Although I am fond of Eastern philosophy, I must admit that most scientific and technological progress was not made in the East.
The Middle East / Arabs played a rather large part in adding to our knowledge about Mathematics and Science, and they also preserved a lot of knowledge while Western Culture worked its way through some dark ages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_AgeAlso, I think progress has been made in the East. The Chinese, for instance, invented gunpowder and many other impressive things, long before we invented or started using the same.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_inventions I don't think our schools like to give credit to anyone else. I used to think our culture was more progressive / creative / advanced also, until I was majoring in History in college.
I do agree with some of the other stuff you said, and I think that might be why DH and I gravitate toward Buddhist type spirituality.
