Scientific discoveries and inventions seem to be the measurement for superiority for sidster. Yes the western civilization broke away from religion in search for scientific reasons more and ahead of other civilizations. But that still does not prove that most of the discoveries and inventions are led by westerners. There are many ancient hindu temples and scriptures in India that depict sun god in the center of other gods. People at that time were already aware that sun is the center of our solar system way before anyone in west had actually discovered. Moreover, the concept of zero and Algebra was brought by Arabs. Most of the medical discoveries were brought by Egyptians. The idea of mind and body as one, the yoga and meditation practices which are very popular in west these days were not brought by westerners. And the list goes on. The only difference which I have already mentioned before between western civilization and others was aggression. While most of the other civilizations were content and passive, west tried to dominate, conquer and colonize. And this helped them force their ideas on to others. And this is exactly what is still happening at present. Why do you think most of the popular culture, TV programs, products from west are taking up grounds in other places? Yes, one thing I will agree with sidster is on "democracy." It was a western concept of individualism and freedom which was very attractive to people from other civilizations who were basically suppressed politically or culturally. And today due to military might American seems to be leading the western culture showing other what capitalism and money can do. It looks lucrative but it is very problematic. There are more depressed people in west than in east. Capitalism breeds competition and competition breeds high hopes and expectations which breeds more failure which in turn breed depression and misery. Now you tell me what kind of progress is this? And talking about wars, west has been involved in major wars in human history more than any other regions. Is this a progress in civilization?