Which single event, in your opinion, had the GREATEST effect on how history has unfolded. I mean this in terms of:
If it didn’t happen, the world as we know it would be DRASTICALLY different.
The creation of life on Earth.
For anyone seriously interested in the OP’s topic, I HIGHLY recommend the BBC series “The Day The Universe Changed,” hosted by historian James Burke, that deals with this exact topic; what inventions/ideas literally changed the very nature of the world. You can probably find it at your local library, if it is large enough, or perhaps order it on line. I’m a HUGE James Burke fan, and this series is almost as good as the very first “Connections” series.
Now that that hijack is over, I would have to say that it is most definately the printing press. This is not to say that it wouldn’t have been invented anyways by someone else, but Guttenburg’s little converted winepress has had a greater impact on the “collective knowledge” of mankind than any other single invention or event.
Though, I should hold to the caveat that the world is not the product of single events. As I noted, if Guttenburg hadn’t, somebody else most certainly would have. The progress of humanity is the product of multiple, often unrelated, events coming togethr in unique ways to effect change. Anyone we can point to as an “inventor” or “inovator” is usually just Johnny On-The-Spot. He was lucky enough to be born in the right place at the right time (and have had someone notice in the right way). The book certainly changed the way the world worked, but the very invention of the book was as much a product of the Zeitgeist as the mind of any single human.
How about the birth of Jesus Christ? If he had never been born, the rest of his life, deeds and consequences would never have been.
While I am firmly agnostic (and leaning towards atheist), the fact that the entire Western way of life is based around the events attributed to this one man, surely has to validate his existence. Our calendar, our laws, our religion, our moral values, our history all are tied the the central core of Christ’s life and teachings. It’s hard to think of anyone else who has made such an profound impact on the world.
You mean the *evolution * of life on earth, don’t you?
(ducking the barrage)
Seriously, I’d say that whole extinction thing. Or perhaps WWII, or maybe the renaissance, or was it when humans learned to use fire (or was it tools?) or could it have been the invention of the automobile, or the day I won $15 at the dollar slots at Circus Circus…
never mind, it’s too hard to decide.
Ah, Jayron32, you are so right - printing press it is.
I’ll agree with jayron about the printing press.
The invention of agriculture, of course. Human life as we know it – certainly anything that we would call civilization – was impossible until mankind developed a sedentary lifestyle, which agriculture made possible.
::Sigh:: Solicitations of opinion belong, oddly enough, in In My Humble Opinion.
Moving the thread.
Let’s not forget the domestication of the silkworm, which led to expanded trade throughout Asia all the way to the Mediterranean. Those trade routes in turn facilitated the wide distribution of inventions from paper to the stirrup to the compass to gunpowder. Not to mention the wide distribution of deadly contagious diseases, which allowed disease-resistant Europeans to depopulate three continents for their further expansion.
You’re joking aren’t you?
For cryiung out loud Manny It’s a general question.
I have to throw my hat into the ring with: Elec-tricity, E-lec-tricity! hums ala Schoolhouse Rock
The invention of gunpowder. Changed the way people kill each other for better, or for worse.
The transistor, the basis of miniturization. Otherwise your desktop would fill your house, and you have to carry your PDA in an 18-wheeler.
Nothing against Jesus, Caesar, Alexander the Great or even the cultivation of grain, but I have to go with the printing press.
I would have to say the divorce of King Henry VIII. It gave a huge boost to the Protestant reformation.
The person who first learned to MAKE tools not just use the rocks around them but actually make the tool. That would have to be the biggest single event, at least for humans.
I seem to remember a small article in a scholarly magazine (the name of which escapes me), which declares use of the number 0 as the single most important event in human history. Printing press - very good. But would have been figured out by some handy man somewhere. But they (and I’m SO sorry I can’t remember the citation!) held that zero was quite unique and a stretch of the ole noggin’.
Any help from someone who is actually smart?
Connor
Back in December '99, The Discovery Channel did a documentary series on the most influential people of the last millenium, and guess who was at #1: Gutenburg… for the reasons stated earlier.
Others who I think helped shaped the course of history from that list were Newton, Edison, Einstein, Pasteur… the list goes on. I don’t think I could name one event or person though that is responsible for the greatest change. There are just too many turning points in history to consider.
I wish I knew him…
The death of WallyM7.
I’ve never met the man, and I’ve only read his online posts, but… he seemed capable of anything, and most SDMBers would be the worse for never having had his input.