Quote:
Originally Posted by firebug
He forgot the part about the nuclear conflagration in 857AD destroying civilization, which was caused, in large part, by the accidental release of a 'superbug' from a research laboratory in 849AD.
Just having fun, which is what re-writing alternative history is all about, right?
~Bug
|
Also, he forgot to mention the dominance and power of science in 1000 A.D. leading to an evil totalitarian Earth empire that led to a massive war of eugenics and scientific social engineering...resulting in a bleak dystopian nuclear-winter ravaged planet of opressed people.
Remember the totalitarian and facist scientific methods of social organization that we saw in the 20th century...like Nazi Eugenics and Marxism/Communism which were all argued as being the scientific outcome of rational thought, evolutionary/genetic superiority, and logical human organization...led by authority granted to leaders supposedly the most versed in technocratism and knowledgable in areas of science or social superiority - therefore beyond reproach and the most fitting leaders.
Like it or not, most of the terms of personal freedoms, liberties, rights, and even the tenants of capitalism and free market in our western tradition all originated out of religious influences or religious arguements as to the sanctity and worth of an individual person as granted by religion...Consider Locke, the founding fathers of the United States, Calvin, etc.
I agree that the Dark Ages were a horrible time for rational thought, science, or general human rights in western civilization - remember in those times, science was kept alive by middle-eastern Muslim scholars who not only experimented in new fields of science and mathematics, but worked hard to preserve the knowledge of the Roman era and whom without, we would likely not have a vast portion of the Greek mathematics and philosophy that we are familar with today. You are also forgetting China (but that's a different matter entirely).
BUT, without the influence of religion (post reneissance/reformation), many of the rights and freedoms you exercise and enjoy today may never have been enshrined or even contemplated in western civilization. Even when they were trying to write the U.N. convention on human rights (of which a Canadian was influential), they had an impossible time trying to argue that it had a fundamental basis in historical human rights outside of what was dictated by religious originated principles of human sanctity and individual worth.