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asian dominance science engineering intelligence
https://scholar.google.ca/citations?hl=en&vq=eng&view_op=list_hcore&venue=iGi98NXoUDsJ.2015
https://scholar.google.ca/citations?hl=en&vq=chm&view_op=list_hcore&venue=UPwSH82WtREJ.2015
http://www.faqs.org/patents/top/top-inventors-2015/
china triggered the renaissance
China and the Age of Enlightenment As time wore on, various Chinese
inventions such as printing, gunpowder, and the mariner's compass
gradually found their way to Europe, also via the Arabs , who for
centuries were the leading travelers and traders between East and West.
Prior to the seventeenth century, however, the purely intellectual
influence of China remained slight, perhaps because it was on ly then
that Europeans themselves began to travel to the Far East in significant
numbers. The new era of Chinese-European contacts started in the year
1601, when the famous Italian Jesuit, Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), arrived
in the Chinese capital, Pe king, and established there a Catholic
mission. For the next two centuries the Jesuits, as well as members of
ot her Catholic orders, remained in close touch with the Court of
Peking. By 1700 they were said to ha ve converted approximately two
hundred fifty thousand Chinese to Christianity. Because these Europeans
were highly educated men, they gained the respect of the Chinese, who
have always placed a premium on scholarship. Many, indeed , were given
important positions in the Chinese government. The Board of Astronomy ,
for example, was placed under their charge and remained a Christian
stronghold until 1838. Fascinated by the ancient and impressive
civilization in which they found themselves, these Europeans wrote home
detailed accounts of what they saw. Their letters provided material for a
long series of books on China, written usually in French or Latin and
published in Paris, the European center of Jesuit activities. Among them
were such works as Confucius, the Philosopher of the Chinese (1687);
the Description of China (1735), in four volumes; the long series of
Edifying and Curious Letters , in 34 volumes (1702-76); the General
History of China , in 13 volumes (1777-85); and the lengthy Memoirs on
the History, Sciences, Arts, etc., of the Chinese , in 16 volumes
(1776-1814). These writings gave Europeans a far more detailed and
accurate picture of China than they had ever had before. They generated a
tremendous enthusiasm for China and things Chinese — an enthusiasm that
reached its peak in the early years of the second half of the
eighteenth century. Materially, this enthusiasm powerfully influenced
such fields as painting, architecture, landscape gardening, furniture,
and the newly developed manufactures of porcelain and lacquerware — the
well-known and charming chinoiseries of the eighteenth century. It also
left a strong imprint on literature and on the thin king of some of the
most famous intellectual figures of the period. The timing of this
impact from China was of particular importance. It reached Europe during
a period of tremendous political and intellectual ferment. The
Renaissance had br ought to Europeans a renewed consciousness of their
great classical heritage from the ancient civilizations of Greece and
Rome. This consciousness widened men's horizons. It helped to fr ee them
from the mental limitations that had been imposed during the Middle
Ages by the dogmas of th e church. Some began to question a spiritual
authority that still taught that the sun and the rest of the universe
revolve around the earth, well after Copernicus and Galileo had proved
the reverse to be true. They were beginning to raise objections to the
theory of the "divine right of kings" that permitted monarchs to rule as
they pleased, without regard for the welfare of their people; to
express doubts regarding the justice of a social system that allowed
feudal aristocrats to lead lives of luxury while their peasant serfs
starved; and to urge that men of education be given an increasing voice
in public affairs. Such ideas, gaining strength in the seventeenth
century, led in the eighteenth to what was known as the Age of
Enlightenment. Leaders of this movement, such as the Frenchman, Voltaire
(1694- 1778), believed that any human problem could be solved if men
would only consent to live with one another on a basis of reason and
common sense. Ideas of this sort culminated politically in the French
Revolution of 1789. Socially, they gave a new dignity and freedom to the
individual. Intellectually, they created a new, scientific method of
thinking, based upon objective experimentation and observation, in place
of the old, blind acceptance of unverified tradition. Thus were made
possible the tremendous material advances that were to come later with
the Industrial Revolution. To men infected with these new ideas, China
provided a powerful stimulus. For in China they saw a great civilization
that had evolved quite independently of, and earlier than, their own.
Although not a Christian nation, it had nevertheless developed in
Confucianism a high system of morals of its own. And, unlike Europe, it
had done so without permitting a priesthood to become so powerful as to
challenge the state's authority. The emperor of China, furthermore,
though seemingly an absolute ruler, was in actual fact limited by the
teachings of Confucianism, which declared that "the people are the most
important element in the state; the sovereign is the least."
Particularly was China admired as a land where government did not rest
in the hands of a feudal aristocracy, as in Eu rope. Instead, it was
managed by the mandarins — a group of highly educated scholars — who
gained their official positions only after proving their worth by
passing a series of state-administered examinations. We know today that
this highly favorable picture of China was somewhat over-painted. Yet
there is little doubt th at the China of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries was, both politically and economically, in many ways ahead of
Europe. The story of how European thinkers of this period reacted to
Chinese thought is a fascinating one that can only briefly be told here.
