La Shawn asks:

What are some obvious reasons Anglos (America) lead the world?

She suggests Christianity.

John Ray, of course, would deny it immediately, pointing out that Australia is only nominally Christian. Pish-posh: true, many Aussies don't go to church on any given Sunday, but their culture is still thoroughly Christian. By this, I don't mean that Aussies individually subscribe to the doctrines of Christianity, but rather that Aussies, generally having been extracted from the UK, still have a basicly "Protestant" culture with an emphasis on the nuclear family, individualism, social egalitarianism, rule of law, a strong work ethic, linear understanding of progress, etc.

Explaining this to most people is like trying to explain water to a fish, so steeped in our culture are we...

In the East, particularly in India, technological progress was impossible, I contend, largely because people believed in cycles and fate. Where the universe started, it would end up again.

Let me illustrate with a traditional Hindu story about Indra, the mighty god who was king of heaven, and who constructed a mighty palace. Paraphrased:

A young Brahmin boy showed up at Indra's court. Indra greeted him and asked the purpose of his visit. The boy replied told that he had heard of his palace under construction and came to see it -- he had seen many Indras before him and wanted to see how this palace compared with theirs.

Indra was dumbfounded as to how this young boy could have seen many Indras. The boy explained to him how each eon has an Indra and he has seen millions of eons pass by and seen more Indras than there are particles of sand on a beach.

Then the boy noticed a train of ants crawling on the floor and he laughed. Indra asked why he laughed, to which the boy replied: "Don't ask! You will not like the answer!" But Indra insisted, and finally the boy replied: "Each one of these ants was an Indra in its time!"

You see? Material progress is pointless in such a paradigm. Moreover, your birth caste is determined by Karma and it was impossible (and immoral) to attempt change that in this life. And even reality itself was samsara -- an illusion we need to escape.

Elsewhere, sub-saharan Africa tribes were generally animist, with all that entails: angry gods, sacrifices, shamans or witch doctors, prolonged exorcisms and inter-tribal warfare.

Then there's Islam. Do I even need explain all that entails?

Seen against that backdrop, of course Aussie culture is Christian. Whether or not the Aussies attend church. Do they have multiple wives? Do they argue it's unethical to eat animals? Do they believe they are fated to their born social status? Do they worship their ancestors? Do they believe in multiple deities who play tricks on their lives and demand sacrifices? Do they think reality is just an illusion? Is their society ruled by Tibetan Lamas? Are they called to prayer four times daily? Do they think of existence as endless suffering?

No, of course not. The average Aussie is culturally Christian. Even Australian atheists, like John Ray (of whom I think fondly) are Christian-flavored atheists.

So I'd agree with La Shawn, and go one further: the Anglosphere dominates not just because of historical Christian trappings, but specifically Protestant ones, including an emphasis on marriage rather than the monastery.

And some would argue, also, capitalism.

But that's all history.