What made/makes America a super power

[Jon]

A super power is only a super power relative to the competiting countries. Sadly, two World Wars dramatically altered the balance of power. Thanks Hitler! (Everything comes back to Hitler.)

Fortunately for America, they were remote from the action, so their cities did not get constantly bombed.

India is already the most populous country with 1.5 billion of them. China will be the next super power, as America declines. Ray Dalio did a good video of it, showing how countries ascend and then decline in cycles, as history shows. With India's population, they must be rising through the ranks. On the other hand, Japan has a birth rate population, so they may decline.

I think AI will significantly impact the balance of power. Consider a country like India with all those people but who have access to all the intellectual knowledge that the US has, because their AI is smarter than all humans combined. They will no longer have the bottleneck to specialised knowledge that a super power may possess. There may be an arms race regarding the strength of each countries AI, but perhaps the law of diminishing returns kicks in, where the smartest AI doesn't necessarily make that much difference anymor since they are all damn smart already.

 

[jpl458]

A super power is only a super power relative to the competiting countries. Sadly, two World Wars dramatically altered the balance of power. Thanks Hitler! (Everything comes back to Hitler.)

Fortunately for America, they were remote from the action, so their cities did not get constantly bombed.

India is already the most populous country with 1.5 billion of them. China will be the next super power, as America declines. Ray Dalio did a good video of it, showing how countries ascend and then decline in cycles, as history shows. With India's population, they must be rising through the ranks. On the other hand, Japan has a birth rate population, so they may decline.

I think AI will significantly impact the balance of power. Consider a country like India with all those people but who have access to all the intellectual knowledge that the US has, because their AI is smarter than all humans combined. They will no longer have the bottleneck to specialised knowledge that a super power may possess. There may be an arms race regarding the strength of each countries AI, but perhaps the law of diminishing returns kicks in, where the smartest AI doesn't necessarily make that much difference anymor since they are all damn smart already.

America stilll has the biggest economy in the world, The largest Air Force is the USAF, the second largest Air Force is the United States Navy, I still can't fathon the impact of AI when added to the mix. All I know right now is that I can create working code in 2 different languages that I am not familiar with. I did a lot of work in BAL and Fortran, so I know "about" programming. Written code in16 different languages, at last count, but was never an expert in any of them. I just did a spread sheet with buttons that took me under 2 hours and has over 500 lines of code, and it runs like a bandit. The thing I learned was how to ask the questions in the proper way to get the best responses from ChatGP4.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Pat, that is obvious.

It wasn't to you.

America stilll has the biggest economy in the world,

We are in decline. The feckless people running our government give away our money to criminals who break our laws to enter the country illegally. We waste the precious lives of our young people on wars we have no intention of winning. Our government, supported by the press and social media lie to us about pretty much everything. These issues Transend political parties. Everyone is in on the scam to take whatever power and money they can. Many, like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden get away with it. Obama got away with actual murder. The Republicans are far from clean. They are simply less greedy in their theft.

 

[jpl458]

America stilll has the biggest economy in the world, The largest Air Force is the USAF, the second largest Air Force is the United States Navy, I still can't fathon the impact of AI when added to the mix. All I know right now is that I can create working code in 2 different languages that I am not familiar with. I did a lot of work in BAL and Fortran, so I know "about" programming. Written code in16 different languages, at last count, but was never an expert in any of them. I just did a spread sheet with buttons that took me under 2 hours and has over 500 lines of code, and it runs like a bandit. The thing I learned was how to ask the questions in the proper way to get the best responses from ChatGP4.

It wasn't to you.

We are in decline. The feckless people running our government give away our money to criminals who break our laws to enter the country illegally. We waste the precious lives of our young people on wars we have no intention of winning. Our government, supported by the press and social media lie to us about pretty much everything. These issues Transend political parties. Everyone is in on the scam to take whatever power and money they can. Many, like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden get away with it. Obama got away with actual murder. The Republicans are far from clean. They are simply less greedy in their theft.

I don't agree that we are in decline. Lets let it go at that.

 

[Steve R.]

America stilll has the biggest economy in the world,

Thumping your chest and saying you are the greatest does not mean that you will remain top-dog, unless you work diligently for it. The US is no longer working to be the best, we are in decline. For how long? India and China have much larger populations. It is conceivable that they can overtake the US. US manufacturing has already left the US for Asia. What happens when China cuts us off?

The largest Air Force is the USAF, the second largest Air Force is the United States Navy,

A delusional statement as if brute size still matters as it did in the past. Should the Chinese sink one of our aircraft carriers, we will be bankrupt. Not to mention that it takes years, as in years, to build one. (Can we even defend an aircraft carrier against a blizzard of hypersonic missiles?) Do we even have shipyard capacity available to build new ships?

Military equipment needs to be: disposable, cheap, easily maintained, and quickly built. The US, unfortunately, goes for equipment which is not disposable, not cheap, hard to maintain, and takes a long time to build. There have been a spattering of stories noting that the Houthis have shot down multi-million $$$$ drones with cheap ordinance.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I don't agree that we are in decline. Lets let it go at that.

