# Fire 'em out - The Biggest Ideas Ever! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-em-out-the-biggest-ideas-ever/346502 "2006-02-28T19:55:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-em-out-the-biggest-ideas-ever/346502/21 "2006-03-01T09:57:40Z")
The scientific method; testing hypotheses against experiment. The view of the universe as a rational place with laws amenable to mathematical analysis. ---
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-em-out-the-biggest-ideas-ever/346502/22 "2006-03-01T10:31:38Z")
The fact that earth is not the center of the universe or even the solar system. The fact that we’re sitting on a very ordinary rock in one of billions of solar systems in one of possibly an infinite number of galaxies. The fact that the universe existed for at least 12 billion years before we evolved, and will likely be around for many billions of years after we’re extinct. ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-em-out-the-biggest-ideas-ever/346502/23 "2006-03-01T10:39:32Z")
Making some worthless article valuable to exchange for goods and/or services: Money Then expanding the idea further to nothing or: Credit ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-em-out-the-biggest-ideas-ever/346502/24 "2006-03-01T11:14:21Z")
Basic arithmetic. (That must have been quite a day.) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-em-out-the-biggest-ideas-ever/346502/25 "2006-03-01T11:20:06Z")
See post #16. I remembered the third. Music ---
**Author:** ![wayward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a87d85/32.png) [@wayward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wayward)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-em-out-the-biggest-ideas-ever/346502/26 "2006-03-01T13:25:51Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > **Coffee stir sticks with spoony things on the end!** You mean, like… a spoon? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-em-out-the-biggest-ideas-ever/346502/27 "2006-03-01T14:11:30Z")
This is probably related to “scientific method” but is a bit more fundamental: James Burke points out that it was the ancient Greeks who first made the observation that the world was not a hodgepodge of things and events, but that you could study nature and discover repeating patterns and trends and figure out how the world actually works by going at it systematically and carefully. You could, for example, look at the angles of shadows cast by the sun and make calculations about the size of distant objects. It wasn’t “the scientific method” but it was the mindset that led to it. ---
**Author:** ![SlowMindThinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@SlowMindThinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlowMindThinking)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-em-out-the-biggest-ideas-ever/346502/28 "2006-03-01T15:19:07Z")
> [@June](#): > > The fact that earth is not the center of the universe or even the solar system. > > The fact that we’re sitting on a very ordinary rock in one of billions of solar systems in one of possibly an infinite number of galaxies. I learned something about a year ago. I always thought medieval scholars placed the earth at the center as a place of privilege. Instead, it was the opposite logic. Humans are the most corrupt things in the universe, and so must be placed as far from heaven and close to hell as possible. Anyway, my greatest concepts, in no particular order: 1. Recording verbal thought, and most importantly, the alphabet. 2. The scientific method, and I think both Bacon and Aristotle should get credit. 3. The construction of physical theories using a mathematical model. (Think about it, there were equations describing motion before, but Newton was the first to actually make construct a theory based on mathematics.) 4. With apoligies for the maleness of the phrase, but for lack of a better one, the universal brotherhood of mankind. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-em-out-the-biggest-ideas-ever/346502/29 "2006-03-02T01:35:31Z")
Hygene and Cooking food helps prevent many diseases. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-em-out-the-biggest-ideas-ever/346502/30 "2006-03-02T01:42:10Z")
I’ll also add: Many animals taste good, especially when cooked. You can’t just put everybody’s blood into everybody else. Water put out fire! And a little more out there… Apparantly, we don’t live forever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-em-out-the-biggest-ideas-ever/346502.md?page=1)