Global Perspectives -- South Americans

[JC]

I've been debating global directional perspectives with my brother.

Question: Do South Americans think they're on the top of the world like North Americans do? Is a South American globe the inverse of the North Americans' globe?

[kite200]

somehow I dont think so, at least not with the south americans. maybe the chinese do?

[133MHz]

At least the Chileans tend to look at themselves like they're the best of the continent (and of course, this is not true). I'm Chilean and I do not share this point of view, but the vast majority of the population believes we have the highest standards in Latin America. As some old saying goes: Chileans - The englishmen of Latin America

[JC]

No, I'm not asking if S. Americans think they're the best, but, if geographically, they feel/perceive the continent as being on the top half of the earth instead of on the bottom half.

[Profeta Yoshitake]

Man, it is actually a good question...
No, we the "sub"-equatorian people do not think
that we are over the top of the globe, but we don't
think that we're at the bottom.

But.... we, the human race, tend to organize things
doing operations that involve associations between
the world an our repertory of categorizing strategies,
so this pseudo-sense of up and down inevitably
comes to every human mind, I think! 

Wow, was it clear to understand?
I don't think so...

[JC]

Interesting. I didn't consider that you all might not think in the same "up/down" or "northern/southern" terms when it comes to S. America's situation on the globe.

The core of my debate with my brother was whether or not we (or the mapmakers or scientists) are right in saying the north pole is up and the south pole is down. For instance, consider the earth like a ball sitting on the ground in front of you. The part of the ball touching the ground would be the south pole, and the opposite would be the north pole. Now, can we say that's true about earth: that the north pole is like the top of that ball. I don't think we can. I don't think the universe, with Earth in it, has any perceivable direction...so, north can be south, east can be north, up can be down and down can be west, etc. We just don't know.

[Profeta Yoshitake]

OK, man!

It is actually my point!
You've got it!
Up and down are two concepts that can not exist
without a reference point, so the whole up and down
idea becomes odd when applied to sphere objects,
when the only reasonable reference point is the
center! Because it has a radial symmetry! So, what's
the point of up and down?! 
The question appears when the man starts to chart
the seas and the lands in paper! Writing over paper
forces an arbitrary direction for reading! It might
explain the strong up and down appeal that a charted
globe brings to us!

...or not!   

Har! 

[Profeta Yoshitake]

whether or not we (or the mapmakers or scientists) are right in saying the north pole is up and the south pole is down.

Just to answer clearly: there is no point calling North up and South down. It is just about the orientation of magnetic lines. Someone that put the question on that way can not be called scientist. IMHO. 

[JC]

Ah, the Prophet is a deep thinker. Cool.

I see what you're saying here. My brother had suggested that the only possible directional explanation in reference to the Earth is from the center out or from the outer to the center. And I think it was the explorer and the mapmaker who decided on the rest of the directions (cardinal, etc.) for the convenience of knowing where they'd come from and where they had gone to. Scientists have since refined the explorer and mapmakers' perspectives of the globe, using more complex terms. I suppose you could call directional perspectives entirely conceptual -- not real, just something humans came up with for the convenience of organizing themselves.

But how interesting that most in the US, at least those I've talked with about directions/global perspective, think the earth sits with North America on top, facing up/north, like the top of the ball. This is mostly because of pictures we see showing us on top, and our classroom globes, which show us on top. We tend to hold onto that as some kind of validation of our greatness -- which is partly what kite was saying.

[133MHz]

Maybe you would like to take a look at this http://www.quepitia.com/2007/05/10/america-sur-o-no-sur/

It was made by the Chilean Military Geographic Institute and some university as some kind of experiment I think.

[JC]

Awesome link. I'll have to kick it into a translator.

[Profeta Yoshitake]

Maybe you would like to take a look at this http://www.quepitia.com/2007/05/10/america-sur-o-no-sur/

It was made by the Chilean Military Geographic Institute and some university as some kind of experiment I think.

Well!
If the supposed northern sense of superiority is the aim
of the criticism of this map-manifesto, I think that putting
South America "upside down" [hey ho, look at the up and
down sense within my own thinking! Damn!!  ] just
emphasizes it!
Don't you?

Man, isn't it awkward to look at?!
São Paulo now is at the "west coast"!?

Chile in the east!!!

[Jedi Master Baiter]

How about turning the damn thing sideways so that the equator runs N & S?

[JC]

How about turning the damn thing sideways so that the equator runs N & S?

Exactly!! That's just awesome to think about, isn't it. I feel so robbed by my misconception of the way Earth is said to sit because of the way maps have been designed since historic times. I wonder what other things are believed to be a certain way but might not, in fact, be that way.

[Profeta Yoshitake]

I was always told that milk does a body good, but ever since I quit that stuff I've had less gas & less stomachaches.

Wow!!!
The world thanks you!
Less "global warming"! 

I prefer to stay with my milk!! [and gas!]