Debates
08 Mar 09
08 Mar 09
Over the last ten years we've seen destruction on a Biblical scale. September 11. Mesopotamia and the Jordan and Euphrates River Valleys mired in a terrible war. 200,000 killed by a tsunami. An American city underwater. The world economy ravaged on a scale not seen before.
Is it just a person's natural tendency to place more significane on recently-occurring events, or is the world becoming a more interesting place lately?
08 Mar 09
Originally posted by sasquatch672Wiki has an interesting list of natural disasters which can help :
Over the last ten years we've seen destruction on a Biblical scale. September 11. Mesopotamia and the Jordan and Euphrates River Valleys mired in a terrible war. 200,000 killed by a tsunami. An American city underwater. The world economy ravaged on a scale not seen before.
Is it just a person's natural tendency to place more significane on recently-occurring events, or is the world becoming a more interesting place lately?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_disasters_by_death_toll
08 Mar 09
Originally posted by sasquatch672Is it just a person's natural tendency to place more significane on recently-occurring events, or is the world becoming a more interesting place lately?
Over the last ten years we've seen destruction on a Biblical scale. September 11. Mesopotamia and the Jordan and Euphrates River Valleys mired in a terrible war. 200,000 killed by a tsunami. An American city underwater. The world economy ravaged on a scale not seen before.
Is it just a person's natural tendency to place more significane on recently-occurring events, or is the world becoming a more interesting place lately?
Yes, it is just a person's natural tendency.
The world has been much more ''interesting'' before, like for example in the 1960s with the cultural/social changes, the vietnam war, the social unrest in 68 , the cold war, and so on. Or in the 30s and 40s with the war, etc.
08 Mar 09
Originally posted by SeitseI do not recall assigning American involvement to the Boxing Day tsunami. I'll leave that to the conspiracy theorists.
Americans think the things happen all around them, to them, because of them, against them, and thanks to them.
Just like Japanese and Godzila, who always attacks Tokyo.
10 Mar 09
Originally posted by generalissimoI agree -- it's hard to imagine exactly what it was like to go through World War I or World War II
Yes, it is just a person's natural tendency.
The world has been much more ''interesting'' before, like for example in the 1960s with the cultural/social changes, the vietnam war, the social unrest in 68 , the cold war, and so on. Or in the 30s and 40s with the war, etc.[/b]
the reality is that the world has rarely been at such a level of peace and prosperity as the current state of affairs. Even the so-called war (Iraq), which is more of a nation-building process than a war, pales in comparison to almost every previous war.
as for natural disasters -- I'm sure these are no more or less severe or frequent than in the past. But today, we can do a good job forecasting many of them, allowing for evacuations and quick rescues - making them much less deadly than they would've been in the past.
however -- we also live in a world were news travels instantly - so we quickly know about every last mini-crisis, complete with vivid video and personal accounts - and we have a media that can make even a routine snowstorm sound like Armageddon. So it's easy to get the impression that things are a lot worse than they really area.