> This conceit that many in the US and West have that the quality of our science and research is innate and unimpeachable is both ignorant and complacent.

Back when Hua Tuo in China was using anesthesia to perform surgery (the period described in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and pictured in a movie called Red Cliff by John Woo - awesome epic BTW), the West was living in huts.

The wheel can turn, more than once.