So you reject historical determinism?

[Mouthwash]

I believe that, barring fundamental and world-altering changes to society and humanity outside the historical norm, the Cornish will never conquer the world and repopulate it with (Corns? Cornishfolk? What is the word for them, anyway?). I believe that it is effectively impossible that such an event will occur. I believe that the demographics, political irrelevance, and the lack of soldiers, resources, influence, numbers and basic independence will forever consign the poor Corns (kill me, why don't you?) to the flyswatter of history. Therefore, I subscribe to a limited historical determinism.

Unless, of course, I say that, completely by chance, all of the trillions of atoms making up the non-Cornish population of Earth suddenly, simultaneously and spontaneously rearrange themselves to not only alter the physical appearance of every human being to emulate Cornish features and melatonin levels, but also to erase all languages and cultures from the minds of those people except for Cornish, while arranging a world government based in Cornwall and interjecting knowledge and experience into the selected officials so that they instantly know what is happening and how to keep the new order functioning.

So if you happen to subscribe to that view, well... in that case, you can say that you, yes you, completely and utterly reject historical determinism in all of its forms (thanks, quantum mechanics!). I hope that you are proud of yourself, you free thinker you!

 

[Tee Kay]

Give the Cornish a charismatic military leader (preferably also religious), put a Cornish-speaking elite into power on the British Isles.

 

[Mouthwash]

Give the Cornish a charismatic military leader (preferably also religious), put a Cornish-speaking elite into power on the British Isles.

The colonial and feudal ages happen to be over.

 

[Tee Kay]

You fail to specify how far into the future this event can take place.

 

[Mouthwash]

You fail to specify how far into the future this event can take place.

Eh, thousand years.

 

[Tee Kay]

The Arabs went from desert obscurity to tri-continental empire in a hundred years.

 

[Mouthwash]

The Arabs went from desert obscurity to tri-continental empire in a hundred years.

There were a lot more of them, and it was a different age. Try again, kiddo.

 

[Masada]

Huh? Cornwall proper has like half a million people. That's probably more people than the Ummah could boast at the time of the Prophets death. To give a sense of scale, the Battle of Mu'tah, the largest engagement during Muhmmad's life, involved only 3000 Muslims. Even Khalid ibn al-Walid invasion of the Sassanid's involved less than 20 000 dudes. That he won over the Sassanid's owed much more to luck (and good generalship) than numbers. The Battle of Sallasil is the only battle of the campaign where the Sassanid's didn't have a significant advantage in numbers.

 

[dutchfire]

I believe that, barring fundamental and world-altering changes to society and humanity outside the historical norm, the Cornish will never conquer the world and repopulate it with (Corns? Cornishfolk? What is the word for them, anyway?). I believe that it is effectively impossible that such an event will occur. I believe that the demographics, political irrelevance, and the lack of soldiers, resources, influence, numbers and basic independence will forever consign the poor Corns (kill me, why don't you?) to the flyswatter of history. Therefore, I subscribe to a limited historical determinism.

Unless, of course, I say that, completely by chance, all of the trillions of atoms making up the non-Cornish population of Earth suddenly, simultaneously and spontaneously rearrange themselves to not only alter the physical appearance of every human being to emulate Cornish features and melatonin levels, but also to erase all languages and cultures from the minds of those people except for Cornish, while arranging a world government based in Cornwall and interjecting knowledge and experience into the selected officials so that they instantly know what is happening and how to keep the new order functioning.

So if you happen to subscribe to that view, well... in that case, you can say that you, yes you, completely and utterly reject historical determinism in all of its forms (thanks, quantum mechanics!). I hope that you are proud of yourself, you free thinker you!

1) Physical determinism at the micro-scale is very much a minority position. The idea that a system which is deterministic on a micro-scale will behave predictably on a macro scale is not believed by anyone. (Butterflies!)

2) The fact that certain outcomes are not possible (Corns conquering the world), even if true, doesn't say anything about determinism. If I roll an ideal dice, the outcome 7 is not possible. Still the dice is (supposedly) not deterministic.

 

[Tahuti]

There were a lot more of them, and it was a different age. Try again, kiddo.

What if the age changes in again in favor of the Cornish? You cannot possibly predict that. Maybe Cornwall becomes independent, becomes a tax haven, becomes rich and then bails out England, Scotland and Ireland and forms a new United Kingdom with the Cornish as the country's financial elite.

But it doesn't stop there: Britain (under a Cornish plutocracy) becomes once again the financial centre of the EU, becoming hegemon of the EU as well. The European Union is now ruled by a Cornish elite. The EU incorporates Russia and after a massive decline of population in India and China due to the results of gender biased abortions and so becomes the most powerful nation on earth. A world government is instituted with its capital in The Hague (which is an important city of the Cornish diaspora) and so the Cornish become the most influential ethnic group of the world.

FIN

 

[History_Buff]

You also have to consider how ethnogenesis seems to work. The Cornish taking over the world wouldn't involve them killing everyone else and repopulating everything with people descended entirely from the current population of the Cornish. Much more plausible that a Cornish elite would dominate first local politics, then other areas if they were able. Then people who previously not been Cornish at all would start adopting Cornish customs (whatever those are, I don't know), and self-identifying as Cornish.

 

[Traitorfish]

Since when were Cornish people called "the Corns"?

 

[Mouthwash]

Since when were Cornish people called "the Corns"?

I like that name? And have no idea how else to say it?

 

[TheLastOne36]

I like that name? And have no idea how else to say it?

How about Cornish? As used in your very first sentence?

 

[Birdjaguar]

There were a lot more of them, and it was a different age. Try again, kiddo.

Moderator Action: If you cannot even be civil in your own thread, I'll be happy to close it now.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

There were a lot more of them, and it was a different age. Try again, kiddo.

He's older than you. And more educated.

 

[Lord Baal]

Nothing in the OP is actualy deterministic.

 

[Mouthwash]

He's older than you. And more educated.

And what follows from that...?

 

[Lord Baal]

And what follows from that...?

Calling someone older than you "kiddo" is derogatory. I call people "son" sometimes, but that comes from growing up in a military family, and I try badly not to. Also, being derogatory to someone more educated on a particular topic than you yourself are is somewhat foolish, not to mention misguided. Especially when that person is correct, since there were actually less Arabs in the eighth century than there are Cornish now. As for it being a different age, the modern age creates far greater opportunities for expansion than the age of Islamic expansion. Advances in technology tend to do that.

 

[Masada]

Arab in this context isn't a synonym for Muslim. Just sayin'.