I have also heard that the Russians claim that they invented everything and the greedy capitalists stole all their ideas.
It doesn’t really matter. It is not the insight into the invention that matters but the creativity of application and the economic system that allows production, distribution and profit. Powerful cultures are not necessarily powerful because they come up with new ideas. They dominate because they find ways to develop the ideas of others. They decline because they don’t see the potential in what they have.
This developed in my mind when I was writing a post on my devotional blog and referred to a verse in the Old Testament.
(1 Samuel 17:20 KJV) And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle.This verse refers to the army of Israel fortifying their campground. It specifically mentions trenches. The culture that is famous for this is the Romans. Every night a Roman legion on the move would build a strong fortress to defend them from attack. Part of each soldiers load was a stake that would go into the wall. Obviously this idea was not original with them, they just developed it to the point of conquering the known world.
The Romans are also known for their use of the arch and concrete. Neither one of these was original to the Romans. They just took an idea, developed it and made application.
To be continued...
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.