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Wonders.

This looks like a great idea - this group are trying to compile a list of the new seven wonders of the world. There is a shortlist of 21, including things like the Angkor Wat, Pyramids, Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China [it's like playing a game of Civ 4. ].

Only problem I have with it is that its a democratic vote - I can see many patriotic people voting for 'their' wonder when maybe it doesn't deserve to be included just for national prestige. I will be voting for Stonehenge, but then again I think it does deserve to be included.

So what do you guys believe should be the new Wonders? The list is avaliable here:

List with pictures

And if you want to know more about the Wonders, Wikipedia is a good place to start.

My list would be:

- Pyramids
- Colosseum
- Stonehenge
- Acropolis
- Great Wall
- Angkor Wat
- Chichen Itza

I value age as a very important factor. I would have included Christ Redeemer instead of the Itza, however it is not old enough for my taste. I was temped to go for the Easter Island heads as well; sadly there are only seven places.

Have a feeling that the Eiffel Tower will definantly end up on the final list, along with the Statue of Liberty.[/list]

I'm fine with the original 7, mediterranean-centric though it is.

ARPANet aka the Internet is definately a wonder of the world. It has fundamentally changed so many things, and will continue to do so.

ALI_G wrote:Wonders.

Only problem I have with it is that its a democratic vote - I can see many patriotic people voting for 'their' wonder when maybe it doesn't deserve to be included just for national prestige.

Same here.

And why the hell should there be 7 in the first place? Can't they just make the list bigger by adding the new to the old ones?

CaptainChewbacca wrote:I'm fine with the original 7, mediterranean-centric though it is.

Hanging Gardens of Babylonia might not have even existed, though. Swap it out with the Great Wall of China.

Nothing we have the blueprints for should be included- it's not really a 'Wonder' if we know exactly how it was done.

MRDOD wrote:

CaptainChewbacca wrote:I'm fine with the original 7, mediterranean-centric though it is.

Hanging Gardens of Babylonia might not have even existed, though. Swap it out with the Great Wall of China.

How one can vote for the Gardens and not the Wall or Ankor Wat baffles me.

MRDOD wrote:

CaptainChewbacca wrote:I'm fine with the original 7, mediterranean-centric though it is.

Hanging Gardens of Babylonia might not have even existed, though. Swap it out with the Great Wall of China.

General consensus of the gardens is they existed, given the amount of doccumentation concerning them which has been recovered.

SirNitram wrote:

MRDOD wrote:

CaptainChewbacca wrote:I'm fine with the original 7, mediterranean-centric though it is.

Hanging Gardens of Babylonia might not have even existed, though. Swap it out with the Great Wall of China.

How one can vote for the Gardens and not the Wall or Ankor Wat baffles me.

Well, we cannot judge it without having seen the Hanging Gardens. They must have been impressive and special in their own way to be included in the original. I doubt a normal garden would have made the list...

Of that list I'd go with

-Angkor
-The Dom Cristo
-The Great Wall of China
-Chichen Itza
-Macchu Pichu
-The Pyramids of Giza
-Stonehenge

Shame Tenochitlan isn't still around in its original form, that was evidently a sight to behold, floating city indeed.

Has anyone else got the book "70 Wonders of the Ancient World"? And I'm assuming everyone here has seen "The 7 Wonders of the Industial Age".

I'll have to peruse the list on that site when I have a bit of time.

The Statue of Liberty shouldn't represent America, and not just because it was built by the French. It's just a statue. Who cares? I would nominate the National Highway System. It may not have the "ooh-aaah" factor of Angkor Wat or the Great Wall, but it is truly a testament to the modern world. Ancient man could never build anything to match it. It's 160,000 MILES of roadway connecting 300 million people. It handles on a daily basis enormous amounts of commerce and transportation. It is the lifeblood of the national infrastructure.

If you want to represent America, do the Internet. It was invented by the Americans and has truly changed the world. I mean seriously, free and easy access to porn. Clearly the Internet is Man's greatest creation.

The Coral Castle should be on that list.

