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> That’s odd. Did you think land mass was somehow really important? Yes. That and population. Generally, the larger and more populous countries tend to be the

> That’s odd. Did you think land mass was somehow really important? Yes. That and population. Generally, the larger and more populous countries tend to be the most powerful and influential. > Did you ever check out how small Britain or Spain or Portugal or Netherlands were to the size of their empire. Ever wonder why britain, spain, portugal and netherlands expanded their landmass by creating their empires? Ever wonder why britain, spain, portugal and netherlands lost their power and influence when they lost their empires and landmass? > Do you now think that Indonesia is more important because of its size? Yes along with other reasons - population, geographical location, etc.

prepend 3y ago
> Generally, the larger and more populous countries tend to be the most powerful and influential. But this is obviously not true. Just look at the list of top 10 by GDP and check out how many of them are relatively small. I mean you have to have natural resources and can’t be tiny, but it’s not like Germany and Japan are powerful because of their landmass. I think judging countries by their size is a mistake in rationality and people shouldn’t do that. It’s only silly people who look at Greenland on a Mercator map and think that they are powerful based on size.
- goodbyesf 3y ago
  > But this is obviously not true. It is obviously true. The five permanent security council members are US, China, Russia, UK and France. US, China and Russia are obviously gigantic. UK is gigantic via its ties to Canada, Australia, NZ. After all the silly monarch of britain is the head of state of all these nations. And France has a gigantic empire still. Go check out their EEZ. > but it’s not like Germany and Japan are powerful because of their landmass. Germany and Japan aren't powerful. Powerful nations aren't occupied by a foreign power. Germany and Japan are extraordinarly weak. Their economic well being is entirely dependent on the generosity of another nation. There is a reason why Germany and Japan tried to expand their territories in ww2. They failed and they have to live with the consequences. > I think judging countries by their size is a mistake in rationality and people shouldn’t do that. Sure. Landmass by itself isn't everything. As I said, you have to factor in population, quality of land, ports, neighbors, etc. > It’s only silly people who look at Greenland on a Mercator map and think that they are powerful based on size. You quoted "the larger and more populous countries tend to be the most powerful and influential." Do you know what populous means? It's silly to quote something and not understand it.
- erwald 3y ago
  > But this is obviously not true. Just look at the list of top 10 by GDP and check out how many of them are relatively small. There absolutely is a correlation between land mass and nominal GDP.
  - zimpenfish 3y ago
    Assuming I've converted [1] and [2] correctly into this SQLite3 database and queried it correctly, not really, no. | name | gdp_pos | gdp | land_pos | land | |----------------|---------|----------|----------|---------| | United States | 1 | 26854599 | 4 | 9147593 | | China | 2 | 19373586 | 3 | 9596961 | | Japan | 3 | 4409738 | 62 | 377976 | | Germany | 4 | 4308854 | 63 | 357114 | | India | 5 | 3736882 | 7 | 3287263 | | United Kingdom | 6 | 3158938 | 79 | 242495 | | France | 7 | 2923489 | 49 | 543940 | | Italy | 8 | 2169745 | 72 | 301339 | | Canada | 9 | 2089672 | 2 | 9984670 | | Brazil | 10 | 2081235 | 5 | 8515767 | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...
    - dwaltrip 3y ago
      The countries with the 2 highest GDPs, China and the US, are in the top 4 largest countries. India, #5 in GDP, is #7 in area. I guarantee that if you plot the countries of the world by GDP and area, you will see a trend line. It also makes sense. More area = higher chance of larger population and more natural resources. And more space to carry out economic activities with said people and resources. Edit: I just queried Wolfram Alpha about this. It generated a plot for me, which shows what I expected. Check it out: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=list+of+countries+with+area+and+gdp https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=list+of+countries+with+... Edit2: bonus feature, GPT-4 wrote me a script to plot this also, check it out: https://chat.openai.com/share/ffa45c61-8b7a-44e1-b757-041f31df5099 https://chat.openai.com/share/ffa45c61-8b7a-44e1-b757-041f31...

prepend 3y ago

> Generally, the larger and more populous countries tend to be the most powerful and influential. But this is obviously not true. Just look at the list of top 10 by GDP and check out how many of them are relatively small. I mean you have to have natural resources and can’t be tiny, but it’s not like Germany and Japan are powerful because of their landmass. I think judging countries by their size is a mistake in rationality and people shouldn’t do that. It’s only silly people who look at Greenland on a Mercator map and think that they are powerful based on size.

goodbyesf 3y ago
> But this is obviously not true. It is obviously true. The five permanent security council members are US, China, Russia, UK and France. US, China and Russia are obviously gigantic. UK is gigantic via its ties to Canada, Australia, NZ. After all the silly monarch of britain is the head of state of all these nations. And France has a gigantic empire still. Go check out their EEZ. > but it’s not like Germany and Japan are powerful because of their landmass. Germany and Japan aren't powerful. Powerful nations aren't occupied by a foreign power. Germany and Japan are extraordinarly weak. Their economic well being is entirely dependent on the generosity of another nation. There is a reason why Germany and Japan tried to expand their territories in ww2. They failed and they have to live with the consequences. > I think judging countries by their size is a mistake in rationality and people shouldn’t do that. Sure. Landmass by itself isn't everything. As I said, you have to factor in population, quality of land, ports, neighbors, etc. > It’s only silly people who look at Greenland on a Mercator map and think that they are powerful based on size. You quoted "the larger and more populous countries tend to be the most powerful and influential." Do you know what populous means? It's silly to quote something and not understand it.
erwald 3y ago
> But this is obviously not true. Just look at the list of top 10 by GDP and check out how many of them are relatively small. There absolutely is a correlation between land mass and nominal GDP.
- zimpenfish 3y ago
  Assuming I've converted [1] and [2] correctly into this SQLite3 database and queried it correctly, not really, no. | name | gdp_pos | gdp | land_pos | land | |----------------|---------|----------|----------|---------| | United States | 1 | 26854599 | 4 | 9147593 | | China | 2 | 19373586 | 3 | 9596961 | | Japan | 3 | 4409738 | 62 | 377976 | | Germany | 4 | 4308854 | 63 | 357114 | | India | 5 | 3736882 | 7 | 3287263 | | United Kingdom | 6 | 3158938 | 79 | 242495 | | France | 7 | 2923489 | 49 | 543940 | | Italy | 8 | 2169745 | 72 | 301339 | | Canada | 9 | 2089672 | 2 | 9984670 | | Brazil | 10 | 2081235 | 5 | 8515767 | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...
  - dwaltrip 3y ago
    The countries with the 2 highest GDPs, China and the US, are in the top 4 largest countries. India, #5 in GDP, is #7 in area. I guarantee that if you plot the countries of the world by GDP and area, you will see a trend line. It also makes sense. More area = higher chance of larger population and more natural resources. And more space to carry out economic activities with said people and resources. Edit: I just queried Wolfram Alpha about this. It generated a plot for me, which shows what I expected. Check it out: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=list+of+countries+with+area+and+gdp https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=list+of+countries+with+... Edit2: bonus feature, GPT-4 wrote me a script to plot this also, check it out: https://chat.openai.com/share/ffa45c61-8b7a-44e1-b757-041f31df5099 https://chat.openai.com/share/ffa45c61-8b7a-44e1-b757-041f31...