would have lunch, and we talked about our work. 
And I told him about a theory I had: about how I 
felt science began in the West and not in China, 
even though the Chinese had invented everything—
because of the influence of monotheism in the 
West and codified law. And Marshall said to me, 
“My gosh Bob, it’s a wonderful idea, but you’ve 
forgotten one thing: what else do we have in the 
West that they don’t have in China?” And he 
stumped me. I just couldn’t think, cause his ideas 
were coming at me so fast. And he smiled and he 
said “Well?” I said “I give up,” and he said “the 
alphabet,” and I groaned because all of a sudden I 
realized that the phonetic alphabet and deductive