Why does the southern hemisphere suck?

i have nothing against the southern hemisphere or the people that live there, but after watching a movie about global warming causing another ice age (Day After Tomorrow?) it came to my attention that when people think of the civilized world, it is primarily in the northern hemisphere. Think about it, the major world powers, the major technological producers, movies, and almost every helpful gadget to make the lives of the lazy that much easier come from up here. Sure some will say “What about Australia? They aren’t a third world country infested with diseases and starving children.” and i would have to agree, but when is the last time anyone heard of “The Great Australian Military” or anything along those lines? So the world just decided to take all of its best thinkers and greatest minds and put them into the location where they could be put to use? Or is it just the proverbial “Rich getting richer and poor getting poorer” as applied the lives of humans? When did this happen?

Why god? Why??? I just want to hear an answer!!! What makes the north so damned special?

Well, when you think “developed” continents you think of Europe and North America. Those are in the northern hemisphere. When you think “undeveloped” you think of South America, Africa and Asia. Those are down south. (Well, bits of Asia are in the northern hemisphere, but they’re mostly just China and Japan; South East Asia and the Pacific islands contain way more countries.) And then there is Antarctica, which is probably the ULTIMATE undeveloped continent.

Britain was also a major world influence for the last few centuries. They’re in the northern hemisphere. Britain’s most famous colony, America, is also in the northern hemisphere.

Australia is in the southern hemisphere, but its isolation limits its influence. It was also intended to be a “pure” land of white English folk, a satellite of the British empire (the White Australia policy wasn’t dropped until the 60s) and also very protectionist, which limited contact with the outside world and also a lot of the influence it might have had otherwise. And unlike America, there was no rebellion against British rule. Australians stayed “British” for a lot longer than Americans did.

If you just want to know why good things seem to happen in the northern hemisphere, a rather mundane response might be that most of the world’s land is in the northern hemisphere, so it’d be expected that more good stuff happens to it.

If you want to take the “humans came from Africa” angle, they’d have migrated north from Africa into the northern hemisphere before settling down in the corners of the earth, so northern civilisations had more time to establish themselves. Doesn’t explain why Africa sucks though.

But this is just grasping at straws really. I think what you said about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer has something to do with it. A lot of people in countries like Canada and Australia, when they reach the top of their field… move to America. Brain drain. It’s a big problem if the analysts are to be believed and mean that we’ll never get any great people out of our country because of the mentality that if they’re still here, then they must not be that great after all. Eh.

Well, Wikipedia says that only 10% of Earth’s human population lives in the Southern Hemisphere.

That’s probably accounts for most of it.

::shrug:: Take a look at the globe lately? Not much habitable land south of the Equator. You’ve got the thin end of Africa and a fair bit of South America. Which hemisphere would you bet on to have the more people, the more neighbours competing with each other and so on?

Also, don’t be dissin’ the Australian military. History suggests that they don’t have the awesome logistics backing them that US troops can count on, but two world wars record that when they do get stuck in, the other side doesn’t have any fun.

What I meant was that no one (in the Northern Hemisphere) really cares much about the Southern Hemisphere because:

  1. There’s very few people there.

  2. There’s much less land area there.
    Note that Reason 1 has largly because of Reason 2.

May I suggest you read Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel.” It examines presumptions that the southern hemisphere “sucks” and closely analyzes the vast differences in natural resources and domestic animals that make northern and southern hemispheres different.

Assuming that by “bits of Asia”, you mean all of Asia except portions of Indonesia. The continent is entirely in the northern hemisphere.

Seconding Jennshark’s recommendation. Read Guns, Germs and Steel. A lot of things will become more comprehensible to you because of it.

Because the Northern Hemisphere Blows?

Because it’s a manifestation of the “hairy tennis ball theorem”, and there has to be a singular spot someplace?
Because we all voted, and , with only 10% of the population, the Southern Hemisphere lost?
Because it really doesn’t, but it’s really a plot by the people in southern Africa, South America, Australia, and a few random islands t keep the good stuff to themselves?
Because Antarctica keeps dragging down the curve?

There is also the fact that most of the world’s populated cold climate areas are in the north. Harsh climates promote inovation for survival. I mean, shit if you’re living in Thailand or Jamaica or somewhere, it’s just “another beer, mon?” And why not? The land is rich and bountiful, you’re not about to freeze… Life is already good. ON the other hand, if you’re living in bitterly cold pre-industrial Britain or Europe, than you have an incentive to make it artificially warm post-industrial Britain or Europe, and that means getting your collective shit together.

And yes, Thailand and Jamaica are both north, but you know what I mean… :smiley:

Upon checking my globe, you are right. It seems the Equator in my mental map curves to match the curve of the continental border :smack: