A random thought

[forsyth]

I can't help but wonder if, all else aside, the reason computers were invented and took off in the "West" first is the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets are a lot easier to have a computer display than Arabic or Chinese or Japanese or similar languages.

Comments

[forsythferret.livejournal.com]

True enough, and I should know the history of computers well enough to figure it, but still. I think it (and the immense poverty of much of the mideast) help explain why computers took off here first.

On further consideration, I'd say it's mostly the poverty.

I bet it definitely helped the "West" invent the printing press first. Only 52 letters, plus puncuation to make, rather than four forms for each letter.

[frustratedpilot]

Actually, as I recall the Koreans or the Chinese invented the printing press...centuries before Gutenberg. Just that there was so little contact between East and West in those times, and the technology wasn't exploited by the Asians the way that the Europeans had later on.