Sorry, that’s totally false.
The Chinese, Arabs and Hindus (for example) have all made numerous, highly significant advances, discoveries and inventions. Some of the most fundamental inventions necessary for civilization itself were made in Egypt (Africa) and the Middle East (semites.) One of the most significant inventions of human history comes out of Africa: human language.
Even were “whites” (a sociocultural concept, not a scientific one) somehow “superior,” that “fact” would be totally irrelevant. Why? Because the fact that some individuals are smarter and/or more talented than others has no bearing on the fact that all individuals have equal rights, and deserve equal status as human beings. And if that’s true of individuals, it’s also true of “races.”
The tenor of the original reply may be misleading for the reasons you document.
The tenor of the original reply is also misleading about Savage for two reasons: 1) Savage did not put the emphasis on white (light or whatever) skinned people, it was culture / civilization or however one cares to describe the West; and 2) he was talking about modern times leading up to today. Yes, I know about all the wondrous things being invented 24/7 today in Asia.
On to another matter which I will include in this reply (if anyone cares to read it): civilization v. culture. Why the argument?
culture: The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.
civilization: The type of culture and society developed by a particular nation or region or in a particular epoch.
Yes...Chinese, Arabs and Hindus have made contributions to the pool of knowledge, thought and invention. But in the volume of creation and innovation of both intellectual and material creation, there is no contest. Certainly not with the Arab culture.
I think Bernard Lewis has stated that Spain translated more books into Spanish in one year than the entire Arab culture has translated into Arabic in its entire history. When was the last time Hindus have contributed enough innovation to make even a dent in the tidal wave of western creation since the beginning of the Eighteenth Century? And the Chinese as well.
But when one looks at the graph of innovation and invention, it takes an exponential curve upwards as the dominance of western culture in the world has taken the reins.
I don’t think it was a coincidence that that trajectory was linear and relatively flat for centuries, up until about300-400 years ago.