Europe and America are very different, yet close enough in size to fit each other’s clothes. Think Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in Trading Places. As in that movie, the main effect of transatlantic transvestism is comedy. With a sprinkling of insight.
A rough equivalence between Europe and America is often assumed, but more easily proclaimed than verified. Question one: are we comparing entire continents (North America and Europe) or more geographically limited political entities (the United States and the European Union)? And are we talking population size or economic output?
Let’s not even get into geographic area—there, the comparison falls entirely flat. North America is more than twice the size of Europe. Ditto for the US vs the EU (1).
The closest equivalence is economic: in 2017, the EU had a GDP of $19.9 trillion, with the U.S. close behind at $19.4 trillion (China was at #1 with an economic output of $23.1 trillion).
But the virtually equal volume of the world’s second and third economies is complicated by their divergent population sizes: 325 million for the US, 511 million for the EU. That’s almost 60% more, meaning that the per-capita income of the average EU citizen would be much lower than that of the average US citizen.
However, while per-capita income is indeed much higher in the US ($57,638) than in the EU ($32,250), European incomes are much more equally distributed than those in the US: the EU scores 31.0 on the Gini index (2), the US 45.0.
Absolute population figures are less open to debate than relative prosperity, and that’s what these two maps focus on. So, what if you transported North America’s population to Europe?
The U.S.A. would be the dominant power on the continent. Its population is big enough to singlehandedly replace those of the UK and France (65 million each), the Low Countries (28 million combined), Germany (82 million), Switzerland and Austria (8.5 million each), Hungary (10 million), the Czech Republic (11 million), Slovakia (5.5 million) and Poland (38 million).
Mexico too would be a European power to be reckoned with. Its population (122 million) fills two of the EU’s Big Five countries (3)—Spain (46 million) and Italy (60 million)—plus Portugal (10 million), Slovenia (2 million) and Croatia (4 million).
Surely by design rather than accident, European Mexico is located south of the U.S. and European Canada to its north. As on their own continent, the Canadians occupy the sparsely populated north—'Candinavia'. And that includes not just the five Nordic countries: Denmark (6 million), Sweden (10 million), Norway (5 million), Finland (5 million) and Iceland (1/3 million), but also the three Baltic ones: Lithuania (3 million), Latvia (2 million) and Estonia (1 million). And because that still falls short of the total Canadian population: also the Republic of Ireland (5 million).
The Central American countries (minus Guatemala) equal Romania (20 million), Moldova (4 million) and Bulgaria (7 million). Guatemala, with 16 million inhabitants the most populous Central American nation, on its own just about covers five countries in the western Balkans: Serbia (9 million), Kosovo (2 million), Montenegro (2/3 million), Bosnia (4 million) and Albania (3 million).
And the Cubans, Jamaicans and other Caribbeans get transported off their tropical islands and herded into Ukraine (43 million).
Migrating the entirety of Europe to North America produces equally jarring results.
Germany on its own fills 15 states, more than any other European country, and enough to occupy a triangle of western territory that stretches from San Diego to Seattle and Duluth.
Area-wise, Poland is small enough to fit in Texas. But there are enough Poles to fill the Lone Star state (28 million), plus New Mexico (2 million), Oklahoma (4 million) and Kansas (3 million).
France equals eight states in the South, Hungary fills both Arkansas (3 million) and Missouri (6 million), and the Czechs, Slovaks and Belgians occupy Illinois (13 million), Indiana (7 million) and Ohio (12 million), respectively.
Switzerland takes over Virginia (8 million), while its European neighbour to the east becomes its American neighbour to the west, as Austria insinuates itself into the Appalachians, taking over West Virginia (2 million) and Kentucky (4 million).
The Netherlands also absorb two states: Wisconsin (6 million) and Michigan (10 million). The UK, appropriately, occupies the six New England states (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut), plus New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.
Nine countries are needed to cover the population of Canada. Ireland equals British Columbia (5 million), Iceland replaces Newfoundland and Labrador (half a million), and Lithuania fills Nova Scotia (1 million) and New Brunswick (2/3 million).
Québec (8 million) requires the combined populations of Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Sweden and Norway jointly replace Ontario (13 million) and Manitoba (1 million). And Denmark, finally, fills out the two remaining prairie provinces, Saskatchewan (1 million) and Alberta (4 million), plus the three territories to the north: Yukon, Northwest and Nunavut (together just over 100,000).
Things get a bit messy south of the border. Spain, Italy and Portugal make up the sparsely populated north and densely populated centre of Mexico. Into the southern bit are crammed Croatia and Slovenia (on the Yucatan peninsula), Bosnia, Albania, Serbia and Montenegro.
Kosovo equals Belize (1/3 million) and a few adjacent bits of Mexico, Romania takes up Guatemala, El Salvador (7 million) and Nicaragua (also 7 million). Bulgaria occupies Costa Rica (5 million) and Panama (4 million). And Ukrainians are taking in the sun in Cuba (11 million), Jamaica (3 million), Haiti (11 million), the Dominican Republic (10 million) and the rest of the Caribbean.
