I have come to realise that Science means Freedom for people.
In fact the more science a country embraces, the more Democratic Freedom their people seem to have.
Any possibility of a debate on this? If no, I'll assume its true.
That's nicely provocative
You could apply reason with reference to wherewithal rather than freedom, e.g:
1) Higher education leads to better science
2) Affluence permits higher education
3) Democracies are affluent
4) Democracies have better science
However, there's certainly more to it. Culture has a role - there's currently some debate on the net regarding the relatively low level of scientific output from Islamic nations during the past few hundred years:
A Lecture by Seyyid Hossein Nasr
http://web.mit.edu/mitmsa/www/NewSite/libstuff/nasr/nasrspeech1.html- "Many people feel that in fact there is no such thing as the Islamic problem of science..."
- "[They felt] that there was something wrong with Christianity [as] it buckled under the pressures of modern science and rationalism in the nineteenth century, and this would not happen to Islam."
And -
Science and Islam in Conflict
http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/science-and-islam"All over the world, no matter what the cultural or language differences, science is more or less guided by scientific principles—except in many Islamic countries, where it is guided by the Koran. This is the ultimate story about science and religion."
So there are at least three factors to consider:
Wealth
Education
Culture/Religion
I'm inclined to think the nations 'embracing science' most fully are those rich nations in which post-religious culture is most in evidence, such as in Europe, and where religion appears to represent no obstacle - witness the surge of progress in India and China.
I also think that the three aforementioned factors (wealth, education, culture/religion) are all important to the development of a society that is both free and scientific.
So, I would modify your observation and suggest that -
conditions for free society =
conditions for science.
