On Aug 17, 2011, at 9:13 AM, c b wrote:
> Thinking about history in the longue duree, I'm always amazed to
> realize that I live in the same era as Gorbachev. For good or ill,
> he's by far the most historically consequential individual alive.
He may be alive, but his era is long dead. Deng Xiaoping may be dead, but its *his* era we're living in now.
> Fifty years from now, those of use who are still alive will be greeted
> by youngsters with amazement and disbelief when we inform them that we
> once shared the earth with him.
> CB: My bet is that they will want be most impressed by your earthly
> cohabitation with Fidel Castro.
You mean the guy who promised in 1959 to end sugar monoculture and in 1970 not only fantasized about a 10-million-ton zafra but conscripted his whole country to cut cane?
Shane Mage
"scientific discovery is basically recognition of obvious realities that self-interest or ideology have kept everybody from paying attention to"