Knowledge vs Experimentation

I was watching a program on BBC one evening in which they were tracing the history of mathematics and the contribution of India in particular to mathematics. Some of the great discoveries made by Indian mathematicians were of course the idea and implementation of zero as a number, calculation of pi, discovery of negative numbers, use of trigonometry to calculate the distance of earth from sun and moon, the discovery of infinity, the use of inifinity to evaluate geometric progressions. The program emphasised the fact that these concepts were also discovered by the western mathematicians but much later than the Indians. Almost 300-400 years later;some even more than 1000 years later, like discovering zero.All this obviously makes me a very proud Indian. The host of the show also accepted the thinking of Western world that the eastern culture had nothing to offer was so misplaced. We indeed were very good at Maths but why is it that west has made more progress than we have. The first thing which strikes me is the lack of application of our rich repository of knowledge. So what if the west was slow to learn, they put their learning into practice. What use is knowing the value of pi if it does not translate into a scientific leap which reflects into a giant social leap and later transcends the entire human race. We were the first to know that sun is 400 times farther from earth than the moon,yet the first space mission was completed by the western world. This clearly reflects the lack of practical implementaion and experimentation of our knowledge. Our education system from the beginning has stressed more on theoretical knowledge than the expermintation part of it which indeed enables us to solve a differential equation but does not enable us to invent a basic computer which works on binary numbers-0(we gave it to the world) and 1 . Expermintation gives another dimension and stimulates the intellect of an individual and it is experimentation rather than knowledge which leads to discovery. The second thing I liked about the program was the candidness with which the host said that Indians were the first to make such great discoveries. We for long have tried to prove that we were a advanced race, well the west accepts it. It is they who produce such programs and dig deep and bring out facts which may be unknown to Indians too.Knowledge spreads by sharing it with others. We stagnated because we stopped sharing which obviously led to complacency and while the west was basking under the glory of great scientific achievements we were still lighting an oil lamp. The road to scientific glory and salvation is nothing but giving our knowledge and gaining the knowledge of others which is when we will also be one day a scientific super power.