More "plausible" takes on the Islam wank GURPS settings?

Absolutism is definitely not progressive - it correlates with feudalism as capitalism and classical fascism. That is, something like "feudal lords forget about their competition, and cooperate around the monarch," just as the bourgeois cooperate around the Fuhrer.
Also it depends on the context. Fascism was regresive because it was a reaction to the failings of the modernization process in the '30s. It was attacking liberal democracy and individualism. While absolutism helped to develop the modern westfalian state and attacked the local autonomies of the landed nobility. Absolutism castrated feudalism.
 
My point is in order to have science in the islamic world to develop towards the observation of the natural world and discover there the scientific method you need to have a wealthy muslim urban class with economical interest associated with the real world and productivity. So, like in renaissance italy, they would finance sholars and filosophers interested in the fields of "hard" sciences. If this people are powerful enough they could influence the sharia and theological shoold of thought to addapt their ruled towards their interests.
 
For example, there is an amazing tml (https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/land-of-sweetness-a-pre-columbian-timeline.444626/) anout precolumbian america that has it develop a lot more just by having the taino invent sails for their boats and making travel and contact with mesoamerica easier thus making the carribean a sea of travel and trade like the mediterranean. It also includes a really cool post about Mesoamerican economy to help dispel the notion they were in the "stone age". The notion that ideas on itself move history forward is absurd. ISOTing Adam Smith bibliogphy to the mind of a roman emperor would change very little of our history. Giving them technology that could satisfy needs they already had that also moved them in a direction of economical growth that would make ther society more complex and dense could change things quite a lot. Or giving power to the class of people that would be interested in changing how things work.
 
I mean 1450 is admittedly pushing it. But Islamic civilization laid key groundwork for the Renaissance, and its growing disunity was a (implied in the previous post, but made explicit in this one) key factor in its downfall from the pinnacle - not the whole 'separation of religion and state' thing. It's important to not get a fetishistic focus/emphasis on it and thus miss the most important parts of the picture, many of which are decay factors that appear in every civilization given enough time.
You have a hard mistake here - the Italian Renaissance was the result of a robbery by the crusaders of Byzantium + a cultural exchange with the Greeks. It isn't accidental that the Renaissance flourished in Italy, where the Greeks massively fled after the Ottoman conquest and established educational centers there.

Also it depends on the context. Fascism was regresive because it was a reaction to the failings of the modernization process in the '30s. It was attacking liberal democracy and individualism. While absolutism helped to develop the modern westfalian state and attacked the local autonomies of the landed nobility. Absolutism castrated feudalism.
On the one hand, this is true, but on the other hand, in the estate-representative monarchies at the expense of the precarious balance of power of the crown, nobility and people there was an idea of the rights and duties of different estates, and under absolutism lawyers eventually began to openly lead to the idea "the monarch has the right do anything. " If in the estate-representative monarchy the monarch is only the supreme head of state who should take care of him, then under absolutism the monarch is simply its owner — it wasn't accidental that the monarchs quietly changed their possessions in the 18th century — from the series exchange Lorraine for Tuscany and Tuscany for Naples.
As for my analogy, fascism is the same "removal" of the internal contradictions of capitalism, as absolutism is the "removal" of the contradictions of feudalism. Fascism with concentration around the personality of the Fuhrer as opposed to the capitalist competition of individuals is remotely like absolutism with concentration around the personality of the monarch as opposed to feudal competition of clans. But perhaps I agree - these are phenomena of a different order.
 
You have a hard mistake here - the Italian Renaissance was the result of a robbery by the crusaders of Byzantium + a cultural exchange with the Greeks. It isn't accidental that the Renaissance flourished in Italy, where the Greeks massively fled after the Ottoman conquest and established educational centers there.


