I wouldn't consider the east calm.  I don't have my history book handy, but I do know the east wasn't a calm basin of peace and love and walls.   

Xavior  
  
----- Original Message -----
From: John P Ray
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2001 11:13 AM
To: dragonraid@...
Subject: Re: [DragonRaid] Several Topics: technology
  
> That's probably so.  But at least Europe had a "good" reason for
> floundering scientifically.  The fall of Rome pretty much caused a
> chaotic climate in the sciences that wasn't settled until some time
> later.  The East to my knowledge, was pretty stable politically, and
> was also rather prosperous.  This should have been fertile ground for
> other developments, but none came.

I think this stability in the east was a major part of the stagnation.
The west had countless wars (or one continuous one) and the constant
drive to find better ways to kill or stay alive, and this boiled over
into all walks of life.  The east was calm.  Sitting behind their walls
and contemplating their ancestors ;)
I have always beleived that a series of wars of conquest will drive
science like nothing else.

Jack

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