> into a more enlightened people not an expert, and if you want to keep it real, it's tough to commonly define "enlightenment" but they definitely opened up their markets and let in free trade which generated a lot of wealth for them compared to japan that spent 100 years in isolation sulking and growing angry at a planet that they did not even hear about because they walled themselves in > we all transcended humanity because of a few bad years again a point of debate, especially if you want to define what "transcended themselves means"  but if you want to keep it real instead of "philosophical" and cite numbers, then stats would be on my side because overall humanity is much better off now than it has ever been and it has been a steady increase since the measurements started it's all better across the board, you name it > longer life span and better medicine > more convenience > less need for hard labor > world-wide instant communication (this one, alone) > poverty line reduced over time constantly and greatly > emerging regions that would never have thought they'd emerge > much less wars (!!!! in context) etc...
Romania