Re: the causes of world poverty and wealth

Posted by Dafyd on November 29, 1998 at 12:04:02:

In Reply to: NOT only for NT's eyes: DAVID S. LANDES' new book on the causes of world poverty and wealth posted by Jan den Breejen on November 28, 1998 at 03:53:49:

: Wat do you think of my controversial hypothesis and Landes' analysis? It would be helpful for the Forum learning process to mention your enneatype.

I think it's horribly naive, and in the present situation, pernicious. :)
Is Mr Landes a Three or a Seven?

Other cultures certainly weren't pictures of original innocence, but that doesn't mean
that our ancestors were justified in killing and enslaving them.
The Protestant work ethic is at least as much Three as One.
I don't think guilt for Third World poverty is essentially Marxist. (Indeed Marx might
have endorsed the thesis.) It's moral. Lots of Westerners criticised our role in other
countries before Marx was born.
The best way to make money is to have lots of money already. The Third World
isn't poor because they're all Nines. They're poor because they don't have any capital
to work with, and they don't have any capital because they are taking part in an
international trading system which is biased in favour of the rich nations.
At least part of the reason we're rich is that our ancestors used superior military
force to extort beneficial trading relations.
We don't really know what caused the European expansionist movement of the Sixteenth
Century. We don't know whether a similar movement could have taken place within other
civilizations at the time; and we don't know that because those civilizations were
conquered by us. (History suggests that similar intellectual and cultural advances
take place at similar times across the world.)

Dafyd (a Five)

Follow Ups:

• Re: discussion about the causes of world poverty and wealth Jan den Breejen 05:25:38 12/02/98 (12)
  • Re: discussion about the causes of world poverty and wealth Dafyd 13:59:45 12/07/98 (0)
  • Re: discussion about the causes of world poverty and wealth erica 14:40:49 12/02/98 (10)
    • Jan on world poverty and wealth: 'different economic systems for different national cultures' Jan den Breejen 01:51:16 12/04/98 (9)
      • Re: 'different economic systems for different national cultures' Dafyd 14:09:01 12/07/98 (2)
        • Can everything be accounted for by ratty external forces? Don't think so. Jan den Breejen 15:43:36 12/10/98 (0)
        • Thank you Dafyd erica 09:52:11 12/09/98 (0)
      • Re: Jan on world poverty and wealth: 'different economic systems for different national cultures' erica 12:42:55 12/04/98 (5)
        • the enneagram as tool for analysing/understanding business and national cultures Jan den Breejen 02:52:22 12/05/98 (4)
          • Re: the enneagram as tool for analysing/understanding business and national cultures PommePomme 13:08:41 12/06/98 (3)
            • Re: the enneagram as tool for analysing/understanding business and national cultures Dafyd 13:29:15 12/07/98 (2)
              • You're certainly right, Dafyd PommePomme 20:35:28 12/07/98 (1)
                • So are you. :) Dafyd 12:53:59 12/11/98 (0)

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