18
votes
What is the name of the theory that says an early discovery can stop technological development?
One possible term for the situation you described is technological lock in. This is more commonly associated with the development of sustainable energy (vs cheap oil), so it is probably not the ...
- 96.6k
15
votes
Accepted
What is the name of the theory that says an early discovery can stop technological development?
In Dutch this is known as wet van de remmende voorsprong, which has been translated to Law of the handicap of a head start on Wikipedia. The page has a few examples similar to yours.
That a page with ...
- 266
13
votes
Before European influence circa 1600, did any Chinese believe the Earth was spherical, and did they ever try to measure it?
See Joseph Needham's momumental work : Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth, Cambridge UP (1959), page 212-213:
"Rather ...
- 860
6
votes
Before European influence circa 1600, did any Chinese believe the Earth was spherical, and did they ever try to measure it?
I am not sure about 1600, but there is a famous book on astronomy called
Zhou bi suan jing, which is usually translated as "The Arithmetic Classic of the Gnomon and the Circular Paths of
Heaven". It ...
- 38.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Why was Europe so technologically and culturally advanced?
First of all this was not always the case in history. In the period approximately 400-1500,
European populations were not more technologically advanced than some populations in Asia.
And even before ...
- 38.1k
5
votes
Did any Chinese scholars propose a heliocentric model?
Although it doesn't state whether a heliocentric model was proposed, I'd imagine some Chinese scholars entertained the possibility. Foremost, they had to overcome the accepted beliefs of their time, ...
- 189
5
votes
Accepted
Why did the First and Second Industrial Revolutions start in Europe?
William McNeil, in his excellent (and neglected) The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000, argues that Europe's advantage was in no small part due to the Fall of Rome....
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1
vote
Before European influence circa 1600, did any Chinese believe the Earth was spherical, and did they ever try to measure it?
Yes, some believed in a Round Earth, but we don't know if they tried to measure it.
I'm going to start from the basis of the Round Earth concept; Hellenistic Astronomy was based upon Babylonian ...
- 189
1
vote
The Needham Question: What stunted China's technological and proto-scientific advancement?
I am not saying it is the only thing but the difficulty of becoming literate may have prevented the development of more than one potential Chinese innovator who was born into a family that could not ...
- 3,703
1
vote
How has Chinese GDP as a percentage of world GDP changed over time and why?
The ChinaWhisper article doesn't seem to give sources, and its numbers are implausible, particularly having per capita GDP be several times bigger under the Song dynasty than before or after.
A big ...
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