While not all population comparisons are a good fit, some are interesting eye-openers. For Americans, the fact that the state of Alaska and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg have similar population sizes, for example. And for Europeans, the fact that Guatemala is the people superpower of Central America, representing a third of the region's total population.
But for the most part, these maps serve as examples of comic transvestism, dropping familiar toponyms in strange surroundings, or vice versa. If previous entries on this blog may serve to illustrate the point, the transvestism trope is a fairly popular one. See for example #18 and #131.
Maps found here and here on Reddit's MapPorn thingy.
Strange Maps #905
Got a strange map? Let me know at strangemaps@gmail.com.
(1) North America is about 9.5 million square miles (24.7 million sq. km), or 16.5% of the Earth’s total land area, vs. Europe’s 3.9 million square miles (10.2 million sq. km) – just 6.8% of the total land area on the planet. The United States is 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million sq. km) vs. the European Union’s 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million sq. km).
(2) The Gini index is a scale representing income distribution, from 0 (perfect equality) to 100 (perfect inequality). The country with the highest coefficient is Lesotho (63.2), while Finland has the lowest (21.5).
(3) Germany, France, the UK, Spain and Italy. They represent 63% of the EU’s total population and 71% of the EU’s total GDP.
U.S. Navy ships
The U.S. Navy controls patents for some futuristic and outlandish technologies, some of which, dubbed "the UFO patents," came to light recently. Of particular note are inventions by the somewhat mysterious Dr. Salvatore Cezar Pais, whose tech claims to be able to "engineer reality." His slate of highly-ambitious, borderline sci-fi designs meant for use by the U.S. government range from gravitational wave generators and compact fusion reactors to next-gen hybrid aerospace-underwater crafts with revolutionary propulsion systems, and beyond.
Of course, the existence of patents does not mean these technologies have actually been created, but there is evidence that some demonstrations of operability have been successfully carried out. As investigated and reported by The War Zone, a possible reason why some of the patents may have been taken on by the Navy is that the Chinese military may also be developing similar advanced gadgets.
Among Dr. Pais's patents are designs, approved in 2018, for an aerospace-underwater craft of incredible speed and maneuverability. This cone-shaped vehicle can potentially fly just as well anywhere it may be, whether air, water or space, without leaving any heat signatures. It can achieve this by creating a quantum vacuum around itself with a very dense polarized energy field. This vacuum would allow it to repel any molecule the craft comes in contact with, no matter the medium. Manipulating "quantum field fluctuations in the local vacuum energy state," would help reduce the craft's inertia. The polarized vacuum would dramatically decrease any elemental resistance and lead to "extreme speeds," claims the paper.
Not only that, if the vacuum-creating technology can be engineered, we'd also be able to "engineer the fabric of our reality at the most fundamental level," states the patent. This would lead to major advancements in aerospace propulsion and generating power. Not to mention other reality-changing outcomes that come to mind.
Among Pais's other patents are inventions that stem from similar thinking, outlining pieces of technology necessary to make his creations come to fruition. His paper presented in 2019, titled "Room Temperature Superconducting System for Use on a Hybrid Aerospace Undersea Craft," proposes a system that can achieve superconductivity at room temperatures. This would become "a highly disruptive technology, capable of a total paradigm change in Science and Technology," conveys Pais.
High frequency gravitational wave generator.
Credit: Dr. Salvatore Pais
Another invention devised by Pais is an electromagnetic field generator that could generate "an impenetrable defensive shield to sea and land as well as space-based military and civilian assets." This shield could protect from threats like anti-ship ballistic missiles, cruise missiles that evade radar, coronal mass ejections, military satellites, and even asteroids.
Dr. Pais's ideas center around the phenomenon he dubbed "The Pais Effect". He referred to it in his writings as the "controlled motion of electrically charged matter (from solid to plasma) via accelerated spin and/or accelerated vibration under rapid (yet smooth) acceleration-deceleration-acceleration transients." In less jargon-heavy terms, Pais claims to have figured out how to spin electromagnetic fields in order to contain a fusion reaction – an accomplishment that would lead to a tremendous change in power consumption and an abundance of energy.
According to his bio in a recently published paper on a new Plasma Compression Fusion Device, which could transform energy production, Dr. Pais is a mechanical and aerospace engineer working at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), which is headquartered in Patuxent River, Maryland. Holding a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, Pais was a NASA Research Fellow and worked with Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. His current Department of Defense work involves his "advanced knowledge of theory, analysis, and modern experimental and computational methods in aerodynamics, along with an understanding of air-vehicle and missile design, especially in the domain of hypersonic power plant and vehicle design." He also has expert knowledge of electrooptics, emerging quantum technologies (laser power generation in particular), high-energy electromagnetic field generation, and the "breakthrough field of room temperature superconductivity, as related to advanced field propulsion."
Suffice it to say, with such a list of research credentials that would make Nikola Tesla proud, Dr. Pais seems well-positioned to carry out groundbreaking work.
A craft using an inertial mass reduction device.
