No, but explains a part of the decrease of those 25% once productivity stopped being a function of population size in at least a part of the world. Of course one has to recognize the values destroyed by western influence, otherwise the story will be far from complete, but I found the mention of those 25% rather loaded. One can study the past development of societies without being "a revisionist". It is as much possible to push for cheap apologetic revisionism as it is to get allergic reactions and to dismiss perfectly valid opinions as apologetic revisionism needlessly. Most of the time, post scripta to the effect of "BTW, don't respond with things that I won't like" seem like warning lamps to me, regardless of the topic.