Re:Gutenberg’s moving type propelled Europe towards the scie...
by zachguo on Sunday April 07, 2019 @05:02AM
(#19595670)
Because it's much cheaper to build a printing machine for alphabets. Cheap transmission of information caused a grassroot intellectual explosion, i.e. the Enlightenment. While in China only the ruling class could afford a printing machine for tens of thousands of characters.
Re:Gutenberg’s moving type propelled Europe towards the scie...
by thaumasiotes on Sunday April 07, 2019 @07:22AM
(#19596127)
Huh? In China they just didn't bother with movable type. They printed everything, using wood block printing. (Instead of assembling each page from sorts, carve each page into the surface of a wooden block.) The press looks exactly the same.
Re:Gutenberg’s moving type propelled Europe towards the scie...
by woodandsteel on Monday April 08, 2019 @06:38PM
(#19609794)
I agree about constant war and conflict, but I would add in very different views of things like truth, nature and human psychology from Greek philosophy.
I personally like the theory that it was constant war and conflict which propelled the scientific revolution. The need to compete and outdo others which went hand in hand with the industrial revolution and the politics and economics of the time that led to the french revolution.