2020年经济学人 开放不再,繁荣落幕(2)（在线收听）

“Open” is clear, colourful and convincing, marshalling evidence from a range of eras and civilisations. The Roman Empire ceased to prosper when it ceased to be open. Christianity became the established religion, and sought to crush all others. “This new intolerance…led to vicious conflicts… between Christians and pagans, who saw their old gods being banned and their temples torn down.” Persecuted pagans joined Rome’s enemies, even welcoming barbarian invaders as liberators.

《开放》这本书清晰易懂、丰富多彩、令人信服，作者探寻了一系列时代和文明，并从中收集证据。罗马帝国停止开放的同时，繁荣也就落幕了。基督教成为了罗马帝国国教，并试图粉碎所有的其他宗教。“这样新的对异己的无法容忍引发了基督教和异教徒之间的恶性冲突，异教徒们看着自己信仰的旧神被明令禁止，目睹着庙宇被拆毁。”受到迫害的异教徒们加入了罗马的敌方阵营，他们甚至欢迎野蛮的入侵者来解放罗马。

Human history, in Mr Norberg’s telling, is a cacophony of drawbridges being lowered and then raised. Mathematics and medicine flourished under the cosmopolitan Abbasid caliphate, but froze when religious conservatives won control. By driving out Jews, Muslims and heretics, he argues, the Inquisition helped impoverish Spain (between 1500 and 1750 the Spanish economy actually shrank).

在诺伯格看来，吊桥先降后升，社会由开放到闭塞，人类历史就是大杂烩。在阿巴斯哈里发帝国世界性的统治下，数学和医学蓬勃发展，当宗教保守主义者掌权时，数学和医学发展停滞不前。诺伯格认为，宗教裁判所驱逐犹太人、穆斯林和异教徒，致使西班牙陷入困顿（实际上，1500年至1750年间，西班牙经济萎缩）。

China’s Song dynasty, which welcomed Muslim traders, Indian monks and Persians, developed paper money,water-powered textile machines and the makings of an industrial revolution 400 years before the West. But later dynasties turned inward and stagnated. Ming officials smashed clever machines, banned overseas trade on pain of death and curbed movement within China itself. The Manchus were even worse: to prevent contact with the outside world, in 1661 they forced the whole population of the southern coast to move 30km inland. A century later the Qianlong emperor banned or burned any books that seemed sympathetic to previous dynasties, including a great encyclopedia of economic and technical matters.

中国在宋朝时期欢迎穆斯林商人、印度僧侣和波斯人，还早于西方国家400年就发展了纸币、水力纺织机和工业革命。但是宋朝以后的时代逐渐变得闭塞，停滞不前。明代官员捣毁巧妙的机器、禁止海外贸易且违者处死，还限制了中国国内的人口流动。满族的情况甚至更糟。1661年，满族政府强迫南部沿海的全部人口向内陆迁移30公里，以遏制与外国的接触。一个世纪后，乾隆皇帝查封或烧毁了大量有支持前朝倾向的书籍。包括一本记录经济和技术问题的大百科全书。