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I think this lends credence to the Thiel/Eric Weinstein notion of allowing scientists and innovators to be irreverent because many new discoveries have to run against the grain. I've heard Weinstein postulate one of the great strengths of Western education is the fostering of such irreverence.

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I've heard physicist Michio Kaku say something similar, that western thought historically has rewarded the mavericks but that eastern thought has tended towards a "the tallest blade of grass is cut down first" mentality. I think it was him who said that had Bill Gates been born in China, his peers would have made his success very unlikely.

This is simply historically false. From Galileo and copernicus to even the scientists positing germ theory in the 1800s, mavericks who fought against orthodoxy have been persecuted. Even today, in our colleges, "mavericks" are punished and attacked. Our most famous maverick, Socrates, was forced to commit suicide.

It's true bill gates wouldn't have amounted to much had he been born in 1950s china because china was heavily undeveloped. But had he been born later in the 60s or 70s with china opening up, he could have been a Jack Ma.

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