He told me he began to appreciate the power of intuition, in contrast to what he called “Western rational thought,” when he wandered around India after dropping out of college. “The people in the Indian countryside don’t use their intellect like we do,” he said. “They use their intuition instead … Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect, in my opinion. That’s had a big impact on my work.”
I've got copies of both Einstein: His Life and Universe and Steve Jobs on my nightstand right now, awaiting their respective time slices, and I've got to say that this article didn't make me optimistic about diving into them.
[1] http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/things-are-so-bad-...
Moreover, when we do look at the "humanities," the wisdom gained from China's five-thousand year history trumps that of this country.
in the end, it is not how long knowledge has accumulated in a place but how open people are to learning from others.
And how open is often a crap shoot accident of history. The US forced Japan open when Admiral Perry paid Tokyo a visit. Had he only gone to North Korea instead, history would have been completely different.
As for China, what they've gained culturally in the last 5000 years became irrelevant once communism took hold.
"China and India are likely to produce many rigorous analytical thinkers and knowledgeable technologists. But smart and educated people don’t always spawn innovation. America’s advantage, if it continues to have one, will be that it can produce people who are also more creative and imaginative, those who know how to stand at the intersection of the humanities and the sciences. That is the formula for true innovation, as Steve Jobs’s career showed."
It is for this reason, short term economic maladies aside, in the longer run the United States will remain the strongest nation in the world.