Europe had competition between states but it also had stability. The key seems to be balance between competition, that forces states to innovate and gives freed

Europe had competition between states but it also had stability. The key seems to be balance between competition, that forces states to innovate and gives freedom to inventors, and stability, that brings wealth and allows academic/engineering traditions to take hold. Persia had many scientific discoveries and technological innovations during the so called Islamic golden age but whole cities have been destroyed including there libraries during the Mongol invasions that spared Europe. Meanwhile, Paris, London, and many Germanic cities had centuries without suffering from catastrophic destruction. Also, I think that the focus should be on a technical level more than on a cultural level. "Then one day, Europeans build a vacuum pump. [...] In 1573, a Danish astronomer called Tycho Brahe observes a supernova." I would rather know more about how they came up with pumps and telescopes than read a long dissertation on how Chinese elites were too conservative or on how Aristotle has been trashed. Why did Europeans came up with pumps and telescopes and not China? I feel that the answer has more to do with demands (from demographic growth), concentration of wealth and skilled craftsmen than with political systems. Did China also had available materials, skilled workers and demand for efficient production?