Science in a world without the Plague of Justinian?

I often see science without the Black Death happening being discussed, but how about this plague being butterflied? I'm not an expert on the exact impacts on it, but surely it impeded scientific efforts of the day?
 
I'm not an expert on the exact impacts on it, but surely it impeded scientific efforts of the day?
Why should it? It didn't for Black Death, and I'm not sure why it would have there as well.

Not that the plague didn't have destructuring effects, but I don't think we can observe a scientific set-back either in the VIIth century or in the XIVth century that would be imputable to the epidemics (or mostly anything, to be frank).
 
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A Byzantine Empire doing well might help advancement though.

I think the Byzantine empire was an intellectual dead end. The authority of the Emperor or Church to shut lines off inquiry was too great. Same was true of China, the Ottoman empire, or other most big empires.

Squabling, competing States who can't afford to let any advantage go, trying to attract the best are better for enlightenment.

Europe and South Asia are probably best.
 
A Byzantine Empire doing well might help advancement though.
It's not even a given : the classical Roman Empire, in spite of its overall stability and prosperity, didn't harboured that of a scientific and technical advancement contrary to the hellenistic period.
Not to say that a better-off Byzantine Empire would stagnate, but not only it wouldn't be a departure from the Arabo-Islamic advancement (which was based on the hellenistic corpus transmitted by Romans (classical and medieval), but we could see some significant differences ITTL (such as a lesser communication between Roman and Persian centers, unified IOTL trough the Arabo-Islamic civilization) and as a consequence a slower development at times.
 
I think the Byzantine empire was an intellectual dead end.
Anything that was develloped trough the medieval Arabo-Islamic civilization eventually comes down to the Persian and Byzantine transmission and own development. Calling Constantinople a scientific desert is inane.
It's at these times that I miss @Basileus Giorgios.

The authority of the Emperor or Church to shut lines off inquiry was too great
This affirmation needs some actual exemples to not be considered as an old tired cliché, tough.

Same was true of China
What.

the Ottoman empire
Ah. I guess it's going to be part of @123456789blaaa's threads on Ottoman Empire now.

Without transmission and developpment of the hellenistic corpus by Byzantines and Arabo-Muslims, you wouldn't have the whole set of medieval Renaissances. There's no going around it.
 
Ive said this before and will keep on saying this, if John Philoponus actually gets attention (and not negative ones for theological reasons) in a stable Byzantine Empire (which is likely-no plague means the Arab conquests become quite a bit less likely) where the University of Constantinople is reasonably well supported and some people are doing intellectual pursuits-there is a small but non-zero amount of chance that some amount of progress to approximately OTL Gallilean levels would be achievable by late 8th early 9th centuries. The question of going beyond is a more difficult one, but I can see a TTL analogue of Leo the Mathematician being even more successful, courtesy an Empire that is probably economically in a better place and is not hyper militarized to a great extent, lacking an existential foe. I dont think industrial revolution or like is possible though-no readily available coal etc. But it is not impossible that some substantial progress

I think the Byzantine empire was an intellectual dead end.

John Philoponus, Leo the Mathematician and Kallinikos of Hieropolis would like a word to get contact information about their contemporary great masters in the "squabbling, competing states in Europe and South Asia", so that they can learn from those savants. The lack of the plague also would likely make the deterioration of the Roman state to OTL levels (when they were recycling Archimedes for Bibles) a lot more unlikely.
 
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