The most striking example in the seventeenth century was the German
philosopher, Leibniz (1646-1716), one of the most internationally minded
men wh o ever lived. He read extensively on China, corresponded with
Jesuits who had lived there, and wrote on Confucian philosophy. In a
letter written in 1697, he announced: "I shall have to post a notice on
my door: Bureau of Information for Chinese Knowledge." Leibniz found in
the mystic symbols contained in an ancient Chinese classic support for
his own mathematical theories. There are striking parallels, too,
between hi s philosophy and certain Confucian ideas. Above all, however,
he had the dream of creating a new civilization that would be truly
universal. This could be done, he believed, by consciously selecting and
bringing together the best elements in Chinese and Western culture.
This dream he expressed in a little book of 1697, Novissima Sinica or
Latest News from China , in which he wrote: "I almost think it necessary
that Chinese missionaries should be sent to us to teach the aims and
practice of natural theology , as we send missionaries to them to
instruct them in revealed religion." Leibniz's dream still remains,
alas, only a dream! By many of his contemporaries, however, such
theories were regarded as dangerous and revolutionary. A disciple of
Leibniz, Christian Wolff (1679-1754), suffered persecution because of
his admiration for China. In a lecture delivered at the University of
Halle in 1721, he praised the Chinese system for successfully
harmonizing individual happiness with the welfare of the state. He
maintained that Confucianism was fully adequate as a way of life; that
there was no real conflict between it and Christianity. For these bold
words he was immediately accused of atheism, and, after a bitter attack,
was force d to give up his position in the university. But the most
famous leader of the Enlightenment to fall under the Chinese spell was
Voltaire (1694-1778), to whom Confucius was the greatest of all sages. A
portrait of Confucius adorned the wall of his library. He regarded
China as the one country in the world where the ruler is at the same
time a philosopher (Plato's "philosopher-king"). He praised it because
it ha d no priesthood owning 20 percent of the land, and contrasted the
religious tolerance of the Chinese, who had never tried to send
missionaries to Europe, with the European habit of always forcing their
own religious ideas upon other people. "One need not be obsessed with
the merits of the Chinese," he wrote in 1764, "to recognize . . . that
their empire is in truth the best that the world has ever seen."
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creativity and corpus callosum
Creative people are wired differently to their non-creative brethren. The difference is not only in the presence or absence of certain genes but also in the structural characteristics of their brains.
For decades, scientists have been tinkering with the idea that genes may have a role to play in developing creative abilities in individuals. The association described above was suggested in a study of 300,000 people with mental illnesses carried out by scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. According to the results of this study, people suffering from severe neuropsychiatric illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia tend to display enhanced creativity compared to mentally healthy individuals. A significant percentage of the mentally ill subjects in this study were engaged in creative and artistic professions. The study discovered that their first-degree healthy relatives were also more likely to be engaged in creative occupations. This suggests that although mental illness may not be hereditary, creative genes may run in families.
These findings add more fuel to the “nature versus nurture” debate, but the scientists do not negate the role of nurturing in developing creativity in individuals. They just claim some people are born more creatively-endowed than others.
The above-mentioned study did not explain what causes the co-occurrence of psychopathology and creativity. But the study definitely suggested a link between genes and creativity, an idea that provided food for thought to other scientists.
Recently, a study was carried out on members from five multigenerational families and 172 unrelated individuals with proven musical aptitude and creativity. The subjects in the study were selected after testing them for their ability to compose, improvise and arrange music as well as judge pitch and timing. This study suggests a link between several genes and musical ability and creativity. The study discovered that individuals with musical abilities had genomic variants or copy number variations (CNVs) — either they did not have some genes or had duplicate copies.
Incidentally, CNVs have been linked to the cognitive performance of individuals suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders. The findings from another study indicate the role of CNVs in increasing the risks of a person developing bipolar affective disorder or schizophrenia. Does this surprise you? After all, the belief that geniuses are mad is quite popular.
Research data published in 2014 also confirm that human genes definitely have a hand in developing a person’s musical abilities. According to the findings of this study, CNVs influence an individual’s ability to produce music (sing or take part in creative musical activities like arranging, composing, and improvising music), form music memories, and perceive music (identify or produce pitches without the aid of an external reference, spot wrong notes, and detect changes in rhythm and melodies). The study also hints at the heritability of musical ability, which means that music genes tend to run through families.
Several other scientific studies indicate the positive association between the structure of the brain, the goings-on in there, and creative genius in individuals.
A study by scientists at the Cornell University found that creative individuals like artists, musicians, and writers tend to have a peculiarity in the structure of their brains — they have a smaller mass of corpus callosum. The corpus callosum is a cluster of nerve fibers that connect the two hemispheres of the brain.
But scientists and psychologists are not surprised by these findings, and they have an explanation.
