This Seven Wonders contest was interesting. I have to say that the Statue of Liberty, The Eiffel Tower, The Sidney Opera House, and the Christ Redeemer statue were rather undeserving nominees. Why? They represent the efforts of a few designers, who executed their work in a labor structure that was much easier to command (mainly through incentives) than any of the older work.

The older examples were a combination of whole societies creativity, and commitment, – though, of course, a lot of that commitment was due to ancient command economies. Still, most of the powerful rulers who were able to command did so with an appeal to a cultural meaning even the lowliest could identify with.

I have no idea why the Christ Redeemer statue was included. It looks boring, and is not a great feat of engineering. My guess is that the contest simply got a lot of press in Latin America.

The greatest of all these wonders is, I think, the Taj Mahal. It is simply fantastic. It captures the best sentiments of all of humanity: aspirations to beauty, spirituality, and love.

Congrats on the winning of Petra! I don’t really believe in categorizing only 7 world wonders and I don’t see why a lot of those were included, but I was in Petra 4 years ago and it was breathtaking.

I’m sure it will help tourism to be labeled, though.

hagiasophia =(

I’ve been to Petra, but to be honest, it doesn’t really have enough to put it into the top 7 wonders of the world. Neither does Christ Redeemer. But Petra, it’s nice, but how is it any better than Palmyra or Persepolis? It isn’t really.

A friend of mine from Norway got upset because the sight in Cambodia (Angkor Wat) didn’t win, he said he’s been there, and he truly loved it!!

So, what I’m saying is, architecture is an art like music, you find people who like Rock like myself , others could like Pop or Jazz, but you cannot say one type is better than the other!, each type has its characteristics, and the same goes for architecture, some people like modernity others like history!

Thank you guys for sharing your comments.

d pyramidsssssssssssssssssssssss :’(

Dr. Zahi Hawass of Egypt flicked his nose at the whole competition.

I think that Petra deserves to win, but I think that Stonehenge and the Statues of Easter Land should have been one of the seven wonders, the one I don’t really agree with is The Taj Mahal!

I think that Petra deserves to win, but I think that Stonehenge and the Statues of Easter Land should have been one of the seven wonders, the one I don’t really agree with is The Taj Mahal!

Why is that?

And I see so many other wonders are missing from the finalist. Machu Picchu, The Great Wall of China and Chichen Itza were the only deserving ones to be crowned “wonders” of the world. And I can’t believe the Pyramids of Giza and Ankor Wat wasn’t selected or Sigiriya and Bali wasn’t even in the list of finalists.

Well Jina,

The decision was entirely based on popular vote from the citizens of the world, you should’ve seen the campaigning for Petra here in Jordan, it was everywhere around us!, that’s why people got interested and voted through mobile phones, and the internet, so the nations that voted the most got their sights elected apparently!!

That’s just lame, so the poorer countries had no way of doing this then.

I disagree, I think it was better left for the citizens of the world to decide than just some committee, whose decision could have been biased and unfair!

I disagree, I think it was better left for the citizens of the world to decide than just some committee, whose decision could have been biased and unfair!

You mean citizens of the world who are able to do this voting. When everyone in the world has a computer and a cell phone, then your reasoning is valid, as long as majority don’t even have a phone, then no no. And the finalists were chosen not by the citizens but rather a committee, kinda like the Iranian democracy.

It doesn’t work, so it must be chosen by those who know what hey are doing and not letting the “citizens of the world” choose. Ohh don’t say citizens of the world because citizens of the world weren’t involved in this process.

Well Jina!,

I believe those who don’t have computers or mobile phones should probably consider working a little harder to get them, don’t you think??

I believe those who don’t have a computer or a mobile should probably consider working a little harder to get them, don’t you think??

You got to be shitting me…

I’m not shitting you or anyone for that matter Jina, what I’m saying is that you cannot expect the poor and the hungry to care about matters like the 7 wonders, they wouldn’t know how to choose!!, when I said it was better that it was left for the citizens of the world, I meant the citizens who were educated and cultured enough to give a credible opinion on such matters!, and those people, normally, could afford to have computers and mobile phones!!

And about my belief that people who don’t have computers or mobiles , should work harder to get them …

Bob Geldof and his friends could organise Live 8 concerts every year and raise millions and millions of dollars and send them to continents like Africa, but that would never change the reality and reduce proverty in Africa a tiny bit!!, you know why…

Simply, because citizens of Africa need to work their asses off for their lives to change, change must come from within , the way I see it, the people are just sitting on their apathetic lazy asses doing nothing, waiting for the world to act every time there is a crisis there, and I’m sorry if my beliefs are provocative to some of you!

Mohammad, not everyone in the world is as privileged as you and me.. People who sit on their asses as you mentioned are doing so because of poverty in their countries, lack of education and work opportunities.. I really don’t believe it’s because they are lazy and enjoying a sun tan!!

Many of these people live in war zones with corrupt governments, it is a day to day fight to survive, I really don’t think we can even comprehend what they go through while sitting comfortably on our big couches in our air conditioned comfortable homes.. so pleeeaaaase.. don’t judge…

Going back to the topic,
Only around half of the world’s population owns mobile phones, latest study reported by Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL2712199720070627

and only 3% of the population of Africa use the Internet
2% of middle east population use it
while 36% of Asia’s population use it (highest)
You can find out more in this site
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Now that is all clear, I am not convinced with the outcome of the 7 wonders of the world.
I’d rather have specialists from different parts of the world voting and giving their professional opinions based on knowledge and science.
By the way why is it 7? why not 8,9 or 10?

Jina, I just checked the organisation’s website again!, there it said the decision was based on votes, no committee was involved!!!

Mohammad Alazraq, you need a reality check and look up the word superiority complex.

PS: You Muslims/Arabs/Jordanians should keep the terrorists off the street or someone might bomb you to the stone ages. Work hard to keep these people out of my bus stops, my town etc. Enjoy yourself now Mr. Cultured idiot.

Jina last paragraph:PS: You Muslims/Arabs/Jordanians should keep the terrorists off the street or someone might bomb you to the stone ages. Work hard to keep these people out of my bus stops, my town etc. Enjoy yourself now Mr. Cultured idiot.
It looks Jina got out of wise words, and went to the crap.
Even in modern democratic countries on election day barely you find so many people participate in the election, why people are not aware of the election process, but they don’t want to vote.In spite of this, the candidate who gets higher vote win. In the same token, 21 sites were candidates for open vote. Every concerned person world wide is invited to vote, and in fact voter mounted to 100 million, but whoever doesn’t cares to vote, it is his/her problem. there is a say” if there is a will, there is a way” so, whoever willing to vote he will find the way.

excuse me, what do u mean by “u muslims”?!