Project for Philosophical Evaluations of the Economy |
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Jim Rogers says
Dialog with the Alter Ego on the East vs. West debate, first drafted on Sept. 17, published on Sept. 20, 2009
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Question by Alter Ego of Noah denkt™ (AE): Jim Rogers, investment guru and co-founder of the Quantum fund,
says that he prefers to raise his daughters in Asia because that is where in his view the future lies. Does Noah
denkt™ agree with this analysis?
Answer by Noah denkt™ (Nd): Well, on the face of it there are in deed a lot of things that seem to support this
view.
AE: Like what?
Nd: Take for instance the fact, the Asia is now the largest creditor of the US. Take the fact that the Chinese
saving rate is way higher than that of the US. Don’t also forget that GDP growth in Asia is at a multiple of that in
the West, and that Asian students continuously outperform their Western counterparts. And if that is not enough
then think about the fact that Asians’ ability to self-exploit themselves is way better than that of Westerners whose
convenience life style is more inclined to support self-indulgence and complacency than to endorse sacrifice and
pain tolerance.
AE: Okay! So can we take it from this then that you agree then with Jim Rogers’ interpretation?
Nd: No, we don’t.
AE: But why is that?
Nd: Because, as doomed and decadent as the Western society is right now, in the end it will still be able to defend
its supremacy largely because of is higher ability to reinvent itself, and adopt itself to the changing circumstances
of life and history.
AE: Are you sure about that?
Nd: As sure as reasonable human beings can be.
AE: And what gives you this confidence?
Nd: It’s the conviction that values like rule of law, transparency, open-mindedness and egalitarianism are
fundamentally right, and they will, hence, also be able to defend themselves because of that.
AE: So, in other words, all the hard work of the Asian people will not be able to dislodge the US from its top dog
position?
Nd: Well, this hard work of the Asian societies will certainly push Western ideas and ideals to its limits. And it may
even be that for a for a brief spell in history it will look as if the fate of democracy and human rights is sealed. But
in its dying moments this democracy will unexpectedly rise to the occasion again and will find a new life though its
self-defence.
AE: Has anything like this happened before?
Nd: It has. Just think about the incredible comeback that Western societies and ideas had in the course of WWII.
And do also not forget the sustained resilience that Western principles demonstrated throughout the Cold War
period.
AE: The current challenge of the Asian nations however is not a military one, is it?
Nd: No, it’s not a military challenge that the West is being confronted. But as peaceful as the competition currently
seems to be, we should not forget that there are two antagonistic value sets at work who are separating East and
West right now.
AE: What are these antagonistic value sets, that you are referring to?
Nd: You could characterize it as one party or elitist rule versus open society debates. You could also describe it
as absolute materialism versus relative materialism, cram school teaching versus a humanistic approach or
continuous self-exploitation versus a continuous debate over the reasonable limits of such self-exploitation.
AE: And in your view the East tends to be in the extreme sacrifice camp whereas the West would be in the search
for balance category?
Nd: You could put it like that.
AE: Is this truly an adequate characterisation of the different value sets that rule life in the East and the West.
After all, there is a lot of reckless profiteering (witness the financial crisis) and law twisting (see Guantanamo, see
the Iraq invasion) going on in the West as well.
Nd: Sure. But all this happens with a little more debate about it than it does in the East.
AE: But that debate doesn’t necessarily change the bottom-line outcome, does it?
Nd: In the short-term this debate may not have the desired moderating effect. In the longer-term however, this
balancing effect of an open and controversial debate is undeniable.
AE: Well, in the long-term all systems and approaches have a tendency to balance themselves out. That is simply
due to the dialectic nature of human and cultural thinking.
Nd: True. But the difference is that an open society achieves this balancing act much faster than an
nontransparent society is able to do.
AE: So, in summary then, you prefer to stay in the West rather than move to Hong Kong as Mr. Rogers has done.
Nd: Correct.
