Stramash Posted June 11, 2008 Report Share Posted June 11, 2008 As there are obviously some proud non racist nationalists on TF, which country do you think has contributed most to the world we live in today? Must be based not only on modern contributions but anything over last 200 years or so... :twisted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldMember Posted June 11, 2008 Report Share Posted June 11, 2008 As there are obviously some proud non racist nationalists on TF, which country do you think has contributed most to the world we live in today? Must be based not only on modern contributions but anything over last 200 years or so... :twisted: Britain... 200 years fits in quite nicely with her obvious first major contribution to the world-the industrial revolution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeusbheld Posted June 11, 2008 Report Share Posted June 11, 2008 while (for once) blowhard Pom nationalistas DO have the strongest case IMO (industrial revolution, soccer football, Ricky Gervais...) , the game is rigged by the time frame. make it 3,000 years and China's looking pretty good, edging out Rome and the Greek City-states... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazzy Posted June 11, 2008 Report Share Posted June 11, 2008 The perfect topic to get an all out TF war Besides, the world we live in today ain't exactly a masterpiece, especially if you happen to live in Monrovia or Fallujah. I agree with Z comment RE: timeline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeusbheld Posted June 11, 2008 Report Share Posted June 11, 2008 as long as we're sticking to the 200 years thing, let's not ignore Poland... Kieslowski, Chopin, and Tony from "West Side Story" to name just three... that ain't bad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted June 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 As there are obviously some proud non racist nationalists on TF, which country do you think has contributed most to the world we live in today? Must be based not only on modern contributions but anything over last 200 years or so... :twisted: Britain... 200 years fits in quite nicely with her obvious first major contribution to the world-the industrial revolution. ...Britain is a collection of countries... :twisted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted June 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 while (for once) blowhard Pom nationalistas DO have the strongest case IMO (industrial revolution, soccer football, Ricky Gervais...) , the game is rigged by the time frame. make it 3,000 years and China's looking pretty good, edging out Rome and the Greek City-states... Ok, widen the rules and the game; Timeline - > 4,000 B.C Parameters - Everything; medical, technical, philosophical, art, literature, sport, industrial. That bit clearer guys?? (and gals) (god I sound like Jimmy Saville) :twisted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loburt Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 while (for once) blowhard Pom nationalistas DO have the strongest case IMO (industrial revolution, soccer football, Ricky Gervais...) , the game is rigged by the time frame. make it 3,000 years and China's looking pretty good, edging out Rome and the Greek City-states... I don't agree on this one. If we're talking roughly 200 years and the world we are living in "today", then I think it's the United States. Because of its cultural, financial, political and economic contributions its influence worldwide is greater today. Even when it comes to something such as the industrial revolution, without innovations such as Henry Ford's assembly line, the fruits of that revolution may not have benefited the masses to the degree it has. This is in no way meant to disparage the many and great contributions of England or other countries. Nor should this be expected to last far into the future, as many other countries are developing rapidly and making their own important contributions to shaping the world we live in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted June 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 while (for once) blowhard Pom nationalistas DO have the strongest case IMO (industrial revolution, soccer football, Ricky Gervais...) , the game is rigged by the time frame. make it 3,000 years and China's looking pretty good, edging out Rome and the Greek City-states... Ok, widen the rules and the game; Timeline - > 4,000 B.C Parameters - Everything; medical, technical, philosophical, art, literature, sport, industrial. That bit clearer guys?? (and gals) (god I sound like Jimmy Saville) :twisted: 'You mean you jangle with heavy chunky gold? :shock: yup, and have white shoulder length hair and wear 70's tracksuits!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyboy Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 while (for once) blowhard Pom nationalistas DO have the strongest case IMO (industrial revolution, soccer football, Ricky Gervais...) , the game is rigged by the time frame. make it 3,000 years and China's looking pretty good, edging out Rome and the Greek City-states... I don't agree on this one. If we're talking roughly 200 years and the world we are living in "today", then I think it's the United States. Because of its cultural, financial, political and economic contributions its influence worldwide is greater today. Even when it comes to something such as the industrial revolution, without innovations such as Henry Ford's assembly line, the fruits of that revolution may not have benefited the masses to the degree it has. The industrial revolution was WELL before Ford's assembly line...100 years+ I understand the significance about the assembly line but for mechanisms of increased production...it's all us baby... ]The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in Britain. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe and North America and eventually the world, a process that continues as industrialisation. The onset of the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human society; almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way. In the later part of the 1700s the manual labour-based economy of some parts of Great Britain began to be replaced by one dominated by the manufacture by machinery. It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways. The introduction of steam power (fuelled primarily by coal) and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing) underpinned the dramatic increases in production capacity.The development of all-metal machine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries. The effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually affecting most of the world. The impact of this change on society was enormous. The First Industrial Revolution, which began in the eighteenth century merged into the Second Industrial Revolution around 1850, when technological and economic progress gained momentum with the development of steam-powered ships, railways, and later in the nineteenth century with the internal combustion engine and electrical power generation. The period of time covered by the Industrial Revolution varies with different historians. Eric Hobsbawm held that it 'broke out' in the 1780s and was not fully felt until the 1830s or 1840s,[4] while T. S. Ashton held that it occurred roughly between 1760 and 1830.[5] Some twentieth century historians such as John Clapham and Nicholas Crafts have argued that the process of economic and social change took place gradually and the term revolution is not a true description of what took place. This is still a subject of debate amongst historians. GDP per capita was broadly stable before the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of the modern capitalist economy.[8] The Industrial Revolution began an era of per-capita economic growth in capitalist economies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokBilly Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 I'm going with China, There's more than a billion Chinese people. And that's just now. Think how many Chinese here have been in the last 4000 years. And that is loads! Really really really loads. And then think of how many birthdays all the Chinese people have had since time began. Nothing better than a birthday is there? I love em. Birthdays. Teriffic. China. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted June 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 dont hin we are counting just by how many peopel there are though i will agree that China makes biggest contribution to profitability of birthday card and cake industry!!! :twisted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loburt Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 The industrial revolution was WELL before Ford's assembly line...100 years+ I understand the significance about the assembly line but for mechanisms of increased production...it's all us baby... ... Some twentieth century historians such as John Clapham and Nicholas Crafts have argued that the process of economic and social change took place gradually and the term revolution is not a true description of what took place. This is still a subject of debate amongst historians. The point is not what came first. The point is what contributions have most made the world what it is today. The comment "It's all us baby" is a dead giveaway you can't debate the topic except from a chauvinistic nationalist viewpoint. The last quote undercuts your case. The steam engine gave rise to the industrial revolution. But those first phases produced mostly heavy industry - the necessary foundation for what was to come. Developments such as the assembly line made the fruits of the industrial revolution available to just about everyone - meaning it made the world what it is today - while turning the US into an industrial powerhouse that Britain could not rival. Furthermore, the invention of the microchip by two Americans laid the foundation for the technology and IT revolutions that have spread across much of the globe and have had an even greater impact in changing what the world is today and will be tomorrow than the steam engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyboy Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 The industrial revolution was WELL before Ford's assembly line...100 years+ I understand the significance about the assembly line but for mechanisms of increased production...it's all us baby... ... Some twentieth century historians such as John Clapham and Nicholas Crafts have argued that the process of economic and social change took place gradually and the term revolution is not a true description of what took place. This is still a subject of debate amongst historians. The point is not what came first. The point is what contributions have most made the world what it is today. The comment "It's all us baby" is a dead giveaway you can't debate the topic except from a chauvinistic nationalist viewpoint. The last quote undercuts your case. The steam engine gave rise to the industrial revolution. But those first phases produced mostly heavy industry - the necessary foundation for what was to come. Developments such as the assembly line made the fruits of the industrial revolution available to just about everyone - meaning it made the world what it is today - while turning the US into an industrial powerhouse that Britain could not rival. Furthermore, the invention of the microchip by two Americans laid the foundation for the technology and IT revolutions that have spread across much of the globe and have had an even greater impact in changing what the world is today and will be tomorrow than the steam engine. The reason you turned into an indusrial power house, is shear size of country... (50x? Compared to the UK) Coupled with a free democratic, capatalist society ( I wonder where that idea came from?) and a need to buld and expand the country at that present time... I can't take away the U.S.A's contribution to the world but there was a small little Island that was doing it a LONG time before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokBilly Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 I think not brushing my teeth is what gives me plaque. That's what me mum siad. But I'll go with the not having China for the bubuoes to keep the boat on an even keel. But I'm willing to go with errrrr.... if we can't have China. Okay. Seeing there are lots of people in India how's about giving it to India? And they thought up Buddhism. Monks and Birthdays. Well marvellous. And that Taj Mahal thing. Cracking. Curry. India. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyboy Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 Okay. Seeing there are lots of people in India how's about giving it to India? And they thought up Buddhism. The lord Bhudda was born in Lumbini, Nepal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokBilly Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 Okay so China is off, and Nepal isn't really big enough. India is great but not quite the bestist. I give up. But I can't go with the US. My sister has a garden shed (in Bath, U.K) that is older than and has more heritage than the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyboy Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 ...which country do you think has contributed most to the world we live in today? When you say "today", do you mean the last 24 hours or just since this morning? Can't really narrow it down to any particular country, so much as individuals or perhaps a collective contribution. Hmmm or maybe the French? Yeah, I'm with you...a collective effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted June 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 ...which country do you think has contributed most to the world we live in today? When you say "today", do you mean the last 24 hours or just since this morning? Can't really narrow it down to any particular country, so much as individuals or perhaps a collective contribution. Hmmm or maybe the French? lol. meant the sweeping definition of today ie the present! The French??? nah :twisted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokBilly Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 Here Danny, just been checking out the Buddha thing and Nepal. I'm fine with yer man coming from the place you mentioned in Nepal, but when did Nepal become Nepal? I can only find this bit.... "it was not until the reign of the Malla kings from 1200?1769 that Nepal assumed the approximate dimensions of the modern state. The kingdom of Nepal was unified in 1768 by King Prithvi Narayan Shah, who had fled India following the Moghul conquests of the subcontinent. Under Shah and his successors Nepal's borders expanded as far west as Kashmir and as far east as Sikkim (now part of India). A commercial treaty was signed with Britain in 1792 and again in 1816 after more than a year of hostilities with the British East India Company. In 1923, Britain recognized the absolute independence of Nepal." ...so when did Nepal get to be Nepal? If it was part of India when Buddhism came about can't we give the Indians the benefit of the doubt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted June 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 anyway, know you will all say I am biased, but considering the size, I think the country that has contributed the most is... Scotland!!! Aye right I hear you say, deep fried mars bars??? No way!! But read on, and think of how many things in this list you use every day or that are part of the world around us, then come back and say I am talking male cow poop!! Scotland?s contributions to the world; Gas mask: James Gregory (1638-1675) steam car (steam engine): William Murdoch (1754-1839) Macadam roads (tarmacadam): John Loudon MacAdam (1756-1836) Driving on the left: Determined by a Scottish-inspired Act of Parliament in 1772 The pedal bicycle: Kirkpatrick Macmillan (1813-1878) The pneumatic tyre: Robert William Thomson and John Boyd Dunlop (1822-1873) The overhead valve engine: David Dunbar Buick (1854-1929) The speedometer: Sir Keith Elphinstone (1864-1944) The motor lorry: John Yule in 1870 The steam tricycle: Andrew Lawson in 1895 Tubular steel: Sir William Fairbairn (1789-1874) Dock design: John Rennie (1761-1821) The patent slip for docking vessels: Thomas Morton (1781-1832) Condensing steam engine & improvements: James Watt (1736-1819) Coal-gas lighting: William Murdock (1754-1839) Carbon brushes for dynamos: George Forbes (1849-1936) Wave-powered electricity generator: Stephen Salter in 1977 The steamship paddle wheel: Patrick Miller (1731-1815) The steam boat: William Symington (1763-1831) Europe's first passenger steamboat: Henry Bell (1767-1830) The first iron-hulled steamship: Sir William Fairbairn (1789-1874) The first practical screw propeller: Robert Wilson (1803-1882) [edit] Heavy Industry Innovations The steam hammer: James Nasmyth (1808-1890) Wire rope: Robert Stirling Newall (1812-1889) Cordite - Sir James Dewar, Sir Frederick Abel Print stereotyping: William Ged (1690-1749) The balloon post: John Anderson (1726-1796) The adhesive postage stamp and the postmark: James Chalmers (1782-1853) The post office The mail-van service Universal Standard Time: Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915) Light signalling between ships: Admiral Philip H. Colomb (1831-1899) The telephone: Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) The teleprinter: Frederick G. Creed (1871-1957) The television: John Logie Baird (1888-1946) Radar: Robert Watson-Watt (1892-1973) Fax Machine - Alexander Bain Radio (underlying principles) - James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) Some Scottish publishing firsts: The first book translated from English into a foreign language The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1768-81) The first English textbook on surgery (1597) The first modern pharmacopaedia, the Materia Medica Catalogue (1776) The first textbook on Newtonian science The first colour newspaper advertisement Others; Logarithms: John Napier (1550-1617) The theory of electromagnetism: James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) Identifying the nucleus in living cells: Robert Brown (1773-1858) The kelvin SI unit of temperature: William Thompson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) Devising the diagramatic system of representing chemical bonds: Alexander Crum Brown (1838-1922) Criminal fingerprinting: Henry Faulds (1843-1930) The noble gases: Sir William Ramsay (1852-1916) The ultrasound scanner: Ian Donald (1910-1987) The MRI body scanner: John Mallard in 1980 The first