On the one hand, this is true, but on the other hand, in the estate-representative monarchies at the expense of the precarious balance of power of the crown, nobility and people there was an idea of the rights and duties of different estates, and under absolutism lawyers eventually began to openly lead to the idea "the monarch has the right do anything. " If in the estate-representative monarchy the monarch is only the supreme head of state who should take care of him, then under absolutism the monarch is simply its owner — it wasn't accidental that the monarchs quietly changed their possessions in the 18th century — from the series exchange Lorraine for Tuscany and Tuscany for Naples.
As for my analogy, fascism is the same "removal" of the internal contradictions of capitalism, as absolutism is the "removal" of the contradictions of feudalism. Fascism with concentration around the personality of the Fuhrer as opposed to the capitalist competition of individuals is remotely like absolutism with concentration around the personality of the monarch as opposed to feudal competition of clans. But perhaps I agree - these are phenomena of a different order.
Even if both systems try to remove the contradictions of their economical systems in the end they destroy. Fascism destroyed democracy to "save" it from communism but in the end opened the door to soviet hegemony in eastern europe. Absolutism saw itself as the Enlightened and blessed King saving the nobles and the rest of his subjects from their own foolish persuit of personal and sectarian interest by putting the figure of the King, as an encarnation of the Nation, above all. In the end, it lead to the takeover of power by the third state and the destruction of the landed nobility and their privileges.
 
Even if both systems try to remove the contradictions of their economical systems in the end they destroy. Fascism destroyed democracy to "save" it from communism but in the end opened the door to soviet hegemony in eastern europe. Absolutism saw itself as the Enlightened and blessed King saving the nobles and the rest of his subjects from their own foolish persuit of personal and sectarian interest by putting the figure of the King, as an encarnation of the Nation, above all. In the end, it lead to the takeover of power by the third state and the destruction of the landed nobility and their privileges.
First of all, fascism didn't even declare democracy, for it is a frankly anti-democratic trend (if we take "classical fascism"). The fascists rather sought to preserve private property by eliminating the contradictions inherent in the capitalist system. Secondly, we nevertheless turn to the fact that absolutism must be overcome if we want Islamic countries to start developing along the capitalist path. Since the timeline from GURPS was about a high-tech society.
 
Well, 4ed Infinite Worlds put Caliph at TL11 (with TL8 Biotech).
Yes.
Hence the "as well" combined with mentioning what TL Dyson Spheres were in 3ed
and the speculation that Caliph's unchanged TL between the editions is down to
editorial error.

Or, trying to put it another way...
Since the TL scale changed from 0-16 in 3ed to 0-12 in 4ed and the definitions/explanations/summaries
of each TL changed as well.
While the Caliph's technology is implied, like the date, to remain the same between the two editions (changes to other
parallells are mentioned).
One finds it not unreasonable to suspect that the 4ed TL11 is some kind of error.

Alternatively, I believe that Infinite Worlds assumes that those who are interested in the worlds originally presented
in Alternate Earths and Alternate Earths 2 will acquire and consult said books, where upon they will find not only
a more detailed summary of Caliph's technology but also a sidebar elaborating on how far from everybody and everywhere
is at the listed early TL11 and only a comparatively small group, The Rightly-Guided Stellar Caliphate, is at mature TL11
(with the added note that much of what it controls - space stations and colony worlds - actually have a lower TL
than the Earth-and-humanity average).

OR since 3ed Caliph was not capable of building Dyson Spheres and 4ed can be assumed to be att the same level
of technological development, 4ed Caliph is presumably not at stage of TL11 where it can build one either.
 
First of all, fascism didn't even declare democracy, for it is a frankly anti-democratic trend (if we take "classical fascism"). The fascists rather sought to preserve private property by eliminating the contradictions inherent in the capitalist system. Secondly, we nevertheless turn to the fact that absolutism must be overcome if we want Islamic countries to start developing along the capitalist path. Since the timeline from GURPS was about a high-tech society.
You right, my mistake. What I mean is that fascism saw itself as a savior of western civilization and capitalism against the danger of soviet communism by eliminating the "decadent and degenerate" liberal democratic system (which allowed communists relative freedom), yet its actions led to soviet dominion over eastern europe. Just like absolutism attemped to change the ancient regime by undermining the "debilitating and dividing" powers of local landed nobility, yet it lead to the destruction of their regime. But leaving aside parallelisms, absolutism was a great builder of state capacities and the concept itself of the westfalian state as a unit.
 
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