Interesting Question

[gfish]

What was the single greatest mistake of human history?

My answer:
Classical Chinese cultural myopia. They had a 1000 year head start on the west technologically, and they pissed it away masturbating to new and even less relevant commentaries on The Spring and Autumn Annals. If they hadn't been so busy navel-gazing, we'd all be post-singularity machine intellects out exploring the galaxy by now. Curse you, Zhu Xi!

What does my side of the internet think?

Comments

[edith-mf.livejournal.com]

sounds right to me.

[tylik.livejournal.com]

But Chinese technology progressed at a reasonable pace until the early Ming...

[samildanach.livejournal.com]

we'd all be post-singularity machine intellects out exploring the galaxy by now.

The standard answer being, "how do you know we aren't?"

[gfish.livejournal.com]

In the time of Christ they had a level of pig iron production that wouldn't be matched in Europe until well into the next millenia. Instead of being the groundwork for an industrial revolution, they had a bureaucracy for specifying and standardizing molds for farm implements.

They had the printing press back in the Song. Instead of contributing to a reformation or scientific revolution, they decided to just concentrate on 4 ancient books instead.

No, it didn't really stagnate until later, but the cultural inflexibility was already there. Had they looked out instead of in, they could have completely dominated world history.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Man, if this is some kind of abstract metaphor to allow my puny human brain to comprehend exploring the galaxy, I'm going to be pissed.

[samildanach.livejournal.com]

It's interesting that we characterize this as a single "mistake". Can a culture be said to make a mistake?

These are all 20th-C centric:
What about going to the moon and then retreating to LEO instead of building a lasting infrastructure? (This may not be a lasting mistake; there are reasonable indications that China, India, and independent Western entrepreneurs will fill the gap.)

What about the continued squandering of Earth's fossil fuel reserves? I forget who said that these represent a one-shot booster to kick us out of subsistence farming, and we'd better make use of the momentum while we can. (For that matter, what about the decision to construct the Eisenhower interstate system instead of following the rest of the world in enhancing rail lines?)

What about the British government hounding Turing to his death?

[noumignon.livejournal.com]

The first comment at the link is the best. Your candidate is a good one too. I posted my hyper-serious response (mostly in someone else's words) here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/wigu/58546.html?thread=1168050#t1168050).

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

My impression is that the rewards of inventing new technology didn't go to inventors in China; they went to the state. I read a while ago about the Japanese inventor of the blue LED suing Sony (?) for profits -- in an American court. Incentives drive invention, and the incentive structure in Confucian societies leave a lot to be desired.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

I had been trying to avoid focusing on recent history, but phrasing it in terms of the interstate system is really good. That could well have been a single turning point for the rest of human history. I certainly agree with that view of fossil fuels, and I'm going to be very annoyed if we end up slowly collapsing back to a pre-industrial level of technology because we squandered it all on SUVs.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

evolving from single cell organisms!

[grinninfoole.livejournal.com]

Extinguishing most of the planet's biodiversity.

[dryaunda.livejournal.com]

Yes, I would have to agree with you and edith_mf here. I have to ask, but what about Indian civilization? Granted, while they weren't as far ahead of their time as the Chinese, they had more of a head start.