Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?

… I have come to know what has kept China in such a backward state all these centuries. It is none other than excessive government: since the Qin Dynasty of 221 B.C.E., the Chinese government has always strictly controlled commerce, regulated agriculture , monopolized waterworks and irrigation, monopolized the metal mines, monopolized salt production and trade. Moreover, other than private tutors for the elementary teaching of children, schools and higher centers of learning have all been government institutions, the curriculum has been controlled by the government, and the realm of study of intellectuals has been defined by the Imperial Exams. For a technologically backward society, the reach of traditional China’s government has been amazingly pervasive. It is none other than this excessive government, though well-intentioned, that has repeatedly suffocated innovation and economic development over the ages.