# Are There Any Ways In Which Europeans Are More 'Backward' Than Americans? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 6, 2006, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250 "2006-11-06T03:37:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250/201 "2006-11-10T22:10:04Z")
[QUOTE=tschild] It’s Chilean sparkling wine, or something to that effect - when designations like champagne, bordeaux, feta, sherry, _ **grappa, ouzo** _ and Nürnberger Bratwürste are applied to products made outside the proper region it’s considered fraudulent mislabeling. [/QUOTE] Yet America’s lower gasoline prices, especially for the mix that is 85% ethanol, mean I can get the functional equivalent for about two bucks a gallon. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250/202 "2006-11-11T00:16:21Z")
[QUOTE=SenorBeef] I’ve heard people make the argument that the US takes it’s treaty obligations very seriously, and hence, is very selective about what its a signatory to - while other nations routinely sign stuff that they have no intention of following or caring about. I don’t know enough about international affairs to really know if it’s true, but it seems reasonable. [/QUOTE] That’s part of it. That’s \*part \*of the reason why we didn’t sign Kyoto, the fact that we thought a lot of the signer’s would sign and ignore. Note the word PART, let’s not get ino the many and varied reasons (some good, some bad) of why we didn’t ratify Kyoto. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250/203 "2006-11-19T13:45:58Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] I would include the drive to invent and perfect things. The fact that the U.S. drops so much $$$$$ into research universities is part of it but it goes way deeper than that. Even independent inventors have contributed a lot (Alexander Graham Bell, Marconi, the Wright Brothers etc). The fact that many of these people were immigrants that waited to achieve their dream until they got to the U.S. drives the point home. I want to start a Great Debate thread about why this may be. Think of a list of all the revolutionary inventions in the world since the late 1800’s. The U.S. is ridiculously overrepresented and can probably beat the rest of the world combined. [U.S. inventions.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_inventions) Europe and the rest of the world certainly be backwards without those. I have no doubt that someone would have certainly come up with some of them given time but the trend remains extremely strong to this day. [/QUOTE] Off the top of my head I believe Brits invented the industrial steam engine ,railways,the silicon chip,radar,the internet,carbon fibre,accurate chronometers,computers,co invented television and no doubt a few other things .I’ll bet that even that short list contains a couple of items that Americans populary believe to be their own countrymans discoveries. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250/204 "2006-11-19T13:48:31Z")
[QUOTE=Lust4Life] Off the top of my head I believe Brits invented the industrial steam engine ,railways,the silicon chip,radar,the internet,carbon fibre,accurate chronometers,computers,co invented television and no doubt a few other things .I’ll bet that even that short list contains a couple of items that Americans populary believe to be their own countrymans discoveries. [/QUOTE] Brits also invented the CAT scanner (at Nottingham University) and DNA profiling (at Leicester University) ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250/205 "2006-11-19T14:01:37Z")
Where I personally believe the U.S. to be streets ahead of the rest of the world is in innovation and the implementation of innovation,whether in business practices or putting new science to practical use . The American way of thinking seems to be" lets see if we can make this happen",fair enough a percentage of the attempts fail but a hell of a lot dont and end up enriching our everyday lives… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250/206 "2006-11-19T14:01:39Z")
Let us not forget the WWW (Tim Berners Lee) and the jet engine (Frank Whittle). ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250/207 "2006-11-19T14:32:43Z")
[QUOTE=Lust4Life] Where I personally believe the U.S. to be streets ahead of the rest of the world is in innovation and the implementation of innovation,whether in business practices or putting new science to practical use . The American way of thinking seems to be" lets see if we can make this happen",fair enough a percentage of the attempts fail but a hell of a lot dont and end up enriching our everyday lives.. [/QUOTE] And you have 300 million people. Australia has 20 million, and we’ve given the world the following inventions: - black box flight recorder - combine harvester - pick-up truck - rotary hoe - orbital engine - variable rack and pinion steering - rotary clothes hoist - electric drill - notepad - garage roller door - photocopiers - secret ballot - penicillin(!) - bionic ear (cochlear implant) - spray-on skin (for burns victims) - the full-length feature film - and others And I’m sure many other countries have equally impressive lists. Not just America, yeah? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250/208 "2006-11-19T15:36:50Z")
[QUOTE=Lust4Life] Off the top of my head I believe Brits invented…the internet [/QUOTE] This thread has turned into a silly pissing contest, but could you try to justify this one? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250/209 "2006-11-19T16:44:41Z")
[QUOTE=SenorBeef] This thread has turned into a silly pissing contest, but could you try to justify this one? [/QUOTE] See post #206: Al Gore may have invented the Internet (;)), but a Brit invented the Web. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250/210 "2006-11-19T16:53:19Z")
The development of HTTP is a drop in the bucket in the work involved in creating the internet as a whole. It’s wholly inaccurate of calling that “inventing the internet”. I mean, it’s just a high level protocol for specifying a particular manner in which a particular type of exchange happens. There are dozens of such protocols, and they in no way compare to developing the infrastructure of the internet. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250/211 "2006-11-19T16:59:12Z")
[QUOTE=SenorBeef] The development of HTTP is a drop in the bucket in the work involved in creating the internet as a whole. It’s wholly inaccurate of calling that “inventing the internet”. I mean, it’s just a high level protocol for specifying a particular manner in which a particular type of exchange happens. There are dozens of such protocols, and they in no way compare to developing the infrastructure of the internet. [/QUOTE] Yes, I agree that it’s inaccurate. As I said, he is credited with inventing the Web, not the Internet. As to whether it’s a “drop” or whether it would have happened anyway, doesn’t matter - he’s the dude who did it, and he is British. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250/212 "2006-11-19T19:20:01Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] See post #206: Al Gore may have invented the Internet (;)), but a Brit invented the Web. [/QUOTE] My apologies!I stand corrected 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-in-which-europeans-are-more-backward-than-americans/379250.md?page=10)