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Seems to me the vast majority of habitable area lies in the Northern hemisphere, so this would likely be an issue of statistics, not subconscious superiority.
by secstate 13y ago
Seems to me the vast majority of habitable area lies in the Northern hemisphere, so this would likely be an issue of statistics, not subconscious superiority.
Also, magnetic north on a compass is a natural way to orient something.
- mcv 13y ago> magnetic north on a compass is a natural way to orient something. More so than magnetic south?
- jessaustin 13y agoMore so than magnetic south? Perhaps more so than magnetic west-by-northwest, etc. The point is that there are two orientations that make sense with respect to compasses, rather than a hundred. As to why it's a particular one of the two available possibilities, that doesn't seem to require a conspiracy. At some point a critical mass of cartographers simply chose north rather than south.
- secstate 13y agoIndeed, and it doesn't take much data crunching to realize that the vast majority of habitable space on the planet is in the northern hemisphere. No slight to Africa, S. America, Australia and parts of India, but most of us are up here in the North. Blame plate tectonics before you blame your white European overlords
- mcv 13y agoI don't see it as a slight on Africa. I think most of Africa is also in the northern hemisphere.
- dllthomas 13y ago"Also, magnetic north on a compass is a natural way to orient something." Not any more natural than magnetic South, so far as I can see.