Dear friends (sorry for my english):
The only system for to know, and for the transmission of the knowledge, is
the models.
And the models needs to have a relations, a strong relation, with the
empirical data, with the observations of reality. If we have poor data, we
have poor models, but this poor models can be the best possible if we don't
have nothing more, till we have more data or another best system of to see
the data.
Sure that the data of the present is best than the data of the past (and the
data of Europe is best in our case that the data of Asia), but this no make
imposible to work (to have a honest work) with the ancient or Asian data and
to search complex models (sure, is best, for me, the new complexity or
system theory for make studies about our past, that only to see the economic
system for to know the evolution of a social formation).
We can introduce "we don't know equal good Asia than Europe" for not work in
a field. It's true that we don't know, but this not signifies that the
evolution of the rest of the world can be different.
I don't believe in impenetrables barriers. The complex social formations
systems don't can evolution in very differents ways, only (for to be
stables) in some ways. And the interrelation and the market is a good system
for approach differents social formations.
It's possible a barrier with people pre-neolitihc, but with people with a
market economy I think that we can have problems, but no the impossibility
of understanding and of to make the best models possible.
Sorry, but is not easy for me to write in english (but I can understand an
read it).
Alfonso López Borgoñoz