[tscherno]

Agree. I feel that it is beneficial to present yourself larger than you really are.

[willturman]

The first rule in Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals:

1. Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals

[tolciho]

King Louis XIV lost a bunch of his land to astronomers able to more accurately measure said land. This is the sort of thing that can happen when you want to turn your country into a world leader in science.