I really think that's a bit of a slander - Europeans of the time had no trouble with engineering or technical innovations, it's when people ventured into astronomical or philosophical speculation that the Church got antsy.
Sorry to hear about your loss.
Bruce
Thanks Bruce and all of you.
What I am referring to is a freedom from constraints on thought and conjecture. We know that the pre-Colombian cultures had highly advanced mathematics and astronomy. That creativity has been unleashed on technology with the seed provided by the introduction of Yuan tech. Their navigation skills are an order above Europe, shipbuilding is also advanced beyond that of the Old world.
There is one Mayan scholar who became distracted while heating soup in a pot with a tight fitting lid. He is trying to understand why the lid blew off the pot and landed several feet away from the hearth.
It is a culture of relatively unbridled scientific creativity. A relocated age of enlightenment in effect.