SilentCal comments on Harper's Magazine article on LW/MIRI/CFAR and Ethereum - Less Wrong Discussion
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I'm not sure I see the contradiction. "We have found the way (elitism), and others should follow (universalism)" seems like a pretty coherent position, and one I'd expect to see throughout history, not just in the British Empire. Isn't it implicit in the idea of missionary religion, and of much philosophy?
Granted, there's a distinction you can make between "We found the way by luck" and "We found the way by virtue". The former is less elitist than the latter, but it still entails that "our way is better than yours".
...I think I've lost sight of what defines 'elitism' besides believing something.
Dammit! You win an entire virtual Stollen.
I still suspect there are differences in how this combination is enforced, but I'll need to do a lot more research now. Anyone know of any good books on the French or Spanish Empires, or the Islamic conquests?
...oh, Islam is actually a good example: their thing seems to be directly manipulating the incentive structure, whether by the jizya or the sword. Did they force Christians to go to Islamic schools, or did they just tax the Christians more than the Muslims? (Or neither? Did Christians have to pay zakat? IIRC they didn't, but it might have varied...?)
I've heard that at one point the authorities were discouraging conversion to Islam because of the effect on tax revenue.
According to the book "A Historical And Economic Geography Of Ottoman Greece: The Southwestern Morea in the 18th Century" by Fariba Zarinebaf, John Bennet and Jack L. Davis:
Glossary:
cizye - Islamic poll tax imposed on a non-Muslim household
reaya - productive groups (peasants, merchants, artisans) subject to taxes, in contrast to askeri (q.v.) (military), who were tax-exempt
kadi - Muslim judge
Zilkade - Dhu al-Qi'dah, the eleventh month in the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months in Islam during which warfare is prohibited, hence the name ‘Master of Truce’.
timar - prebend in the form of state taxes in return for regular military service, conventionally less than 20,000 akçes (q.v.) in value
If there are leaders, and there are followers, then that's not really one-size-fits-all. That's more like two-sizes-fit-all... Biversalism.