> It also reminds of something sad, which is the tendency of westerners to assume that their culture and technology is "default" I remember how surprised I was

> It also reminds of something sad, which is the tendency of westerners to assume that their culture and technology is "default" I remember how surprised I was to learn that many ancient cultures oriented their maps so East (the direction of the rising sun) was at the top, instead of North (the direction a compass points) as we do. It had never occurred to me before that North being the default direction was cultural, but of course it is.