3 ms·
>Neither civilized areas nor technology (except in China) changed much during that period. The extremely sudden rise of Islam seems like a pretty big change to
by iskander 13y ago
>Neither civilized areas nor technology (except in China) changed much during that period.
The extremely sudden rise of Islam seems like a pretty big change to me. You had Western Roman influence in North Africa, a big functioning Eastern Roman Empire, and a thriving Sassanid Persian empire, which all got swept away.
This political/military upheaval led quickly to a golden era of learning and inquiry that the world hadn't seen in half a millenium...which then itself was swept away by the Mongol invasion (and sacking of Baghdad in 1258).
If a simulation could predict extremely important upheavals of that sort I'd be pretty damn impressed.
- zeteo 13y agoYes, but the article talks about military technologies and their impact on the extent of civilized areas. Neither Islamic nor Mongol invasions were based on new technologies (if anything, they had less sophisticated equipment than their opponents). Also these invasions didn't result in significant changes of the civilized area (cf. the American frontier or Russian expansion into Siberia).
- iskander 13y agoGood comparison with the big inland empires. Any idea what qualifies as 'civilization' in the ground truth data?