Originally Posted By: larryinnewyork
I greatly respect the Engineering Profession.
My theory on Civilizations advancement.
I call it European Intelligence.
In the mid/late 1800's, there were 'alot' of inventions being thought of in this country.
Some people would say Americans are very smart.
But where did those Americans come from ?
Answer: Mostly Europe.
Earlier years you had:
Michael Angelo
Leonardo Di Vinchi
Sir Issac Newton
European Countries sending ships all around the world to acquire new land.
These were men who questioned the powerful Catholic Church.
Looked into the night sky and tracked the Planets.
There was the Art Renaissance where painting & sculptors looked lifelike.
I am not a History expert, and I'm sure someone could prove me partially wrong.
But it just seems like Europeans had a very high level of intelligence.
More so then on any other Continent.
That's largely true. You can boil it down, not just to intelligence, but to the advancement of scientific reasoning.
It's really amazing to learn that certain peoples do not have a culture of engineering, and therefore, have a difficult time with cause and effect on the most basic level.
In Tanzania, for example, The Germans built infrastructure, railroads and so on. Yet, the locals were utterly unable to simply maintain the equipment. After the Germans left, the deterioration was rapid and complete.
In another example, same location, a school collapsed, killing 140 some-odd children. The reason: Sun Dried Bricks. A 2 story school building was too heavy for hand formed, sun dried bricks to support. The (so called) engineers did not understand the brick specifications at all. The non-uniformity of the bricks was a contributing factor. I happened to be there at the time and the lack of understanding was stunning. The locals clearly understood the magnitude of the tragedy. Yet, from what I could see, no effort was made to understand why it happened. Until it was explained to the locals, they really did not get it.
