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!