Arda Sever
@Saccha
15 okur puanı
Ekim 2019 tarihinde katıldı
God helps those who help themselves. This is a roundabout way of saying that God doesn't exist, but if you belief in Him inspires us to do something ourselves - it helps. Antibiotics, unlike God, help even those who don't help themselves. They cure infections whether you believe in them or not.
0-30p: Kontrollü okuyucu 📖
40-70p: Hafif bağımlı 👀
80p+: Geçmiş olsun, kitaplar seni ele geçirmiş 😅
Suppose you were given a choice between the following two vacation packages:
Stone Age package:
On day one we will hike for ten hours in a pristine forest, setting camp for the night in a clearing by a river. On day two we will canoe down the river for ten hours, camping on the shores of a small lake. On day three we will learn from the native people how to fish in the lake and how to find mushrooms in the nearby woods.
Modern proletarian package:
On day one we will work for ten hours in a polluted textile factory, passing the night in a cramped apartment block. On day two we will work for ten hours as cashiers in the local department store, going back to sleep in the same apartment block. On day three we will learn from the native people how to open a bank account and fill out mortgage forms.
Which package would you choose?
Indeed even today when US presidents take their oath of office, they out their hand on bible. Similarly in many countries around the world, including USA and the UK, witnesses in courts put their hand on a bible when swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It's ironic that they swear to tell the truth on a book brimming with so many fictions, myths and errors.
If you used a time machine to send a modern scientist to ancient Egypt, she would not be able to seize power by exposing the fictions of the local priests and lecturing the peasants on evolution, relativity and quantum physics. Of course, if our scientist could use her knowledge in order to produce a few rifles and artillery pieces, she could gain a huge advantage over pharaoh and the crocodile god Sobek. Yet in order to mine iron ore, build blast furnaces and manufacture gunpowder, the scientist would need a lot of hard-working peasants. Do you really think she could inspire them by explaining that energy divided by mass equals the speed of light squared? If you happen to think so, you are welcome to travel to present-day Afghanistan or Syria and try your luck.
When in due course the Europeans penetrated the African interior, armed with their agreed-upon map they discovered that many of the borders drawn in Berlin did little justice to the geographic, economic and ethnic reality of Africa. However, to avoid renewed clashed the invaders stuck to their agreements, and these imaginary lines became the actual borders of European colonies. During the second half of the twentieth century, as the European empires disintegrated and their colonies gained independence, the new countries accepted the colonial borders, fearing that the alternative would be endless wars and conflicts. Many of the difficulties faced by present day African countries stem from the fact that their borders make little sense.