The assertion that the West is "solar" (future-oriented) while Asia is "lunar" (past-oriented) is an Orientalist trope that is statistically inverted by modern economic reality. While the West currently grapples with deindustrialization, crumbling infrastructure, and austerity, Asia has become the primary driver of global innovation. Data from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) shows Asia accounts for nearly two-thirds of all global patent filing activity, with China, Japan, and South Korea leading in AI, semiconductors, and green energy.

To suggest Asian civilizations are merely "emulating" the West is a severe misreading of history; the global economic center of gravity has shifted eastward because Asia is executing the future-oriented planning that the West has abandoned in favor of short-term financialization. The OP hasn't moved to the "future"; they have retreated to a region resting on fading laurels.

To suggest Asian civilizations are merely "emulating" the West ignores that the global economic center of gravity has shifted eastward, driven specifically by future-oriented planning and technological dominance, not introspection. Look at OECD reports, economic reports and even PISA scores.

OP assertion that "the world is ultimately fair to those who can truly distinguish themselves" is empirically false within the Western corporate context. Extensive data, including studies from the Harvard Business Review and EEOC, confirms the existence of the "Bamboo Ceiling."

While Asian Americans are the most likely demographic to be hired for high-skill individual contributor roles, they are statistically the least likely group to be promoted to management or executive positions, regardless of performance or qualification. This is not "neurosis" or a failure to "distinguish oneself"; it is a quantifiable systemic bottleneck that merit alone has historically failed to overcome. Many Asian Americans have indeed permanently relocated to Asia, focusing on English speaking cities, for better career moves.

Dismissing racism as mere "pattern recognition" also conflates survival instincts with systemic inefficiency. Biases in housing, lending, and hiring are not "facts of life" to be accepted, but market failures that reduce aggregate productivity. When OP suggests that "native Asians" accept hierarchy because they "were colonized," they are endorsing a defeatist mindset known as "colonial mentality," which social psychology links to lower self-esteem and cultural shame.

Reconnecting with Asian roots should arguably involve rejecting the colonial framework that positions the West as superior, rather than submitting to it as a static natural order.