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This quote from the article "I don’t view the USA as the center of the world." seems rather fitting with the part where you mention America as culturally superi

by mixmax 14y ago

This quote from the article "I don’t view the USA as the center of the world." seems rather fitting with the part where you mention America as culturally superior to other cultures.

rdl 14y ago
The US basically is the center of the world (any alien who landed on Earth would recognize that, since 1945); it's just not the whole world, which is the default US view.
- mixmax 14y ago
  I think a lot of Europeans, muslims and Chinese would disagree with you. But thank you for proving my point.
- ralfn 14y ago
  No, its not. From history, to language, to culture, one would claim Europe the center. But if you look at population, production volume, China would look like the center, with the rest of the world as fringe exotic life on its borders.
  - rdl 14y ago
    Historically, Europe was the center; it went from Rome to Paris to London to the US, at least for the past 2000 years. Center of population is somewhere near Afghanistan I think, but that's kind of a silly measure (like "the average person is 50% male"). US manufacturing production was #1 from 1895-2010. China is #1 now, but the US numbers are far more certain than China. If you look at total industrial base, the US is far above China (wealth vs. income, basically). I think Japan and a bunch of European nations actually would beat China on that metric.
    - jules 14y ago
      The center of population is somewhere near the center of the Earth. The standard map with Europe in the middle is just an historical influence too!
      - rdl 14y ago
        Usually people just use the surface of the earth for this. The funny thing is calculating it at high resolution would require classified data (the best measures of the exact shape of the earth are classified; they are used in ICBM flight path calculations, and deviation from an oblate spheroid is significant when you want to put something on a tennis court from the other side of the world. The exact distribution of mass (some concentrations of heavier materials) and magnetism (for MAD detection of submarines) are similar.

by mixmax 14y ago

This quote from the article "I don’t view the USA as the center of the world." seems rather fitting with the part where you mention America as culturally superior to other cultures.

rdl 14y ago

The US basically is the center of the world (any alien who landed on Earth would recognize that, since 1945); it's just not the whole world, which is the default US view.

mixmax 14y ago
I think a lot of Europeans, muslims and Chinese would disagree with you. But thank you for proving my point.
ralfn 14y ago
No, its not. From history, to language, to culture, one would claim Europe the center. But if you look at population, production volume, China would look like the center, with the rest of the world as fringe exotic life on its borders.
- rdl 14y ago
  Historically, Europe was the center; it went from Rome to Paris to London to the US, at least for the past 2000 years. Center of population is somewhere near Afghanistan I think, but that's kind of a silly measure (like "the average person is 50% male"). US manufacturing production was #1 from 1895-2010. China is #1 now, but the US numbers are far more certain than China. If you look at total industrial base, the US is far above China (wealth vs. income, basically). I think Japan and a bunch of European nations actually would beat China on that metric.
  - jules 14y ago
    The center of population is somewhere near the center of the Earth. The standard map with Europe in the middle is just an historical influence too!
    - rdl 14y ago
      Usually people just use the surface of the earth for this. The funny thing is calculating it at high resolution would require classified data (the best measures of the exact shape of the earth are classified; they are used in ICBM flight path calculations, and deviation from an oblate spheroid is significant when you want to put something on a tennis court from the other side of the world. The exact distribution of mass (some concentrations of heavier materials) and magnetism (for MAD detection of submarines) are similar.