TED Talk

After watching the Ted talk I have to say I was very interested by what Niall Ferguson had to say. He went beyond the realms of formal and concrete thought and used a device we all know as an example to propose his idea...the smartphone. His whole lecture was about how Westerners became more prosperous than people of the east, and it did not end up this way because of empire or geography. He made his conclusion based on six things, which he calls the killer apps: competition, the scientific revolution, property rights, modern medicine, the consumer society, and the work ethic. I would have to agree with Ferguson's point of view because Europe was divided into very different empires in a small amount of space, while Easterners had very large amounts of space under one Empire. This created diversity and competition in Europe, which was not present in the east. Everyone had to fight to make a living and to own land which increase emphasis on the points of property rights and work ethic. In the east, the government controlled land ownership, income, and even testing for job placement so there was no competition, people just did what hey had to. After Ferguson then presents his belief as to why the West developed faster during what he calls "The Great Divergence", he brings up the issue that the east has entered back into the race again, and they are going for the win. He also mentions that the American who was 20 times richer than the easterner years ago is now only 5 times richer due to an increase in their work ethic and a decline in the West's. Even more scary, he says by 2016 China will top the U.S. for number one economy in the world. Overall, I believe he brings up some very good points and signals for the east to take action!

Ottoman, Safavids, Mughals and other stuff...

I believe the authors of this textbook put the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals together in one chapter because of their common heritage. They all descended from Turkish nomads and they all followed the Islamic faith. However I don't think this was the best idea because there is a lot of bouncing back and forth between each empire and it becomes hard to follow and keep a clear train of thought. Also if each empire were to have its own chapter, we would be able to learn more about them as a whole rather than how they compared to the other societies.

I think this period of global interaction (1500-1800) was beneficial to the people involved. Societies across the world were changing for the better due to certain technological advances because of exchanges amongst different cultures. The only bad thing I took out of the several readings was the growth of slavery during this period of global interaction. Although in our society today we perceive slavery as a bad thing because of the racism that was coupled with it, during this time frame it increased labor. Overall the worldwide exchanges in this time frame helped create a boom in creativity and innovation and it was truly beneficial to the societies and people involved.

Links to xtranormal videos

This is the link to the video of Tokagawa and Daiymo:

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13183730

This is the link to the video of Tokagawa and the Samuri:

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13183680

Fabian Fucan and his Issues With Christianity

Well, to say Fabian Fucan hates Christianity is an understatement. He laments the fact the he converted and left the faith of Buddhism, which he is now following again. Fucan uses religious, cultural, historical, political, and social aspects to attack Christianity. Fucan states that Japan is the land of the gods. He also goes onto say that these gods protect their land, taking a direct shot at Deus(the Latin word for the Christian god). This statement includes both religious and cultural aspect because it addresses the religions gods and customs. Fucan also mentions that the Jesuits are trying to destroy Buddhism during their conquests and gain control of Luzon and Nova Hispania, which are the modern day Philippines and Mexico.this attacks the historical and political aspects of Christianity. Lastly, he attacks the social aspects of Christianity because he says that Buddhism is too strong to be taken over by Christianity. He says that unless the Christians are willing to invade they will not succeed in converting people. Overall, he is not a fan of Christianity and considers it a corrupt religion.

Chapter 26 Project

Here is our project on Chapter 26. I collaborated with Nadia and Bobby. We did the powerpoint in google docs.

Here is the link:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/pub?id=1AjL5Ugkrmz275quNBWVGvUhuBzoE-4r16ukPZP70o_M&start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

What truly is Capitalism...

Based on the reading and class discussion, I believe capitalism is a government system completely dependent on its economy and the competition that lies between certain merchants and business owners to manufacture the best product for the lesser cost. However it's more complicated that I previously thought. From the reading I learned that merchants developed a technique called supply and demand where they would buy a product of surplus with little value from one area and take it to sell to an area with high demand for the product, thus increasing the profit made by the merchant. Also, joint stock companies arose as a part of capitalism to eventually organize commercial trading on a larger scale than ever before in history. However, capitalism has its downfalls because while everyone had a desire to compete and earn money, the quality of the goods produced decreased because everyone was trying to create the most turnover the fastest and for the least amount of money. So while the quantity of everything was increasing, the quality was quickly declining.

Christianity and its different forms/Capitalism

I believe Christianity broke up into so many forms because of people who wanted to alter the faith for their own benefit. Christianity itself was a very powerful influence on the people of Europe as well as other places. As new leaders came about and realized the influence it had on their citizens, they thought what if I came up with my own sect of the religion that would give me the power and make people listen to me. By doing this they still kept their followers because it was technically the same faith, but they also gained more authority. So for own selfish reasons, people took the one faith that "God" designed and transformed it into many sects that benefitted their needs.
As for capitalism I am not quite sure as to what it is. I know it has to do with a government's economy, but that is pretty much it.