Wonders of the World

Scholars and interested people may debate what truly deserves to be included in the list of human achievements considered as the Wonders of the World. Most of these however have to do with elaborate constructions that involved a high degree of engineering expertise in the medieval or middle ages. For all the achievements, how come the last century did not lead to a spectacular construction or achievement that led to a true debate about the displacement of the list of the Wonders of the World (WOWs).

Part of that answer must have something to do with two features that a good number of the Wonders of the World (WOWs) possessed. The first is that the these constructions were built in a world that was not unlike that of the twentieth century where ideas of freedom were very highly developed and expensively defended, with the result that indentured labour was largely unavailable. The second point is that the world assumed a more libertarian stance that would not allow for the construction of white elephants that most of the WOWS were. In essence, we are unlikely to see another construction matching the exquisite design and unabashed opulence of either the Taj Mahal or the Great pyramid of Giza because of the virtual abolition of indentured labour and the rise of representative democracy. This blogger will explore this hypothesis further by enumerating reasons for the claim.