You make my case. It is the people who made America great, not the rivers. They were a big help but in the same sense that guns don't kill people, rivers don't make greatness. Both are tools to be used for good or for evil. Used smartly or stupidly wasted. Too many folks today believe the Dems when they say that America is evil and racist and doesn't deserve a border. Ukraine deserves a border. But not the US. A country that cannot defend its borders is not a country. We gave our drone technology away. We gave technology to the Afghans who promptly sold it to people who can do us harm. Let us not forget how the UK Parliament sanctioned Biden for making the entire world less safe by his stupid actions in withdrawing from Afghanistan. You can hate the evil orange man all you want. That man loves America and knows how to protect her unlike the empty suit living in the White House part time.

Germany was a superpower until her evil rulers decided to conquer their neighbors - TWICE in one century!!! Rome was a superpower and did conquer much of the known world. Then they got corrupt and lazy and got beaten by savages much as we were in Vietnam and Afghanistan. Britannia ruled much of the known world but the Kings and Queens who followed Elizabeth I couldn't hold a candle to her except for Victoria. After her, it was again downhill and Elizabeth II (who was actually a good and wise Queen but not a conqueror) presided over the dismantling of the British Raj.

One advantage we had along with early Rome was we got to elect our leaders. That meant we shouldn't have had to deal with degenerates and morons the way GB did. But that's what happens when you steal elections. The figurehead needs to be controllable.

 

[Isaac]

As @Pat Hartman correctly observed, the video severely overemphasized the role of "geographical features". As to why the US became a superpower, culture is perhaps a more significant component. The culture being Judaeo-Cristian ethics, protestant work ethics, and nationalism (Manifest Destiny). (As a side note, the US did have a civil war starting in 1861 that could have permanently fractured the country. There are still echos of "the South shall rise again.")

There are other countries that could have become extremely successful, but not necessarily superpowers. These countries include, (give or take a few) Russia, China, and Argentina. These countries have not historically blossomed because of corruption. Other things to consider, Cuba and Venezuela have become "basket cases" as a consequence of socialism. Other formerly prosperous colonies countries, that threw-off the yoke of colonialism (sarcasm), have also become "basket cases", such as South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The US, in the near future, may soon loose its superpower status to China. There appear to be two reasons. First, China has a much larger population and has become economic steamroller (Walmart being a corporate subsidiary). (Evidently there are indications that China's economy is sputtering.) Second, the US is now "inwardly" focused. Concepts such as nationalism, citizenship, equal rights, the rule of law, and meritocracy are now vilified. Under the current administration, the government is now devoted to concepts such as racism, diversity, inclusion, implementing a welfare state, climate change, and eliminating the concept of citizenship. These are all centrifugal forces tearing the country apart. Will this mean that the US will slowly devolve into a new Cuba or Venezuela?

I tend to agree with Steve and Pat. America is blessed with many natural resources, but that's not primarily why we suddenly became #1, or thereabouts. It was our ethos of Freedom, Hard Work, Individuality, Freedom of Religion, and based on Christian principles that really made the difference between any other country - Mexico, for example, has astounding amounts of natural resources, enough to become the richest nation in the world if it so chose/could manage...A statistic that my friend from Costa Rica often reminds me of, very interesting.

Unfortunately any resource begs for great managers to maximize its impact.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

The thing I learned was how to ask the questions in the proper way to get the best responses

Actually, this is a valuable skill in any discipline including basic scientific research. Sometimes the problem isn't intractable science, but rather it is that you asked a question in a way that obscures, evades, or ignores the truth. Whether in diplomacy or religion or medicine or physical sciences or anything else... even including politics.

 

[Steve R.]

The largest Air Force is the USAF, the second largest Air Force is the United States Navy, ...

By coincidence I ran across the article below. Maybe the author ran across this thread?

Adapt or Sink: Can U.S. Aircraft Carriers Survive in a Conflict with China or Russia?

The U.S. Navy has long relied on aircraft carriers as the centerpiece of its naval power, but in today's multipolar world, this strategy may be outdated. Rivals like China and Russia have developed advanced anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems, including hypersonic weapons, designed to...

nationalinterest.org

America's naval strategy, centered on aircraft carriers since World War II, is outdated in today's multi-threat environment. With China, Russia, and others developing effective countermeasures like hypersonic weapons and anti-ship missiles, U.S. aircraft carriers are becoming predictable and vulnerable targets.

Hence, America’s obsession with expensive and cumbersome aircraft carriers. The United States has not only committed to this weapons platform, but it has become a cultural symbol. That is why the cult of flat tops has taken hold to such a degree that to even point out that great state rivals, such as China and Russia, as well as the proxies for these nations, such as Iran or North Korea, have developed highly effective countermeasures is considered unpatriotic or worse, heretical. But this fixation on the carrier as more than just a weapons platform, as a cultural icon, is precisely what makes it such a terrible weapon to rely upon. (emphasis added)

Sink a US carrier, the US will be bankrupt. Not to also mention that it would take many years, which we do not have, to build a new one.

 

[Pat Hartman]

We didn't have world wide satellite surveillance abilities in the 40's when carriers won the war so you had to find one to kill it. Now, a desk jockey just gives the coordinates to the long guns and they're dead. Subs are still able to hide but it is far harder than the old days. You'd think the old woke guys in the funny shaped building would actually know this.

 

[Cronk]

America is well on the way to bankruptcy and without losing even a patrol boat. There's been a national deficit for decades and the current national debt has risen to $34 trillion whereas GDP is $28 trillion. With expiring loans having to be financed at higher interest payments, the interest on the national debt is now more than Defence expenditure. The only items still exceeding interest payments are Medicare and Social Security. Congress keeps kicking the can down the road but we're getting close to the end of the road.