> -----Original Message----- > From: Gautam Sarup [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > What prevents the rest of the world from having an equivalent > standard of living is not the lack of resources but a lack of > rationality. Europe (and as a side effect, America) had an > enlightenment that raised living standards and the rest of > the world did not. > > Slowly, as other countries are absorbing the remanents of the > the ideas of the Enlightenment their living standards are rising too. >
Hmm. You might want to read some of John Gray's books. He torches the comfortable idea that we are on an irresistible path towards liberal democracy. Unfortunately. For example: "The chief tenet of the Enlightenment is that the growth of knowledge is the key to human emancipation. No true believer in the Enlightenment would ever question that article of faith. Yet faith in progress through the growth of knowledge is itself irrational." It should be clear to most people these days that most of the world despises the ideas of the Enlightenment, and they will quite happily burn us all at the stake to make us believe their nonsense. Unless we are very careful indeed, we will soon enter a new age of endarkenment. Bob
