[lit-ideas] Thought Experiment
- From: Scribe1865@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 18:49:54 EDT
In a message dated 8/3/2004 2:00:47 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
dsavory@xxxxxxxxx writes:
Interventions by the US (and English, French and Germans)in the Middle East
has resulted for the people there in little more than oppression, exploitation
and humiliation.
. . . . the problem is with all of us
______
Soliciting pure speculation here.
Imagine that: (1) there was no oil in the Middle East or that technologically
advanced societies never had need of it, (2) that both Islam and
Christianity, after 1200 CE say, had evolved into non-proselytizing,
nonimperialist
religions that had no metaphysical stake in winning converts or territory, and
that
(3) Europeans, and later, Americans did not develop trade or seek prestige by
colonialism, occupation, or administration of other countries.
Question: What would the Middle East look like?
Conditionals: Assuming there were no European (and later American and Soviet)
race for empire and possessions, World War I would not have occurred, World
War II ditto, Russian Revolution perhaps not. Cultures would have developed
contacts with other cultures only through trade, and therefore would have
changed
by reaction and fertilization rather than by cataclysmic force.
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
- » [lit-ideas] Thought Experiment
