"If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants." - Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was talking about fellow thinkers before him. But while Isaac Newton was sitting below his apple tree, a few hundred million people in the British colony was also working their ass off for Great Britain! Would be hard to belief someone so farsighted as him could not see that too. So, if he have been somewhat more honest he would have said that he and those giants were also standing on the shoulders of millions other Asians and Africans who were working their ass off to feed him and those giants while they pondered in comfort.
The same went for 'giants' like Charles Darwin who never had to work a single day in his life. He spent his life travelling throughout the colonies (by hitching rides in merchant and navy ships) exploring & looking at the diverse life forms around the globe.
Is it a coincidence that western 'scientific supremacy' followed after the start of massive colonialisation in the 15th century?
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