Wikipedia's world population figures
It boggles the mind in many ways.
World population in 1750: 791,000,000
World population in 1900: 1,650,000,000
World population in 1950: 2,518,629,000
World population today: 6,706,993,000
The REAL smackdown:
During all that time most of the population has been in Asia. Long before 1750, all of Asia contained more people than the US does today. It took all of Europe until 1950 (apx.) to reach all of Asia's population in 1750.
But when you look at where the discoveries took place... the pre-1750 discoveries are mostly eastern, where the people were; but not a single one of the post-1750 discoveries are Asian. When it comes to discoveries per population, Britain in particular was overpulling its weight for a long time; so, too, the US as of recent.
What nature of the cultures drives this? And what if, through globalization, those natures are taught and shared just a little more?