# The most important event in the history of the world?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [December 14, 2002, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657 "2002-12-14T01:12:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@SmileyDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmileyDeath)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/1 "2002-12-14T01:12:23Z")
Me, I would say the death of christ. Without that the religon was unlkely to spread unless that happend. I hink this because so many events have been influenced by christanity(not that other religons helphed impement important parts of history).
What do you think?
(this has probably has been discussed but maybe some new poeople can get into discussing it)
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/2 "2002-12-14T01:15:25Z")
Probably life forming from the primordeal soup. If that hadn’t happened, nothing else would have mattered much.
Others of course will argue that it was the formation of a solid planetary crust, or even the fact that the planet condensed in the “life-zone” around the sun instead of out the by asteroid belt.
Some may point to the fact that the whole freakin’ solar system condensed out of matter that had been impacted by previous novae, thereby giving us the heavier elements to even form the planet.
Many opinions exist. If you want them narrowed down a bit, try posting for context.
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### Author:  [@SmileyDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmileyDeath)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/3 "2002-12-14T01:19:14Z")
Ok, the context would be human history IE man discoverng fire.
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### Author:  [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/4 "2002-12-14T01:23:38Z")
My birth
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### Author:  [@SmileyDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmileyDeath)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/5 "2002-12-14T01:24:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Tars Tarkas \*
> \*\*My birth \*\*
Is that you Jebus?
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### Author:  [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/6 "2002-12-14T01:34:49Z")
No one can argue that religious beliefs are probably the most influential catalyst in this world today. Whether you believe or not, the fact remains that everybody’s life has been somehow influenced by someone else’s desire to inflict their ideas on someone else. The WTC attack probably affected many non-religious people, but their family and friends are still dead nonetheless. Because of a belief.
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### Author:  [@SmileyDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmileyDeath)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/7 "2002-12-14T01:57:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by superbee \*
> \*\*No one can argue that religious beliefs are probably the most influential catalyst in this world today. Whether you believe or not, the fact remains that everybody’s life has been somehow influenced by someone else’s desire to inflict their ideas on someone else. The WTC attack probably affected many non-religious people, but their family and friends are still dead nonetheless. Because of a belief. \*\*
Religous beliefs are not what I indicated. Chrisianity was the goverment(and kindof still is) for everything. In the middle ages, you disagree with the church bam decapitated.
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### Author:  [@Gairloch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gairloch)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/8 "2002-12-14T02:05:05Z")
Aside from the invention of spelling, I’d have to favor the birth of Cecil, since only that has allowed this particular event.
Gairloch
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### Author:  [@Pythagras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pythagras)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/9 "2002-12-14T03:00:49Z")
In resolving an events impact on today’s world:
The closer an event is to the present (ie Sept 11) the more pertinant it is on the present state of things.
The further the event is in the past the broader and more developed the consequences are (ie the fall of Rome)
So in assesing the most important event in our history I’d have to say its something that happened along time ago that we are all still very much collectively aware of.
So I’d have to say the death of Christ, if, indeed it happened. Perhaps, though, the more important event was the dissemination and development of Christian ideas by Paul.
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### Author:  [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/10 "2002-12-14T03:29:50Z")
The invention of the printing press; allowing the relatively inexpensive and efficient tranmission of knowledge and information to the masses.
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### Author:  [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/11 "2002-12-14T03:31:12Z")
Probably two hydrogen molecules bumping into each other just after the big bang
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### Author:  [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/12 "2002-12-14T03:32:25Z")
Did I say molecules? I meant atoms.
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### Author:  [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/13 "2002-12-14T03:35:25Z")
By “world” do you mean Earth? Or the entire universe?
IF the universe, I’ll go with the formation of the first atom from elementary particles.
If the Earth, I’ll go with the evolution of man, the greatest creature the Earth has ever, and will ever, produce.
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### Author:  [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/14 "2002-12-14T03:42:27Z")
—I’ll go with the evolution of man, the greatest creature the Earth has ever, and will ever, produce.—
Get out. How dare you overlook Ultraman.
[http://www.accelero.com/smmcnutt/ultraman/ubook1.html](http://www.accelero.com/smmcnutt/ultraman/ubook1.html)
Anyways, let me ask what seems to be an obvious question: important for WHAT? Just “important” doesn’t seem to covney any sort of definative criteria over which we can have a combined discussion. It seems more like liscence for people to argue not just about what is “most important” but also what they are using “most important” to mean.
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/15 "2002-12-14T03:46:35Z")
I think by ‘important event’ the idea is something that mankind did. An invention, a battle, an election, etc. Dinosaur-killing asteroids and evolution don’t really fit.
I think you could make a case for importance of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. It precipitated WWI, which precipitated the fall of the Russian government and the rise of the Bolsheviks. The repercussions of WWI led to the rise of Hitler, which led to WWII, and the subsequent cold war.
What would the world look like today and in the future if WWI had been avoided?
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### Author:  [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/16 "2002-12-14T03:54:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \*
> \*\*I think by ‘important event’ the idea is something that mankind did. An invention, a battle, an election, etc. Dinosaur-killing asteroids and evolution don’t really fit.
> \*\*
In that case how about (1) the development of sedentary agriculture, or (2) the Industrial Revolution. Everything in between was just kind of killing time before a better thing came around.
If it had to be more specific, I’d pick the American Revolution, or the French Enlightenment which provided it’s intellectual backdrop. Set the stage for the major shifts in political structure and economics that helped create the enormous prosperity that exists today. The French Revolution had potential, but unfortunately got hijacked by communists and various other murdering thugs and eventually ran out of gas, pulling into Napolean’s dictatorial service shop.
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### Author:  [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/17 "2002-12-14T04:00:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \*
> \*\*I think you could make a case for importance of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. It precipitated WWI… \*\*
Acording to Barbara Tuchman in _The Guns of August_, the Kaiser had decided to start a war. She says that the assassination was merely a convenient pretext.
That raises the question of what an _event_ is. Can we count WWI as an event? Or even, the combination of WWI and WWII? How about the renaissance?
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### Author:  [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/18 "2002-12-14T04:46:17Z")
The domestication of small grains, e.g. rice, wheat, maize, oats.
The establishment of towns.
The development of the horse collar.
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### Author:  [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/19 "2002-12-14T04:54:33Z")
How about the invention of the Nuclear bomb. Eventually those suckers will lead to massive nuclear winter and this world will be turned in to nothing but a barren wasteland, marking the end of life (besides obscure bacteria) on this planet possibly forever.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-event-in-the-history-of-the-world/142657/20 "2002-12-14T05:36:27Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Splanky \*
> …Eventually those suckers will lead to massive nuclear winter and this world will be turned in to nothing but a barren wasteland, marking the end of life (besides obscure bacteria) on this planet possibly forever. \*\*
The question wasn’t hypothetical.
> [@](#):
>
> So I’d have to say the death of Christ, if, indeed it happened.
Who?
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