosted by that capitalist championing twat, Niall Ferguson. Hadn't been running 5 seconds and it was already pissing me off. Now it's finished, I feel sick and mentally raped, it was just a tirade of pro-capitalism propaganda cleverly disguised as history lessons. Apparently the guy teaches his parasitic shit in Universities... if he ever comes near my Uni, I'll headbutt him in the dick.

6 in the series, doubt i'll watch the next one. Just to put it in perspective of the sort of thought we are talking about, the titles are named after the 6 things he thinks made Western civilization dominate the globe: Competition, Science, Democracy, Medicine, Consumerism, Work Ethic.

Maybe we should round this off, add 'Exploitation', 'Greed' and 'Fear' to the list. Actually, he could just run the entire series off these three things alone. Fear led us to dream up ingenious ways of killing other Europeans, Greed led us to turn these ingenious ways of killing on other peoples around the globe, which led us to Exploit and enslave these people in order to greater strengthen our grip on the world and better combat our neighbours that we still fear.

Actually, I might watch the next one. It's titled 'Science'... can't be much capitalist championing in that! Just mild racism as he points out how ignorant the Arabs are for not discovering gravity :rolleyes:

You might be able to catch it on '4OD', although, that's probably only open to UK residents.

[Dimentio]

Western chauvinism is fashionable right now. Recent they aired a series on the "Knowledge Channel" here about the greatness of Christianity.

I think it could have something to do with the West stagnating. I don't know.

If the Chinese 19th century leadership had not been so stupid to struggle against internal demands for reforms and had taken the same path as Japan did, the West would have been toast by 1950.

[La Comédie Noire]

Speaking of Niall Ferguson. I'm suffering through the shit heap that is The Ascent Of Money right now.

:(

[Red Future]

I think it could have something to do with the West stagnating. I don't know.

I agree the change in academic focus to the political right ,and to increasing nostalga for western power is interesting-Historical interpretation is a product of the fears and concerns of the society of its time

[Rakhmetov]

Speaking of Niall Ferguson. I'm suffering through the shit heap that is The Ascent Of Money right now.

:(

Why suffer?
Why not expose the volume to the temperature of 451 Fahrenheit???

[ckaihatsu]

6 in the series, doubt i'll watch the next one. Just to put it in perspective of the sort of thought we are talking about, the titles are named after the 6 things he thinks made Western civilization dominate the globe: Competition, Science, Democracy, Medicine, Consumerism, Work Ethic.


#7: Clearly Superior Edutainment.


x D

[I.Drink.Your.Milkshake]

Maybe we should round this off, add 'Exploitation', 'Greed' and 'Fear' to the list. Actually, he could just run the entire series off these three things alone. Fear led us to dream up ingenious ways of killing other Europeans, Greed led us to turn these ingenious ways of killing on other peoples around the globe, which led us to Exploit and enslave these people in order to greater strengthen our grip on the world and better combat our neighbours that we still fear.

I hear what you're saying and.... well yeah obviously you're right, but these greed, fear and exploitation arent exclusive to European civilisation.

Western/European civilisations two greatest advantages were ("were", rather than "are", because the age of technology has taken us beyond these things now) geography and climate. The industrial revolution couldnt have happened in the middle east, or in Africa. But then European civilisation would be nowhere without the great civilisations that came before it, so.

But yeah I saw the program and thought it were codshite too.

[ckaihatsu]

Western/European civilisations two greatest advantages were ("were", rather than "are", because the age of technology has taken us beyond these things now)








3D printers:The begining of communism?





This kind of technology is the precursor to things like programmable matter and nanofactories; the true holy grail of human technology. With 3d printing, you assemble smaller parts to make bigger ones. With a nanofactory, you are physically creating an item from base molecules.

[YouTube]

Once this is achieved, you will have no further need of Capitalism.


So -- worldwide social revolution, mass self-replicating 3D printers, and we can call this a couple of millennia or so and wrap it up...! Last one to leave please turn off the lights!

[Tim Finnegan]

Just to put it in perspective of the sort of thought we are talking about, the titles are named after the 6 things he thinks made Western civilization dominate the globe: Competition, Science, Democracy, Medicine, Consumerism, Work Ethic.
That's why I can't help but snigger at Ferguson. He claims to be a materialist, and then he pulls out all this Whig history shit about the "Protestant work ethic". :laugh: