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Maybe my hunter-gatherer egalitarianism is clouding my views, but this sounds tendentious to me. The English descended from waves of European conquerors and set

Maybe my hunter-gatherer egalitarianism is clouding my views, but this sounds tendentious to me. The English descended from waves of European conquerors and settlers (and even the Celts are generally considered to be migrant agriculturalists), and with habits like city-dwelling and being fearsome warriors instead of serfs dying out in mere generations at various points in our history, it's hard to imagine that we've somehow absorbed more cues from a little-known Early Neolithic culture we might not even share much genetic material with. Not to mention a whole bunch of more directly relevant quirks like assembling a mighty navy, colonising half the rest of the world, dispensing with Catholicism early and inventing modern capitalism came precisely because our society was so hierarchical.

joemazerino 3y ago
Well said. Don't forget about modern industry, scientific advancements, personal freedom and other privileges we enjoy today
cracrecry 3y ago
Modern capitalism was not invented by the British. It was invented by Italian people and Catholic religious orders. The British adopted the system and amplified it, just like the Industrialisation that came from the Netherlands. The British made most of their capital(that financed industrialisation) from slavery trade and piracy in the Atlantic. It made huge profits and industrialisation paid off giving multiples of the inputs for the first time in History. That also financed the "colonising of half of the world". But this colonisation came very late. >dispensing with Catholicism early and inventing modern capitalism came precisely because our society was so hierarchical. I am reading a book that argues that Europe's success comes from all the competence of different powers fighting each other and none of them taking over the others. The Muslims and later the Ottoman empire tried to take over Europe. The Spanish or Napoleon tried to take over Europe and UK, but they could not, because the others joined against them. Napoleon tried to conquer Russia. Then the British tried to take over as well. Austria, Bismarck and Hitler tried to conquer Europe. Then the Soviet Union. Even the Roman Empire could not take over the British islands and Germany. This is different from China, where different groups take over of everything. Centralisation and stagnation happens as a consequence.
- notahacker 3y ago
  > Modern capitalism was not invented by the British. It was invented by Italian people and Catholic religious orders. The British adopted the system and amplified it, just like the Industrialisation that came from the Netherlands. I nearly qualified the original sentence with a reference to Dutch trading companies who built stock exchanges to fund colonies alongside us and apparently used the word "capitalist" to describe the sort of person that invested in them before us, and obviously the basic concept of markets and trade goes back long before the Venetian republic. But the Industrial Revolution and economic growth going exponential - the modern bit of capitalism - was definitely a British quirk
- borissk 3y ago
  >> It was invented by Italian people and Catholic religious orders. Interesting. Do you have any sources on that?

joemazerino 3y ago

Well said. Don't forget about modern industry, scientific advancements, personal freedom and other privileges we enjoy today

cracrecry 3y ago

Modern capitalism was not invented by the British. It was invented by Italian people and Catholic religious orders. The British adopted the system and amplified it, just like the Industrialisation that came from the Netherlands. The British made most of their capital(that financed industrialisation) from slavery trade and piracy in the Atlantic. It made huge profits and industrialisation paid off giving multiples of the inputs for the first time in History. That also financed the "colonising of half of the world". But this colonisation came very late. >dispensing with Catholicism early and inventing modern capitalism came precisely because our society was so hierarchical. I am reading a book that argues that Europe's success comes from all the competence of different powers fighting each other and none of them taking over the others. The Muslims and later the Ottoman empire tried to take over Europe. The Spanish or Napoleon tried to take over Europe and UK, but they could not, because the others joined against them. Napoleon tried to conquer Russia. Then the British tried to take over as well. Austria, Bismarck and Hitler tried to conquer Europe. Then the Soviet Union. Even the Roman Empire could not take over the British islands and Germany. This is different from China, where different groups take over of everything. Centralisation and stagnation happens as a consequence.

notahacker 3y ago
> Modern capitalism was not invented by the British. It was invented by Italian people and Catholic religious orders. The British adopted the system and amplified it, just like the Industrialisation that came from the Netherlands. I nearly qualified the original sentence with a reference to Dutch trading companies who built stock exchanges to fund colonies alongside us and apparently used the word "capitalist" to describe the sort of person that invested in them before us, and obviously the basic concept of markets and trade goes back long before the Venetian republic. But the Industrial Revolution and economic growth going exponential - the modern bit of capitalism - was definitely a British quirk
borissk 3y ago
>> It was invented by Italian people and Catholic religious orders. Interesting. Do you have any sources on that?