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Libya. Definitely Libya.  

In terms of policies and that sort of stuff, I'd have to say the Scandinavian countries rank pretty highly for me. In terms of the people, I'd say Japan (very respectful people), maybe Canada if their nice-guy reputation is anything to go by.

In terms of overall greatness, I'm going to have to say Australia. It's very similar to Canada if you compare both countries to the USA - lower crime rates, less religious crazies, more progressive, better national sports (AFL in Australia and ice hockey in Canada) and so on. Australia edges ahead because it's warmer.

Isn't this really opinion based? I mean, how do you really even judge this sort of thing anyway? It's true that some countries have lesser crime rates, like October was talking about, but it's not just those things that people will judge a country. How about military might? I'm sure a lot of countries come to mind when I say something like that like the U.S.A. But as I'm sure we all know the U.S. has some issues.

So, really, I think how people judge the best country in the world is based on their life views. It's true that other countries may be richer or just plain better in certain areas but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best country in the world. A person could live in Iceland and still feel that India is where it's at.

You're right, this is a subjective thread. To be fair, he did say "What do you think?" in the OP.

Ah, good point.

Somalia, no contest.

Any country where I am Supreme Dictatorial Grand High Pooba El Pedsidente Al La Mode.

The best country? I'd say there are two ways to measure this:

1. The happiness of its average citizen or

2. The happiness of its least rich citizen class

What other way is there to judge it? A country can be prolific in every way, but if its own people are unhappy there, it's not great at all.

According to this: http://www.happyplanetindex.org/data/, it's Costa Rica.

Mexico has a rating of 52.9? With the state their country is in?

I think "Experienced Well Being" might be a better measure. You can select it from the dropdown box.

-Denmark
-Canada
-Norway
-Venezuala
-Switzerland

Danish people are deluded :)

Human development index is a pretty good indicator too, according to that Norway is the best. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index

But I've tried Norwegian food, so I'll have to disagree. 

I love the fact that the US is in the same happiness category as Mongolia and we're only above Afghanistan by a point.

Select 'experienced well being' from the dropdown box.

Mexico city has more people than the whole of Australia.

What does a higher population have to do with the average citizen's happiness?

Absolutely nothing at first glance but taking in the fact there are a lot of people in Mexico city does reduce happiness quite a lot due to a number of factors.

I'm still not getting your point. I'm assuming you think Mexico is a happier country just because if they had the same population, Mexico would be ranked higher. 

Whether or whether not that's true doesn't matter. Population density does influence happiness, so it has to be taken into account.

This world has no countries. Just a lot of land and even more water. :)

And intelligent-apes who fight over that land for food and black gunk. xD

We also don't have jails, just stone rooms with iron bars.

Or militaries, just a bunch of men in uniforms who shoot people.

Or rain, just falling water

Or lifeforms, just a bunch of carbon beings with consciousness.

Are they jails? They could be prisons. If they had animals, they could be animal shelters. If you take away the bars and the convicts, you'd have a sheriff's office.

Policemen are also men in uniforms who shoot people. What if a postal work goes... well... postal? That would be a man in uniform who shoots people.

You know what else is falling water? Snow.

Lifeforms? Parts.

It's all just parts put together.

You are trying way to hard. just stop. haha.

Words are just series of lines and dots we happen to recognize as being meaningful.

GOD THIS IS SO DEEP.

I've gotten really bad about making "to" and "too" errors... :l

Over 6.4 billion stickmen die each year...

-Cracked.com

Man, we need to do something about that. How can the mainstream media avoid talking about such a genocide?

It's reification. Treating concepts like they're real things. If human beings were suddenly wiped off the planet, there wouldn't be countries. But we go through all sorts of incredible machinations to put concreteness on things that are inherently not concrete. Look at a picture of the Earth taken from a satellite. Do you see the lines that make up the borders around countries, regions, states, cities? Are the oceans divided up? If you hadn't been told about concepts like these, you wouldn't see them as split up into individual land areas. You would see them for what they are: A bunch of land, and a bunch of water.

Anything else is patently absurd and, dare I say, delusional.

Am I trying too hard? Too hard to do what? State the obvious?

If the definition of a country required that borders be painted in red paint on the ground so that they could be seen via satellite, then you'd be correct. Since you don't need anything of the like to have countries, you're being delusional.

Reification is treating something abstract as a material thing. Not a real thing. A thing can be both abstract and real. Countries are not material things, they are abstract. That doesn't make them non-real, obviously.

Is it just me or anyone else feeling a little #Marmotlogic deja vu?

Did you say #Marmotlogic?

Was sabley around during #Marmotlogic?

Her account wasn't as far as I remember, but either she was a long time lurker, or she is a thread delver.

Nope, she fully participated in the argument.

Seriously? Wow, that seems like forever ago. I only really noticed her in the last couple months.

Hmm, for me it must have been the change in profile pics. I see old her and new her as two different profiles almost haha.

Pics mean a lot :P

Holy crud you're right. Now that I think of the username and not the Picture it feels like she has been a part of the community allot longer.

It was only three months ago. I checked out the old thread for reference and her, 3J, and Marmotlord were the most active in the argument at the beginning.

I remember coining #marmotlogic like it was yesterday. Thanks for bringing it back because this thread seriously exemplifies it.

Dude I was there. Remember the huge argument between myself and Marmotlord about 'video games being sports'? :P

EDIT:

Nevermind I just saw you guys remembered XD. I should probably change my avatar back so I am recognizable :P

Ah, ya. Now I remember as if it were yesterday.

Nope, now you look like old Sabley. Bring back new Sabley!

I'm cool with the whole anti-patriotism thing but that statement is just plain old false, pedantic arguments devolving into axiomatic brawls aside.

Malta or Panama. :)

The Principality of Sealand of course! It's the smallest country in the world plus. Plus for just a few euros you can become a Lord/Lady or even a Baron/Baroness! They have their own currency and all that good stuff. :P

The Principality of Sealand is AWESOME!!! ... It's not even an island, it's like a helicopter landing platform in the middle of the sea or something... I think it's got a population of 27 :p

whats their main export?

Passports and stamps. :P

And titles, T-shirts, and the stuff. :D

I was thinking about saying titles, but I didn't want to be accused of, "reification."

History tells all.

and which country does it tell us is the best?

If I am not mistaken, history tells what was, not necessarily what is.

Then which country has the best track record?

History is a fabrication of what we believe happened despite the fact we were not there. So history lies a lot more than we think. xD

Neverland! ^_^

All countries should be disbanded and people should grow large bushy beards and govern themselves. Oh, wait. The majority of people have 100 +/- 10 SV IQs so they can't govern themselves, and we must waste as much money as possible on various governmental atrocities.

So the solution is to kill everybody and start over?