the answer to the Needham question is that China glorified wordcels too much
@niplav Chinese-language wordcels were trapped by scribal system whereas alphabet-chads got to mechanize mass-produced cultural systems thanks to movable type.
@niplav NB: The problem of scribal culture also maps onto the discrepancy between medieval Arabic science and Arabic modernity
@niplav Elizabeth Eisenstein is the go-to read on this