Ren and Stimpy

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All the kids were mixed together in order to help the less gifted kids. And this was supposed to help the smart ones because they would learn the material better when they explained it to the slow ones they were tasked with helping. Yeah, right.

What actually happened was a 2d grade teacher had 3 groups to teach in the same room and tried to keep two of them busy while she taught the third. Mostly the smart ones learned on their own because they needed less help. Boredom was a constant. And this was in one of the best schools in the state. The public high school this primary school feeds routinely has 15 or more merit scholars and 25 kids scoring 5 on the AP Calculus BC test (not the easier AB) in each senior class of 400 or so,

Fortunately, if the bright kids can make it through the early grades, the very large number of AP classes allows them to be challenged.

The quotation I was responding to is right there in italics.

What does Aquinas have to do with this?

I’m not sure why one would attribute more efficient water wheels or turnpike construction in Britain to Voltaire scribbling away.

While we’re at it, must remember, Thos. Aquinas a bloody clot.

Drug them. Rage them. Crack them… boys, males, masculine, toxic masculinity, a color bloc, that is. Any excuse will do, and the opportunities are diverse.

That first Peterson video:
“‘I’m against poverty.’ Really? And you thought that was a unique enough attribute to go to the trouble of putting it on a sign?!”

That’s hilarious! I love Dr. Peterson!

A few times I’ve played a thought experiment with groups; “What’s the single, most important human innovation?”

Some folks defend the Magna Carta. Some the wheel. Some harnessing electricity.

I always advocate for the printing press.

I believe the CEO of every U.S. corporation should be forced to place an anonymous, customer support call to their company annually. It often takes me five minutes to even find a number to call on a company’s website. And then the decent into the automated abyss of robotic attendants and numeric prompts.

You stated,

“Throughout the classical, medieval, and early modern period, you had cycles of prosperity and decay and only glacial advances in living standards.

3. That did change after 1700, when you had rapid improvements in production and real income consequent to the pace of technological innovation.”

You failed to identify what led to that paradigm change. I think it obvious, the rise of the enlightenment period, which most notably allowed individual genius to flourish. The incremental improvements you note are refinements mostly achieved through trial and error. They are not breakthroughs in understanding or creative leaps forward.

Jordah Peterson has put together several videos which discuss this very subject.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GtqQCaYjOfI

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6vHhgw0n8t0

View them with an open mind and you’ll find that they directly address and yes, refute much of your position.