Does a cold climate promote economic growth?

[Babygirl_S]

[sawno]

I think historically cold climates promote innovation. If your in a super hot climate things move slowly, its easy to overheat your body so everyone takes it easy and can basically just survive as long as there is enough shade.

In a cold climate your all stressed because you gotta stay warm enough to survive. You can't do that just by being in a location so you gotta get creative. You need to for example make a fire, make clothes, find a warmer spot, etc.

So I do suspect climate has something to do with the fact that cold regions have evolved much faster than warm regions.

[Syntosi]

That does not actually make much sense. Society more or less began in the middle east and Egypt and for the longest time it remained there until humanity suffered the bronze age collapse and basically had a reset. Likewise during the medieval age we had cultural and scientific revolution in the middle east and Africa not to mention what happened in Asia and elsewhere in the world.

Modern times with USA and Europe in the forefront is a relatively new development. It means it does not need to be them, they just happened to be at the top when progress took off during the industrial revolution and such.

[SotiCoto]

@Syntosi : Harsh conditions force adaptations to overcome them. It is as true of a desert as of the snowy mountains, but the adaptations are different.

[Syntosi]

@SotiCoto No that also does not make any sense. Innovation has not come from regions that has harsh conditions, they come from people who are living easy lives of plenty. When Egypt first became a super power they did it because they were living in incredible abundance surrounded by wealth, food and stability. Likewise the Romans and Greeks lived a charmed life not to mention the various incredibly wealthy and luxurious Arabic nations during their golden age.

Force adaptations lets people survive in extreme conditions such as living in Igloos. It does not promote social progress as a whole. Simply living does not mean you are excelling.

[SotiCoto]

@Syntosi : And you didn't consider that it didn't make sense to you personally due to failure on your part? What I said was literally true.

[Syntosi]

@SotiCoto No its not. There has never been an example of harsh conditions promoting significant social development outside of perhaps the vikings since it just so happens their nifty boats which they made for fishing were really good as warships to raid others with. But that is the exception, every other major development and major civilization had its foundation in wealth and plenty.

[SotiCoto]

@Syntosi : Well, I'll be elsewhere until you understand what you're getting wrong... which I'm guessing you never will.

[Syntosi]

@SotiCoto Unless someone can provide me an example where I am wrong then I suppose I will never change my mind. That is usually how these things work.

[SotiCoto]

@Syntosi : It is needless. You shifted the goalposts... or rather the context. I don't even need to engage with what you said past that point.

[Syntosi]

@SotiCoto I did not. The claim was that harsh conditions, or climate would promote economic growth by forcing innovation. That is not true and makes no sense logically nor has any correlation with actual history.

[SotiCoto]

@Syntosi : And that is why you'll never understand where you fucked up.

[Syntosi]

@SotiCoto I am sure that I will spend the rest of my life wondering what that crazy man on the internet was trying to tell me.

[sawno]

@Syntosi I actually agree with your points. My mind was at the world war 1 style era and colonialism and stuff where the north was just way more evolved at that point. But thinking back there were pyramids, the greeks were kind of in the north but still a relatively warm climate. The arabs with their writing, etc.

[Syntosi]

Yeah WW1 was after colonialism and industrialization which gave the Europeans a massive head start in an era where everything is growing exponentially quickly. Being ahead at that one crucial point in time means that no one else has any realistic chance to catch up until this current period of growth finally slows down. Considering the explosive growth in for example computers during our lifetime it does not appear that we are slowing down any time soon either.

[Syntosi]

Actually I just found a really nice video talking about how close Rome was to industrialization (of course its just speculations but they appear quite knowledgeable and far more than me).

If you are interested then it explains a lot of things that promotes innovation and why things happened at the time it did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJfU6s5xj8Q

[RavVid]

Life is pretty easy on a tropical pacific island from what I have seen. You slash and burn a bush garden. Plant bananas, yams and maybe a bread fruit tree. Learn how to climb coconut trees. Put some nets up on the coral reef and go out at low tide and pick up fish. The island is as warm as the surrounding ocean so you don't need clothes.

In contrast in Northern Europe if you couldn't plan and execute a plan than you would starve to death.

So I would say being smart is an advantage in cold climates and that is what we see. Higher IQs in cold climate people. Women probably sexually selected for smart guys.

Economic growth would be greater with cold climate smarter people.

[NaultD]

It's a strange survival bias, but with profitability. The reality is the cold only makes things expensive. Maybe because it's so cold and claiming that land is nonviable for average people I guess is an argument.

These large oil field it's so profitable despite the extreme climate conditions. The housing and feeding of workers, hazard pay, and transportation costs are off the charts, and it still makes money that is worth the upfront costs. Because nothing else is sustainable in that artic economy really. Not even a subway can make a profit their. So zero local economy. Bad living but good money.

[ProbablyClueless]

Maybe it would have before the days of air conditioning, but I can't think of reason it would now.

Because back in the early days of the industrial revolution, it was tough to have factories and heavy machinery anywhere in the global south due to the humidity making everything rust.

[FreyaRed]

No, it's the opposite. In warm climate are resources like food available entire year.
Cold climate just forces people who are living in it to store and preserve resources for long winter.

[blueonblack22]

Good question. There are studies that countries that have colder climates or even temperate climates are prone to going to war. Even Middle East desert countries have cold nights.

[SotiCoto]

"Even"? Unlike the middle east, most European countries can at least honestly make the claim that sometimes they're not at war. The middle east has never NOT been at war... whether for water, arable land, or whose magical sky-daddy is better...

[NathanDavis]

I don't think so, no...

a lot less productivity and consumerism... if people just stay inside

[Lynx122]

Yes it did in the past. Nowadays I don't think it does anymore but the advantage is already there now. The faster development.

[nawtee_me]

Necessity is the mother of invention and climate really doesn’t play a part. Air conditioners were not made in a cold climate just as heaters were not built for hot climates…

[Pohjolan]

To some extent. Necessity is the mother of all inventions while in a tropical climate people didn't need a industrial revolution.

[ritxi]

Yes, I think so. Most developed countries have cold climate.

[genericname85]

@ritxi it's not the cold climate that makes these countries developed tho. it's the intelligence of people there. people needed to evolve more intelligence to survive cold climate. and it's intelligence that makes them more economically successfull.

[ritxi]

@genericname85 That could be a reason and another one could be that those people have less distractions than in hotter countries.

[genericname85]

no people in hotter regions of the planet have evolved less intelligence. that's why they're doing worse economically. you can actually correlate intelligence to the climate of a given country.

[exitseven]

yes, you have to work hard to buy heating oil so you have to make sure there is economic growth.

[Dargil]

Cooler climate helped create Western Civilization.

[DJB72]

If it did Siberia would be the economic capital of the world...

[OtterMan68]

early civilizations sprung up in warm climes: Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, and lower Nile.

[FenixG45]

I. Wish. Look at Russia.

[Bklynbadboy12]

Not I think it's the opposite

[Rockey_the_bicker]

I don't think..