With six of the current Seven Wonders of the World already destroyed, it’s no surprise the world wants a new set. This time, the experts are leaving it up to us. The first global poll in history will determine the next Seven Wonders of the World. Everyone in the world with a phone or a computer will be able to choose seven of the 21 finalists selected by a panel of experts. The only requirement is that they must have been built before 2000. Like the previous Seven Wonders of the World, the contestants are all man-made.

Most would assume the oldest and only standing of the original Seven Wonders of the World, the Pyramids of Giza, would automatically make the final list. However, the pyramids are among the other nominees for the new list. The Egyptian authorities were not happy that the pyramids were not automatically included in the list. They believe there is no denying the pyramids’ mysteriousness and the ingenuity of their creators.

CNN reported Feb. 27 that Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egyptian director of antiquities, said he wanted the Pyramids of Giza to be removed from the new wonders list because they are in a category of their own and no other monument compares. Nominees from around the world are fully embracing the contest, along with the extra publicity and tourism it gives the locations. However, the Egyptian authorities refused to meet with the contest organizers at all.

Who can blame them, when some of the other contestants include the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower – Those monuments are babies compared to the 4,500-year-old Pyramids of Giza. It’s odd that recent monuments are on the list at all.

The previous list of wonders were all centuries old, and each had some mystery behind their construction. Monuments like the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower have nothing mysterious about them. While they are both magnificent structures and globally well-known, they leave little to the imagination – unlike the Colossus of Rhodes or the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

It’s those modern day contestants that make the contest to find the next Seven Wonders of the World a joke. The organizers of the contests seem to be creating a whole new concept of what the Seven Wonders should be. The original “wonder” was in a monument that had mystery in its construction and origin. Monuments like the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty have little mystery to them, since we know all there is to know about them.

Some of the other contestants, including the Great Wall of China, The Taj Mahal, Stonehenge or the Coliseum, can definitely be considered wonders, and might be left in the cold depending on a global vote.

A global poll cannot properly decide what the new Seven Wonders of the World should be. It will be hard to take these new wonders seriously when they will be chosen in an unscientific way by people who probably know very little about each monument.

This contest may create great publicity for all contestants but will not result in an accurate list of the most wondrous monuments.

We can only hope that whatever monuments are chosen, at least, will have some sort of mystery to them.