# Christopher Columbus coming to America is the most significant thing to happen in our human species **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 24, 2023, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066 "2023-06-24T23:10:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/41 "2023-06-26T00:18:23Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > the fact that if it wouldn’t have been Columbus, it would have been someone else soon enough, Yeah but maybe if that someone hadn’t been as much of an arsehole as Columbus things would have work out differently. Admittedly it’s a big maybe, as Columbus was a product of European society of that era, and it’s not like he stood out as more of an arsehole to than the conquistadors that came after him, plus much of the changes wrought were by the exchange of organisms that had nothing to with humans directly. But just maybe if the original “discoverer” had set a precedent of “hey let’s not be an arsehole” the subsequent centuries would have worked out differently ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/42 "2023-06-26T00:49:36Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > > [@DSeid](#): > > > > How about compound tool use? > > Swiss Army knives??? I’m not DSeid; but probably tools made up of multiple parts. [Some crows make them too](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-33458-z), though. – people looking for definitions of “human” that exclude all other species keep running into problems. For a while, humans were supposed to be the only ones who use tools; then the harder we looked, the more other species we found using them. Well, but they don’t _make_ tools, we said. Then we found other species making tools. Well, but they don’t make _compound_ tools, we said. That one doesn’t work either. Personally, I’m inclined to define us as the species that gets into conversations of the sort in which we try to define humans. I’m not ruling out that some other species might turn out to do this also; but I think at that point we ought to declare them also humans, and find another term for our exact species. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/43 "2023-06-26T01:22:08Z")
Also referred to as composite or complex tools depending on the article. Think stone tip on long stick creating the spear, the axe, so on. Also connected is tools designed to create tools. Exploiting abstract thinking capacity. Not sure this specific thread is asking what made us _unique_; rather what was most significant on impacting the direction of human history. Examples of compound tool use in crows, or in other human species even, doesn’t change that in _this_ species it turned into game changer, possibly also driving language into greater complexity. Language, if they had it, didn’t end up driving as much change in Neanderthals as it did in H sapiens. Why not? Who knows? Some other something not present or aspect of it not there? I still like sewing though. It allowed range expansion and a very different set of tools. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/44 "2023-06-26T01:36:50Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Wow, this kind of blows my mind, the idea that our species starts with development of an innovative rather than biology. It’s not really “rather than”. The parts of our brain that handle language are much more developed than in any other mammal species (birds have sufficiently-different brain structures that it’s hard to compare). There had to have been cultural changes and biological changes happening in tandem, to result in language use. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/45 "2023-06-26T01:41:07Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@Spiderman](#): > > > > > [@DSeid](#): > > > > > > How about compound tool use? > > > > Swiss Army knives??? > > I’m not DSeid; but probably tools made up of multiple parts. Swiss Army knives have multiple parts. They have a knife that unfolds from one end, a fish scaler that unfolds from the other end. A toothpick in the outer shell, & even a tool that makes a “woosh” sound. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/46 "2023-06-26T02:19:53Z")
The real advance was the Leatherman. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/47 "2023-06-26T05:10:43Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > [Some crows make them too](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-33458-z), though. FWIW, Crows also discovered America before Columbus did. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/48 "2023-06-26T07:59:42Z")
Though in answer to the OP. Surely the Trinity Test (the first atomic bomb) has to be the most significant event. It’s momentous from a purely cultural and political point of view but it also permanently changed the make up of the Earth by producing isotopes that did not previously exist on this planet (technically not permanently but for many millions of years until they all decay) So if an alien race came to earth millions of years after we became extinct and had no record of humans, they could still measure the date of the Trinity Test by looking for those isotopes in sedimentary rock. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/49 "2023-06-26T11:41:50Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > > > I think the Monolith teaching us how to murder each other with hand tools is significant. 🤪 > > There’s one thing. ONE THING that humans are really good at, and we can’t even take credit for THAT? Somehow that’s fitting for a species as screwed up as we are. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/50 "2023-06-26T15:08:38Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > > > I think the Monolith teaching us how to murder each other with hand tools is significant. 🤪 > > There’s one thing. ONE THING that humans are really good at, and we can’t even take credit for THAT? The Monolith just made us intelligent and taught us to use tools. Using that to murder each other was our idea. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/51 "2023-06-26T15:12:27Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > We never should have left the oceans. Don’t worry - we’ve been doing our best to help the oceans reclaim us. We’ll be back soon enough. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/52 "2023-06-26T15:14:12Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Though in answer to the OP. Surely the Trinity Test (the first atomic bomb) has to be the most significant event. > > It’s momentous from a purely cultural and political point of view but it also permanently changed the make up of the Earth by producing isotopes that did not previously exist on this planet (technically not permanently but for many millions of years until they all decay) > > So if an alien race came to earth millions of years after we became extinct and had no record of humans, they could still measure the date of the Trinity Test by looking for those isotopes in sedimentary rock. Didn’t we already make a permanent mark on Earth’s record by inventing plastics? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/53 "2023-06-26T15:20:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Didn’t we already make a permanent mark on Earth’s record by inventing plastics? Though they won’t last geological times though, they are just a different combination of carbon molecules. The isotopes created by the atomic tests are unique on earth and will last much longer. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/54 "2023-06-26T15:21:19Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > What do you think is the most significant thing to happen in our species? I agree with you about agriculture. It’s not just the development of agriculture itself, it’s the fact that the development of agriculture allowed a lot of other things to develop because many people no longer had the daily and time consuming chore of obtaining their own food. It allowed people to settle in one place and develop complex systems of social interaction. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/55 "2023-06-26T18:43:33Z")
I’ll go with tool use (fire included as a tool). Our opposable thumbs and relatively large brains are the killer app that has allowed us to inhabit comfortably, and explore extensively, nearly every environment on the surface of the planet, and exploit all the resources necessary to thrive and dominate nearly everywhere we go. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/56 "2023-06-26T19:19:40Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > So if an alien race came to earth millions of years after we became extinct and had no record of humans, they could still measure the date of the Trinity Test by looking for those isotopes in sedimentary rock. Mind blown. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/57 "2023-06-26T20:29:25Z")
I think that the second occupation of the American continents pales in significance compared to leaving Africa and populating Eurasia. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/58 "2023-06-26T20:42:15Z")
Geosynchronous satellites will stick around for timespans comparable to the isotopic signatures of nuclear explosions, and will be easier to interpret. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/59 "2023-06-26T21:03:35Z")
Their orbits still decay though. Moving through ‘space’ you still hit the random hydrogen atoms. And other crap we put up there. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066/60 "2023-06-26T21:14:55Z")
Which brings us to the Voyager probes. Throwing something beyond the influence of our own star has to be an (eventual) accomplishment more significant than any earthbound journeys. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-columbus-coming-to-america-is-the-most-significant-thing-to-happen-in-our-human-species/986066.md?page=4)