cloned mammal (Dolly the Sheep): The Roslin Institute research centre in 1996 Seismometer - James David Forbes Sports innovations Scots have been instrumental in the invention and early development of several sports: several modern athletics events, notably the shot put and the hammer throw, derive from Highland Games events Curling Cycling, invention of the pedal-cycle Football, The first known rules of the game were published in Scotland.Edinburgh was home to the worlds first club The Edinburgh Foot Ball Club. Golf Shinty Basketball (well James Naismith was born in Canada but his aprents were Scottish!!) Medical Innovations; Devising the cure for scurvy: James Lind (1716-1794) Discovering quinine as the cure for malaria: George Cleghorn (1716-1794) Pioneering the use of surgical anaesthesia with Chloroform: Sir James Young Simpson (1811-1870) The hypodermic syringe: Alexander Wood (1817-1884) Identifying the mosquito as the carrier of malaria: Sir Ronald Ross (1857-1932) Identifying the cause of brucellosis: Sir David Bruce (1855-1931) Discovering the vaccine for typhoid fever: Sir William B. Leishman (1865-1926) Discovering insulin: John J R Macleod (1876-1935) with others Penicillin: Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) Discovering an effective tuberculosis treatment: Sir John Crofton in the 1950s Primary creator of the artificial kidney (Professor Kenneth Lowe - Later Queen's physician in Scotland) Developing the first beta-blocker drugs: Sir James W. Black in 1964 Glasgow Coma Scale: Graham Teasdale and Bryan J. Jennett (1974) Household Innovations The Dewar Flask: Sir James Dewar (1847-1932) The piano with footpedals: John Broadwood (1732-1812) The waterproof macintosh: Charles Macintosh (1766-1843) The kaleidoscope: Sir David Brewster (1781-1868) The modern lawnmower: Alexander Shanks (1801-1845) The Lucifer friction match: Sir Isaac Holden (1807-1897){ Paraffin: James Young (1811-1883) The fountain pen: Robert Thomson (1822-1873) Cotton-reel thread: J & J Clark of Paisley Lime Cordial: Lachlan Rose in 1867 Bovril beef extract: John Lawson Johnston in 1874 The life ring, or personal flotation device: Captain Ward in 1854 Electric clock - Alexander Bain The Ghillie suit Economist Adam Smith; Smith was born in 1723, hailing from Kirkcaldy, a Scottish town north of Edinburgh; the 18th century Scot considered to be the father of modern economics; Smith's ``An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which argued that minimal government interference in commerce would promote human welfare and alleviate poverty, was published in 1776. He is the first Scotsman to appear on the central bank's currency in England, replacing Elgar's image in the next few years on as many as 1 billion notes. Miscellaneous innovations The digestive biscuit, invented by McVitie's in Edinburgh in 1892 by Alexander Grant. Boys' Brigade Bank of England Bank of Scotland Bank of France Colour photography Not to mention marmalade, the US Navy , the monorail and the cable car!!!! Or on a darker note (allegedley) The Klu Klux Klan!! bring it on the rest of the world!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokBilly Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 ...which country do you think has contributed most to the world we live in today? When you say "today", do you mean the last 24 hours or just since this morning? Can't really narrow it down to any particular country, so much as individuals or perhaps a collective contribution. Hmmm or maybe the French? lol. meant the sweeping definition of today ie the present! The French??? nah :twisted: BRILLIANT ! This argument knocks out the USA from the running, half of them are still in bed while we are in this high level discussion. You can't contribute much if you larking around under the sheets are having a kip, can you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokBilly Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 SCOTLAND? Try taking a Scottish ten pound note to the currency exchange on Silom and see how they treat you, pal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyboy Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 Here Danny, just been checking out the Buddha thing and Nepal.I'm fine with yer man coming from the place you mentioned in Nepal, but when did Nepal become Nepal? I can only find this bit.... "it was not until the reign of the Malla kings from 1200?1769 that Nepal assumed the approximate dimensions of the modern state. The kingdom of Nepal was unified in 1768 by King Prithvi Narayan Shah, who had fled India following the Moghul conquests of the subcontinent. Under Shah and his successors Nepal's borders expanded as far west as Kashmir and as far east as Sikkim (now part of India). A commercial treaty was signed with Britain in 1792 and again in 1816 after more than a year of hostilities with the British East India Company. In 1923, Britain recognized the absolute independence of Nepal." ...so when did Nepal get to be Nepal? If it was part of India when Buddhism came about can't we give the Indians the benefit of the doubt? You're just trading on technicalities now...but OK...Indian and Nepal...collective effort on Buddhism.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted June 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 SCOTLAND?Try taking a Scottish ten pound note to the currency exchange on Silom and see how they treat you, pal. maybe so, but to get there you might use a bicycle (scottish invention) along a road covered in tarmacadam (scottish invention). it might then start raining so u put on your mackintosh (scottish invention) . when they wont change you money, you phone(scottish invention) a friend to borrow some. go to their and watch some tv (scottish invention). get pissed off that htye wont change your money so book a flight home - get your flight confirmation by fax (scottish invention). go and get the plane, not crash thanks to radar 9scottish invention), get home and discover you have malaria and get terated with quinine (socttish discovery) which may be applied by a hypodermic syringe (scottish invention), etc etc etc :twisted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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