Creative individuals are characterized by their ability to think out-of-the-box. It is essentially divergent thinking that lets them explore many different solutions and connect the dots to come up with innovative and creative ideas. A smaller corpus callosum decreases the connectivity between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Left to itself, each hemisphere gets the chance to specialize, so ideas can develop more freely and fully. The scientists call this process “incubation of ideas.”
After poking and prodding around the brain to find answers, scientists have discovered more brain features linked to creative ability. The brains of creative individuals tend to show increased gray matter especially in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) region, an area that is associated with awareness. More gray matter is linked to increased intelligence.
The study also found evidence that creative individuals tend to have elevated serotonin levels in their brains due to their particular genetic make-up. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that increases connectivity between cells.
Increased connectivity between the cells in the PCC leads to greater and more acute awareness of information. This means the person can process information untainted by memory and emotions. Increased connectivity between different regions of the brain also enhances the ability to form novel associations, detect patterns, and comprehend symbols. How effectively different areas of the brain, each controlling different intelligences, thoughts, or emotions, can communicate with one another determines the mental flexibility, fluency, and originality of a person.
So creative ability is not just divergent thinking. It is also about being able to form new associations and quickly string together divergent ideas to come up with unique insights.
From the studies mentioned above, it seems creative geniuses are born, rather than made. But do all geniuses go on to become super-achievers? No. The very scientists who suggest creativity is genetic go on to assure you that geniuses too need luck and opportunities to express themselves. Geniuses have to also work hard, keep learning, and ensure they are at the right place at the right time. The creativity we admire certainly does not rest on the genes alone! Really talented individuals strive to improve with every song, every canvas, or every book they produce.
References
Karlsson R, Graae L, Lekman M, Wang D, Favis R, Axelsson T, Galter D, Belin AC, & Paddock S (2012). MAGI1 copy number variation in bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia. Biological psychiatry, 71 (10), 922-30 PMID: 22381734
Kraus, C., Ganger, S., Losak, J., Hahn, A., Savli, M., Kranz, G., Baldinger, P., Windischberger, C., Kasper, S., & Lanzenberger, R. (2014). Gray matter and intrinsic network changes in the posterior cingulate cortex after selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor intake NeuroImage, 84, 236-244 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.08.036
Kyaga, S., Lichtenstein, P., Boman, M., Hultman, C., Langstrom, N., & Landen, M. (2011). Creativity and mental disorder: family study of 300 000 people with severe mental disorder The British Journal of Psychiatry, 199 (5), 373-379 DOI: 10.1192/bjp.bp.110.085316
Moore, D., Bhadelia, R., Billings, R., Fulwiler, C., Heilman, K., Rood, K., & Gansler, D. (2009). Hemispheric connectivity and the visual–spatial divergent-thinking component of creativity Brain and Cognition, 70 (3), 267-272 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2009.02.011
Tan YT, McPherson GE, Peretz I, Berkovic SF, & Wilson SJ (2014). The genetic basis of music ability. Frontiers in psychology, 5 PMID: 25018744
Ukkola-Vuoti, L., Kanduri, C., Oikkonen, J., Buck, G., Blancher, C., Raijas, P., Karma, K., Lähdesmäki, H., & Järvelä, I. (2013). Genome-Wide Copy Number Variation Analysis in Extended Families and Unrelated Individuals Characterized for Musical Aptitude and Creativity in Music PLoS ONE, 8 (2) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056356
EXPRESSIONS BOX IDIOMS idiom
Or what have you.
was nothing short of
go a long way
and then some
that's getting to him
flavor of the month
Some leader you turned out to be
She got an F on her term paper and flunked the final to boot.
He had it coming.
Might as well...while he's at it.
stuck to their guns
had it in hi
to top it all off
we're in this together
where somebody is coming from
was nothing short of
go a long way
and then some
that's getting to him
flavor of the month
Some leader you turned out to be
She got an F on her term paper and flunked the final to boot.
He had it coming.
Might as well...while he's at it.
stuck to their guns
had it in hi
to top it all off
we're in this together
where somebody is coming from
verbal IQ Chinese
Chinese children are beating Indians here at their own game - the study and mastery of the English language - with a new ethnic breakdown of school exam results showing the Indians one percentage point behind the higher-performing Chinese.
The ethnic breakdown of exam results shows the Chinese are outperforming every other group, including Indians. The Chinese astonishing facility with the English language - and the Indians' apparent ceding of command to them - has surprised educationists and sociologists alike.
In an extraordinary statistical hosanna to Chinese excellence, the shining figures include recent Chinese immigrants to the UK, who do not have English as a first language and knew no English when they arrived.
The results show that 86 per cent of Chinese 11-year-olds reach the required standard in national curriculum tests. Indians are one percentage point behind with 85 per cent of 11-year-olds achieving the same standard. Though both ethnic groups are neck and neck, they are still comfortably ahead of white British children, only 80 per cent of whom reach the same standard.
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