Dialog with the Alter Ego on the East vs. West debate, first drafted on Sept. 17, published on Sept. 20, 2009
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question by Alter Ego of Noah denkt™ (AE): Jim Rogers, investment guru and co-founder of the Quantum fund,
says that he prefers to raise his daughters in Asia because that is where in his view the future lies. Does Noah
denkt™ agree with this analysis?
Answer by Noah denkt™ (Nd): Well, on the face of it there are in deed a lot of things that seem to support this
view.
AE: Like what?
Nd: Take for instance the fact, the Asia is now the largest creditor of the US. Take the fact that the Chinese
saving rate is way higher than that of the US. Don’t also forget that GDP growth in Asia is at a multiple of that in
the West, and that Asian students continuously outperform their Western counterparts. And if that is not enough
then think about the fact that Asians’ ability to self-exploit themselves is way better than that of Westerners whose
convenience life style is more inclined to support self-indulgence and complacency than to endorse sacrifice and
pain tolerance.
AE: Okay! So can we take it from this then that you agree then with Jim Rogers’ interpretation?
Nd: No, we don’t.
AE: But why is that?
Nd: Because, as doomed and decadent as the Western society is right now, in the end it will still be able to defend
its supremacy largely because of is higher ability to reinvent itself, and adopt itself to the changing circumstances
of life and history.
AE: Are you sure about that?
Nd: As sure as reasonable human beings can be.
AE: And what gives you this confidence?
Nd: It’s the conviction that values like rule of law, transparency, open-mindedness and egalitarianism are
fundamentally right, and they will, hence, also be able to defend themselves because of that.
AE: So, in other words, all the hard work of the Asian people will not be able to dislodge the US from its top dog
position?
Nd: Well, this hard work of the Asian societies will certainly push Western ideas and ideals to its limits. And it may
even be that for a for a brief spell in history it will look as if the fate of democracy and human rights is sealed. But
in its dying moments this democracy will unexpectedly rise to the occasion again and will find a new life though its
self-defence.
AE: Has anything like this happened before?
Nd: It has. Just think about the incredible comeback that Western societies and ideas had in the course of WWII.
And do also not forget the sustained resilience that Western principles demonstrated throughout the Cold War
period.
AE: The current challenge of the Asian nations however is not a military one, is it?
Nd: No, it’s not a military challenge that the West is being confronted. But as peaceful as the competition currently
seems to be, we should not forget that there are two antagonistic value sets at work who are separating East and
West right now.
AE: What are these antagonistic value sets, that you are referring to?
Nd: You could characterize it as one party or elitist rule versus open society debates. You could also describe it
as absolute materialism versus relative materialism, cram school teaching versus a humanistic approach or
continuous self-exploitation versus a continuous debate over the reasonable limits of such self-exploitation.
AE: And in your view the East tends to be in the extreme sacrifice camp whereas the West would be in the search
for balance category?
Nd: You could put it like that.
AE: Is this truly an adequate characterisation of the different value sets that rule life in the East and the West.
After all, there is a lot of reckless profiteering (witness the financial crisis) and law twisting (see Guantanamo, see
the Iraq invasion) going on in the West as well.
Nd: Sure. But all this happens with a little more debate about it than it does in the East.
AE: But that debate doesn’t necessarily change the bottom-line outcome, does it?
Nd: In the short-term this debate may not have the desired moderating effect. In the longer-term however, this
balancing effect of an open and controversial debate is undeniable.
AE: Well, in the long-term all systems and approaches have a tendency to balance themselves out. That is simply
due to the dialectic nature of human and cultural thinking.
Nd: True. But the difference is that an open society achieves this balancing act much faster than an
nontransparent society is able to do.
AE: So, in summary then, you prefer to stay in the West rather than move to Hong Kong as Mr. Rogers has done.
Nd: Correct.
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| Keywords: supremacy of Western culture, East versus West debate, superiority of Western culture, superiority of Western economy, superiority of Chinese economy, supremacy of US economy, decadence of the US economy, supremacy of Western society, East vs West |