>

6/13/10

Hans Rosling

200 years that changed the world... 

1 comment:

  1. I am not a scientist but I know this: it was NOT the last 200 years that changed the world. That's a simplistic comment and rules out an awful lot of things that happened more than 200 years ago that might have led things to the position where the research started.

    I think the ideas behind this video are interesting; I like the beginning of it because it shows what I would hope it would show: industrialized countries leading the way, inventing things and coming up with cures and spreading the goodness around. I will grant that the blue countries are in last, but they are headed northeastwardly which-by the definition of this study-means they are becoming better places to live if you want to make money and live a long life.

    I'm not sure why China and the United States were picked as the "stars" of that middle part of this vid; if you're going to try to establish a worldwide pattern of economics as it impacts health-and you have such a lovely "follow the leader" pattern going on- why would you break off into something that's not only subjective but also (by the fact that the scientist seems to think there's a bigger picture involved) irrelevant to 90 percent of the countries involved.

    I think inventions and procedures expand and get passed along to doctors around the world. And to entrepreneurs. I think it's follow the leader, and that the less government stands in its way the better off we are.

    I think it's knowledge that helps both health and income. I see nothing in this video that proves it, except for certain leader bubbles leading everyone (and I do mean everyone, given some time) upward.

    Thanks for posting this, JR. I apologize for thinking too much, but I thank you for making me think.

    ReplyDelete