 A few quotes that I think are interesting from now is Ferguson's, what do you call it, TED Talk. You know, he talks about the fact that Samuel Johnson, the great lexicographer in a character in one of his novels published in 1759, asks, but what means are the Europeans thus powerful? Or why, since they can so easily visit Africa and Asia for trade or conquest, Canate Asia ticks and the Africans invade their coasts, plant colonies in their ports, and give laws to their natural princess. The same winds that carries them back would bring thus thither. I think that's how you say it, thither. Okay. So, you know, people are asking themselves, even back then, and of course, maybe the people asking themselves the most this question, and I actually talked about this in the history of the Middle East course that I did, the people asking themselves the most this question were the Muslims, were the Ottomans. And Ibrahim Muteferika, Muteferika, an Ottoman official, actually the man who introduced the printing press into the Ottoman Empire. He had a fight for that. It was very difficult. He asks in 1731 in a book, he asks, why do Christian nations, which was so weak in the past compared with Muslim nations, begin to dominate so many lands in modern times and even defeat the once victorious Ottoman armies? Now, what's fascinating is, what's fascinating is that Muteferika, channeling the Golden Age of Islam, actually has an answer. And his answer is right. He has the right answer. And now Ferguson, now Ferguson reprints, you know, he quotes his answer. But I don't think he fully understands, or at least he doesn't seem to fully integrate this answer with his apps. This is the answer. This Muslim Ottoman Mustafa Ibrahim, so Ibrahim Muteferika, he gives quote, because they have laws and rules invented by reason, because they have laws and rules invented by reason. Wow. 1731, 1731. And now we'll focus on the laws and rules when he should really be focusing on reason. So, Ferguson concludes and he, you know, he presents some of the leftist critiques and he says, look, geography isn't the cause. You can test this. You can put a wall between West Berlin and East Berlin and see what happens. Same people, same culture. Same geography exactly, and yet big difference in result. It's not national character. It's not natural resources. We've done that test. It's none of these things. Then what is it? Then what is it? By the way, this is interesting. This is a quote, he also quotes, this is a quote he provides from Adam Smith, 1776. Again, 1776. Adam Smith is writing about China. Adam Smith is writing about China. And Adam Smith writes, and this is in the wealth of nations. China seems to have been long stationary and probably long ago acquired that full complement of riches, which is consistent with the nature of its laws and institutions. But this complement may be much inferior to what with other laws and institutions, the nature of its soil, climate, and situation might admit of. Notice the theme here. The theme is what's different of the laws and institutions. What's different in the West are the institutions that came up in the West that have made this great divergence possible. China's institutions keep it poor. Keep it stagnant. The West's institutions are making it rich. That's the difference according to Adam Smith. And that's the difference according to now Ferguson.