On the other hand, he is someone the West is looking for. A "formal" explanation for all our malaises that seems non-fatal. It's not Wang's fault. His admirers are serious people. But they all engage in motivated reasoning.
There is a saying "missing the forest for the trees". Here is a better analogy for Wang's case. Armchair China strategies, who have never been to China, never wanted to seriously understand China, finally realize themselves that they are looking only at the "trees".
when starting in the NatSec "industry". He was at the Pentagon, so had a front row seat to see what was going on. "The Pentagon part of the pivot was my 'portfolio'".
It did start with "Pivot to Asia". By now we know it wasn't casual talking points.
Maybe Scheidel reconstructed something new, and more solid. But I am not sure it endangers Pomeranz's thesis. That is, despite everything, it is not necessary that the West must rise.
“'If you’re going to ask the rise-of-the-West question,' said Henrich, 'there’s this big unmentioned thing called psychology that’s got to be part of the story'.”
So how did the West rise?
What Henrich said of as "Psychology" here, I think, is his other
news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/…
theme, "cultural is biological", so is "biological is cultural". They are not meant to be universal, but when relevant, the link is the truth behind.
Note: Not trained in SocSci. Following are just my reflections.
Feb 1, 2023 • 21 tweets • 6 min read
Culture and the rewiring of the brain
Human beings evolve through natural selection. When we talk about change to adapt to the environment, we usually mean those changes that are genetic. But there is also a biological component, clearly. For example, we are born with hands and
feet, with the ability to move them. The brain is a similar organ that is mostly genetic, but also biological, as Kevin Mitchell explains:
...you're in a certain scenario or situation you did a behavior it turned out well you might want to remember that this is the sort of
