David Boaz on Scotland & Afghanistan compares the two backward, mountainous, religion-obsessed countries, highlighting the contributions of Scots to the development of modernity:
The Scots pioneered the social sciences: the scientific study of history and human nature. By the late 18th century, the most important books in Europe were Scottish books, beginning with Francis Hutcheson’s System of Moral Philosophy and Lord Kames’s Sketches of the History of Man and going on to Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations, David Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature, Adam Ferguson’s Essay on the History of Civil Society, and more.
And not just books: the inventor James Watt, the architect Robert Adam, the road builder John MacAdam, the bridge builder Thomas Telford, and later Scots such as Alexander Graham Bell and Andrew Carnegie demonstrated the practical side of Scottish philosophy.
Boaz suggests Afghanistan can take the Scottish road.