Movie Review: 200 countries, 200 years-The Joy of Stats
The movie 200 countries, 200 years shows how countries have gotten richer in the last two centuries and basically covers the economic history of the world. The Income per person (GDP) in nearly all the countries in the world has increased as the countries adjust the differences in the cost of living and the inflation levels. I find it interesting how he enthusiastically uses public data and brings out in a sport’s commentator style to prove that the wealth of more than 200 countries has increased over the last two centuries. It is also interesting that a story depicting the past, present and future of 200 countries is told in only 4 minutes.
The movie is reflective of nomothetic measures in that the laws applied in the measures of economic growth used are observed on a very large sample. It is not based on idiographic measures that relate to more singular cases. Although science has tries to prove that the world is getting worse environmentally, economically and on other fronts, Hans tries to prove use indicators such as life expectancy plotted against income for several countries since 1810 to show that on the contrary the world has gotten better (Simon 2).
Hans uses deductive principles where he explains his facts using local facts such as world economies adjusting to inflation and other economic pressures to prove that the present world is better and the future of the world is even brighter (Scott 16). According to Hans, Science is wrong for using facts and statistics that are not reflective of the actual events that characterize human life. Science for instance, does not show that the global population now lives longer and wealthier courtesy of cheap and abundant energy exploited over the last two centuries.
The movie 200 years, 200 countries depicts the economic history of the world over the last two centuries. The story is told in just four minutes. Presented in a sport’s analyst style, the movie demystifies the common beliefs in science and shows that countries are now in a better place. Some key issues covered in the movie are nomothetic measures, ecological and environmental fallacies and over-generization of issues.
Works cited
Scott, James. Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have
failed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. Print.
Simon, Gregory. The 100th Meridian, Ecological Boundaries, and the Problem of Reification.
2010. Society and Natural Resources, 0:1–7 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0894-1920 print