Chichen Itza isn't very representative of what an "upper tier" mesoamerican city could be; Palenque had pressurised running water in it's palace, Rio Azul had possibly the tallest pyramids in the Americas, Teotihuacan was, well, Teotihuacan.
The list could go on, really; Chichen Itza's famous, but not all that spectacular when it comes to size or engineering.

Qwerty 42 wrote:Shame Tenochitlan isn't still around in its original form, that was evidently a sight to behold, floating city indeed.

The floating gardens are still in Mexico City. The whole of Tenochititlan didn't float.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:

Qwerty 42 wrote:Shame Tenochitlan isn't still around in its original form, that was evidently a sight to behold, floating city indeed.

The floating gardens are still in Mexico City. The whole of Tenochititlan didn't float.

Really? I did not know that. Score one for the education system, I suppose.

The Aliens wrote:Nothing we have the blueprints for should be included- it's not really a 'Wonder' if we know exactly how it was done.

My sentiments exactly. This puts the Statue of Liberty, Sydney Opera House, and Eifle Tower right out, cool though they are. Personally I wouldn't vote for the Great Wall of China because:
"How do you build this?"
"Well, absolute power over a few hundred million peasants helped."
As the most visible embodiment of the power the Emperors of China held, I can see the consideration, but... I mean, if being able to throw sufficient money and manpower at a problem qualifies it to be a wonder, then I nominate the US Highway System.

The same isn't quite true of the Pyramids because... well, they're taller. More engineering needed ftw.

That said, I don't really know which I'd vote for, deserves more research.

Roman aqueducts and the road systems should be listed in the Ancient Wonders. Excellent works of civil engineering.

For the modern age, I tend to agree with much of the "7 Wonders of the Industrial World", even though we know how they were done, the WAY they were done is fucking impressive.

MRDOD wrote:

CaptainChewbacca wrote:I'm fine with the original 7, mediterranean-centric though it is.

Hanging Gardens of Babylonia might not have even existed, though. Swap it out with the Great Wall of China.

They're wonders of the ancient world. The Great Wall was completed circa 1400, so it was actually a mediaeval wonder.


ROAR!!!!! says GOJIRA!!!!!

Could someone explain why something like Stonehenge would be a Wonder of the modern world, other than historical snobbery? Any dipshit construction company with a few machines could make that thing in a day.

Modern Wonders of the World would be things like the Hoover Dam, the Mount Rushmore, the Great Wall of China, etc. All those ancient Greek crumbling structures are chickenshit by modern standards and have absolutely no place in any kind of modern "Wonders of the World" list except as historical curiosities.

Darth Wong wrote:Could someone explain why something like Stonehenge would be a Wonder of the modern world, other than historical snobbery? Any dipshit construction company with a few machines could make that thing in a day.

Perhaps because Civilization 4 has it?

My vote for a world wonder is the Apollo Project.

A dream for all but an insignificant part of human history realised. Travel to the moon, damnit this will not be beaten untill we get to Mars.

Forgive me, but what's so special about Angkor Wat that isn't found in a dozen other east-asian palaces? I don't remember it being particularly tall or grand, is there something about its construction that is unique?

Darth Wong wrote:Could someone explain why something like Stonehenge would be a Wonder of the modern world, other than historical snobbery? Any dipshit construction company with a few machines could make that thing in a day.

Modern Wonders of the World would be things like the Hoover Dam, the Mount Rushmore, the Great Wall of China, etc. All those ancient Greek crumbling structures are chickenshit by modern standards and have absolutely no place in any kind of modern "Wonders of the World" list except as historical curiosities.

I guess it depends your mindset. If you are viewing this from an engineering viewpoint, then Stonehenge is nothing compared to, say, the Hoover Dam. That being said, I am sure the construction of Stonehenge was a big engineering feat for the people that constructed it, much like Hoover was in the 1930's.

If you are viewing it from an historical pov, then Stonehenge and the older 'Wonders' score favour over the ones that have only influences a few generations of people.

It will be interesting to note which the public favours - history or modern engineering - if we actually remember about this come next January.