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In Reply to: Re: Emotional investment posted by Thinker on April 25, 2008 at 07:58:59:
Modern science and mathematics was often developed by religious people, but they flourished in secular society. They would never have survived the European dark ages steeped in superstition and religious order. Collectively, the highest achievers in these fields if anyone are the Jews who were not always religious.
All modern mathematics is grounded on discoveries and advancements made by people who were not Christian. Such as algebra, trignometry, decimals, zero.
The only time the mathmatical sciences flourished under religious reign was during the Islamic age. Traveling Muslims took what the Hindus, Greeks and Africans did, developed their concepts and took credit for them.
Science was fueled by the secular greed factor. It flourished during the industrial age under free market laws which protected and allowed individuals to amass profits. Patents were a Euro-American phenomenon for centuries when there was a rush to take credit for ideas and inventions so individuals could receive royalties. When the process of how something worked is registered and demystified, it serves as an open source for others to take their knowledge further, and fuels further inventions.
If one looks at any statistics for inventions, science and mathematics without considering global and historical factors one could get the false idea the modern age is thanks only by Euro-American inventions.
