A New Look at the Great Monuments of Our Time

Oct. 27, 2006 — -- In the second century B.C., Greek poet and writer Antipater of Sidon wrote about seven of the most spectacular man-made wonders of the world.

Historians believe that his list, which was formalized in the Middle Ages, was intended as a guidebook for "tourists" traveling to see the great monuments of the time.

Today, more than 2,000 years later, the only surviving wonder from the original list is the Great Pyramid at Giza, but people have continually been fascinated by the concept of comparing and cataloguing the stunning achievements of both man and nature.

So to create a new list for the 21st century, "Good Morning America" and USA Today joined forces to choose the "Seven New Wonders of the World."

And in an unprecedented global event beginning on Nov. 9, the new list will be revealed on seven consecutive weekdays live on "GMA" and in USA Today.

To pick the Seven New Wonders, "GMA" and USA Today invited a panel of international experts to submit their nominations for wonders that had been recently revealed, discovered, or seen in a new light.

On a hot day this summer, the panelists convened at the Explorer's Club in New York City to decide together on what the Seven New Wonders of the World would be.

The panelists were oceanographer, explorer and author Sylvia Earle; The New York Times best-selling author Bruce Feiler; journalist and travel writer Pico Iyer; co-founder of Adventure Divas Holly Morris; high-altitude archaeologist Johan Reinhard; and astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson.

"GMA's Weekend Edition" anchor Kate Snow moderated the panel's discussion.

The discussion, which quickly turned to a heated debate, began with the task of defining what constitutes a wonder and whether the new list should be limited to just human-made creations like the original list.

Early in the discussion, Sylvia Earle asserted that humans unfairly had assigned more value to human-made inventions.

"We are so self-centered that, of course, what we create is more valuable, considered works of art as compared to natural things like trees that we can't create, we can't buy. Try to make a tuna fish, give me all the money in the world. Nobody can do that," Earle said.