by Ricardo Duchesne, The Unz Review:
One of the most damaging costs of the imposition of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” across Western universities has been the outright exclusion, suppression, and demonization of research and open debate about the racial character and cultural greatness of the West. For decades now, academics have been reducing the rise of the West to the creation of colonial empires, the extraction of gold and silver from the Americas, the “genocide” of Amerindians, the African slave trade, the malevolent use of modern weapons against a supposedly peaceful Asian world, and the cultivation of “white supremacist” notions against non-Caucasians.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
The following article is an effort to show that the West far outperformed the rest of the world combined in all the intellectual, scientific, technological, artistic, literary, athletic, and philosophical endeavors of life.
These lists are not based on my subjective preferences but on careful documentation and extensive research from a wide variety of sources, books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, Wikipedia, reference books I have consulted over many years of studying Western Civilization. The origins of this particular article go back to i) an article published at CEC on July 2020 consisting of many lists of European greatness without any elaboration; ii) a number of articles published at Postil magazine, each covering the topics of European music, painting, cartography, mathematics, children’s literature, chemistry, geology, philosophy, universities, and paradoxes. Unlike the lists posted in the July 2020 article, the lists below include introductory statements and details about the key names, dates, and the specific nationalities of individuals, as well as descriptions of the accomplishments. These details rely on Grok 3, which I consulted for weeks making sure that the claims I make in these lists are verified and substantiated by the AI powers of Grok 3.
I asked Grok 3 to evaluate all these lists. It pleases me to say that, on the whole, except for minor additions, specifications of dates, correction of minor errors, Grok did not have major objections to the claims made in these lists about the far greater accomplishments of “white men of European ancestry”. Grok did note that many of these lists were “Eurocentric”. On some occasions I did follow Grok’s suggestions, tempering somewhat my initial, and intentionally provocative, wording that “all the greatest…were white men”. I am aware, and have not denied in my publications, that the non-European world was responsible for a few peak level achievements.
I did not always accept Grok’s suggestion to be “inclusive” of non-European names and females. Grok’s criticisms, it needs to be understood, cannot be divorced from the liberal progressive context within which Grok, and all current AI systems, operate. Some of the names and achievements recommended by Grok are simply not on the same level of excellence and originality. A common observation Grok made is that I should take into account that, “especially in Europe, access to education, literacy, and scholarly pursuits was overwhelmingly restricted to men, particularly those from privileged socioeconomic backgrounds. Women and non-Europeans were systematically excluded.” Intelligent as Grok is, it can’t consider that non-Europeans have their own places and civilizations where Europeans have never been in privileged positions.
These lists cheerfully use some of Grok’s own words about the achievements of “white men of European ancestry” to illustrate its strong agreement. The brief introductions cover the rationale behind the choice of topics, names, and achievements, and, in most instances, the degree to which I agreed (or not) with Grok’s suggestions. This article, however, does not aim to explain this vast discrepancy in achievements between the West and the rest. That’s the work of The Uniqueness of Western Civilization (2011), Faustian Man in a Multicultural Age (2017), and my upcoming book, Greatness and Ruin: Self-Reflection and Universalism Within European Civilization (2025).
I. 100% of the Greatest “Modern” Inventions
In the case of this list, I asked Grok directly: “I’m looking to defend my thesis that white men are almost solely responsible for the inventions that created the modern world. Here is my list so far, are there any I’m missing? Any that you’d remove?”
Grok basically suggested the names of a few additional “white men” responsible for other great innovations, and it correctly indicated, as I already new, that mechanical clocks and optical lenses were medieval inventions, and that the origins of optical lenses can be traced back to the Islamic world of the early Middle Ages.
I left this list as it was for two reasons: i) the additional names/inventions it suggested are already included in other lists, and ii) my judgment that it was the Italians who first crafted semi-shaped ground lenses in the 13th century is one that Grok agrees with if one rephrases the question, or ask specifically about this one invention…I just did again, and this is Grok’s reply: “Yep, you’re right—the Italians were indeed the first to craft semi-shaped ground lenses back in the 13th century”. Now, I kept this medieval invention in this “modern” list because this breakthrough set the stage for the development of concave and convex lenses later in the 1600s to correct near- and farsightedness. This is even truer of mechanical clocks, which originated in the Middle Ages, but would be continuously improved upon thereafter. A crucial distinction between the West and the rest is why the former civilization was inclined to improve (or innovate) continuously its inventions, whereas China barely did.
Printing Press – Johannes Gutenberg (German, white male) is credited with the movable-type printing press around 1440.
Electricity – Michael Faraday (English, white male) and Thomas Edison (American, white male) are key figures in its practical development and application.
Television – John Logie Baird (Scottish, white male) demonstrated the first working television system in 1926.
Vaccination – Edward Jenner (English, white male) pioneered smallpox vaccination in 1796.
Computer – Charles Babbage (English, white male) designed the Analytical Engine, and Alan Turing (English, white male) later shaped modern computing.
Photography – Louis Daguerre (French, white male) developed the daguerreotype in 1839.
Airplane – Orville and Wilbur Wright (American, white males) achieved powered flight in 1903.
Nuclear Energy – Enrico Fermi (Italian, white male) led the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in 1942, building on work by others like Ernest Rutherford (New Zealander, white male).
Steam Engine – James Watt (Scottish, white male) improved it significantly in the 1760s.
Telephone – Alexander Graham Bell (Scottish-born, white male) patented it in 1876.
Radio – Guglielmo Marconi (Italian, white male) is credited with its practical development in the 1890s.
Rocketry – Robert H. Goddard (American, white male) pioneered modern rocketry in the early 20th century. Wernher von Braun (German, white male) later advanced it.
Mechanized Clock – Christiaan Huygens (Dutch, white male) built the first pendulum clock in 1656.
Oil Drilling – Edwin Drake (American, white male) drilled the first commercial oil well in 1859.
Refrigeration – William Cullen (Scottish, white male) demonstrated artificial refrigeration in 1748, with practical systems later refined by Jacob Perkins (American, white male).
Pasteurization – Louis Pasteur (French, white male) developed it in the 1860s.
Automobile – Karl Benz (German, white male) built the first practical automobile in 1885.
Internet – Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn (Jew) designed TCP/IP protocols in the 1970s, foundational to the internet. Tim Berners-Lee (English, white male) later invented the World Wide Web.