Credit: Salvatore Pais
The patents won't necessarily lead to these technologies ever seeing the light of day. The research has its share of detractors and nonbelievers among other scientists, who think the amount of energy required for the fields described by Pais and his ideas on electromagnetic propulsions are well beyond the scope of current tech and are nearly impossible. Yet investigators at The War Zone found comments from Navy officials that indicate the inventions are being looked at seriously enough, and some tests are taking place.
If you'd like to read through Pais's patents yourself, check them out here.
Laser Augmented Turbojet Propulsion System
Credit: Dr. Salvatore Pais
More than half of 18 to 25 year-olds in the workforce are considering quitting their job. And they're not the only ones.
In a report called The Next Great Disruption Is Hybrid Work – Are We Ready?, Microsoft found that as well as 54% of Generation Z workers, 41% of the entire global workforce could be considering handing in their resignation.
Similarly, a UK and Ireland survey found that 38% of employees were planning to leave their jobs in the next six months to a year, while a US survey reported that 42% of employees would quit if their company didn't offer remote working options long term.
New work trends
Based on surveys with over 30,000 workers in 31 countries, the Microsoft report – which is the latest in the company's annual Work Trend Index series – pulled in data from applications including Teams, Outlook and Office 365, to gauge productivity and activity levels. It highlighted seven major trends, which show the world of work has been profoundly reshaped by the pandemic:
- Flexible work is here to stay
- Leaders are out of touch with employees and need a wake-up call
- High productivity is masking an exhausted workforce
- Gen Z is at risk and will need to be re-energized
- Shrinking networks are endangering innovation
- Authenticity will spur productivity and wellbeing
- Talent is everywhere in a hybrid world
"Over the past year, no area has undergone more rapid transformation than the way we work," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says in the report. "Employee expectations are changing, and we will need to define productivity much more broadly – inclusive of collaboration, learning and wellbeing to drive career advancement for every worker, including frontline and knowledge workers, as well as for new graduates and those who are in the workforce today. All this needs to be done with flexibility in, when, where and how people work."
Organizations have become more siloed
While the report highlights the opportunities created by increased flexible and remote working patterns, it warns that some people are experiencing digital exhaustion and that remote working could foster siloed thinking. With the shift to remote working, much of the spontaneous sharing of ideas that can take place within a workplace was lost. In its place are scheduled calls, regular catch-ups and virtual hangouts. The loss of in-person interaction means individual team members are more likely to only interact with their closest coworkers.
"At the onset of the pandemic, our analysis shows interactions with our close networks at work increased while interactions with our distant network diminished," the report says. "This suggests that as we shifted into lockdown, we clung to our immediate teams for support and let our broader network fall to the wayside. Simply put, companies became more siloed than they were pre-pandemic."
Burnout or drop out
One of the other consequences of the shift to remote and the reliance on tech-based communications has been the phenomenon of digital burnout. And for those who have most recently joined the workforce, this has been a significant challenge.
The excitement of joining a new employer, maybe even securing a job for the first time, usually comes with meeting lots of new people, becoming familiar with a new environment and adapting to new situations. But for many, the pandemic turned that into a daily routine of working from home while isolated from co-workers.
"Our findings have shown that for Gen Z and people just starting in their careers, this has been a very disruptive time," says LinkedIn Senior Editor-at-Large, George Anders, quoted in the report. "It's very hard to find their footing since they're not experiencing the in-person onboarding, networking and training that they would have expected in a normal year."
But it is perhaps the data around quitting that is one of the starkest indications that change is now the new normal. Being able to work remotely has opened up new possibilities for many workers, the report found. If you no longer need to be physically present in an office, your employer could, theoretically, be located anywhere. Perhaps that's why the research found that "41% of employees are considering leaving their current employer this year".
In addition to that, 46% of the people surveyed for the Microsoft report said they might relocate their home because of the flexibility of remote working.
A hybrid future
In looking for ways to navigate their way through all this change, employers should hold fast to one word, the report says – hybrid. An inflexible, location-centred approach to work is likely to encourage those 41% of people to leave and find somewhere more to their tastes. Those who are thinking of going to live somewhere else, while maintaining their current job, might also find themselves thinking of quitting if their plans are scuppered.
But remote working is not a panacea for all workforce ills. "We can no longer rely solely on offices to collaborate, connect, and build social capital. But physical space will still be important," the report says. "We're social animals and we want to get together, bounce ideas off one another, and experience the energy of in-person events. Moving forward, office space needs to bridge the physical and digital worlds to meet the unique needs of every team – and even specific roles."
Bosses must meet challenges head on
Although the majority of business leaders have indicated they will incorporate elements of the hybrid working model, the report also found many are out of touch with workforce concerns more widely.
For, while many workers say they are struggling (Gen Z – 60%; new starters – 64%), and 54% of the general workforce feels overworked, business leaders are having a much better experience. Some 61% said they were 'thriving', which is in stark contrast to employees who are further down the chain of command.
Jared Spataro, corporate vice president at Microsoft 365, writes in the report: "Those impromptu encounters at the office help keep leaders honest. With remote work, there are fewer chances to ask employees, 'Hey, how are you?' and then pick up on important cues as they respond. But the data is clear: our people are struggling. And we need to find new ways to help them."
Reprinted with permission of the World Economic Forum. Read the original article.
