# The top 5 worst things to ever happen **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 16, 2007, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161 "2007-03-16T05:25:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vinniepaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/1 "2007-03-16T05:25:17Z")
So in the history of the world, what would you say are the 5 worst things that happened? I mean in the sense of like negative effect they had on the world as a whole. I’m interested in these lists. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/2 "2007-03-16T05:47:40Z")
I’d guess: **WWII** – If I’m not mistaken, the bloodiest war in human history. **WWI** – May well be the second bloodiest war ever. (Not sure – at the least, the Battle of the Somme is supposed to still be the bloodiest single day in history.) **Creation of Nuclear/Hydrogen Bombs** – Not based on what they’ve done _yet_, but because of their terrible potential. **Introduction of Diseases** to people without immunity – I’m thinking of the way entire communities in the Americas were wiped out when they came into contact with European diseases, for example. I dunno about the last one. Maybe the comet that hit the earth and killed all the dinosaurs? (You did say negative events that effected the world as a whole, and you can’t get much worse than wiping out almost the entire population of the planet.) Those are the first things that came to my mind; I’m sure someone with a better grasp of history will come in soon and correct me. ---
**Author:** ![St\_Ides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/3 "2007-03-16T05:52:59Z")
Ever? Perhaps the dinosaur extinction event(s?)? I mean… It turned out well for us. Not so much for anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/4 "2007-03-16T06:01:19Z")
The big two would have to be: 1. A Mars-sized planetary body slams into the Earth, producing a significant amount of orbital debris that eventually coalesces into the Moon. 2. The K-T extinction event (i.e., dinosaur extinction) believed to have been caused by the impact of a large asteroid and subsequent global cooling. You might as well throw in: 1. The P-Tr extinction event (a.k.a. The Great Dying) in which 96% of marine species and 70% terrestial vertebrate species became extinct. This is much larger than the dinosaur extinction event. The cause is unknown. If you want to project into the future: 1. The sun goes nova. 2. The heat death of the universe. (Although it is unknown whether the Earth would survive that long.) ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/5 "2007-03-16T06:13:20Z")
[QUOTE=Terminus Est] The big two would have to be: 1. A Mars-sized planetary body slams into the Earth, producing a significant amount of orbital debris that eventually coalesces into the Moon. [/QUOTE] Was this really a net negative, though? What would life be like right now without the Moon? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/6 "2007-03-16T06:15:55Z")
Hitler largely created the anti-war movement by himself (as well as the creation of Israel and the end of the persecution of the Jewish people.) Not in a good way, of course, but it was a pretty significant hit on the brakes. Since quite often a bad thing will result in a protection against it happening again, there’s no way to know that the world would have been better had the person not done it. So probably the best answer to the question would be anything which actively stifled progress in history: 1. Making usury a sin 2. Communism 3. Theocracy (some more than others) ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/7 "2007-03-16T06:32:37Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Since quite often a bad thing will result in a protection against it happening again [/quote] Yeah, like all the lessons we learned in Vietnam! > [@Sage Rat](#): > > 1. Making usury a sin It would be hard for you to make a statement I disgree with more strongly. The limits of usury are still being pushed and we are about to experience a mortgage collapse of epic proportions because of it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/8 "2007-03-16T08:31:15Z")
I’m restricting myself to human events, since natural events strike me as morally neutral ( without the Dinosaur Killer we wouldn’t be here, so was it good or bad ? ) : 1 : The creation of religion/mysticism. 2 : The creation of Christianity. 3 : The Mongol conquests. 4 : Whatever killed off most of humanity and created the prehistoric population “bottleneck”. 5 : The European imperial expansion. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/9 "2007-03-16T08:41:03Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] Yeah, like all the lessons we learned in Vietnam! [/quote] Some fixes stay in place longer than others. 😉 > [@](#): > > It would be hard for you to make a statement I disgree with more strongly. The limits of usury are still being pushed and we are about to experience a mortgage collapse of epic proportions because of it. 90% of society would still all be subsistance farmers if it wasn’t for loans and interest. Certainly it’s not perfect and shit happens, but personally I’d rather be free to sit about on the internet all day than have a static society with no chance for better. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/10 "2007-03-16T08:50:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Der Trihs** > 1 : The creation of religion/mysticism. > > 2 : The creation of Christianity. > > 3 : The Mongol conquests. > > 4 : Whatever killed off most of humanity and created the prehistoric population “bottleneck”. > > 5 : The European imperial expansion. I believe 1 pretty much covers 2. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/11 "2007-03-16T10:07:32Z")
[QUOTE=pool] I believe 1 pretty much covers 2. [/QUOTE] I consider Christianity to have taken religion up to a whole new level of destructiveness, so I think it deserved it’s own catagory. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/12 "2007-03-16T10:15:15Z")
Really? I would think Islam would be just as bad if not more so than Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/13 "2007-03-16T10:15:42Z")
The 1986 FA Cup Final My girlfriend Lilly breaking up with me in 1979 The Travelling Wilburys PMU mushy peas being withdrawn from supermarkets A chihuahua bit me on the thumb today ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/14 "2007-03-16T15:41:27Z")
1. Weapons of war for mass killing (including civilians). I think artillery has been responsible for most such deaths… 2. Religion. This is a complex claim, because if people gather together to sing songs and perhaps raise money for charity, then that’s good. However religion is a time-consuming and expensive superstition, which has no proof and can be easily interpreted in a harmful way. (I am sad that Christians and Jews cannot even agree if Jesus was divine.) 3. Genocide. It appals and frightens me when a Government uses its power to slaughter civilians. The Holocaust, Khmer Rouge, Rwanda - all terrible events. 4. The murder of Archimedes. Random soldier kills genius. 5. Book burning. This is an ultimate expression of human stupidity. ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/15 "2007-03-16T16:04:03Z")
1. the destruction of the Library at Alexandria 2. the Inquisition 3. the Burning Times 4. the Holocaust 5. man rising above being kept in check by natural predators since you asked. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/16 "2007-03-16T16:13:32Z")
[QUOTE=lachesis] 5) man rising above being kept in check by natural predators [/QUOTE] Why? ---
**Author:** ![A.I.Wintermute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@A.I.Wintermute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.I.Wintermute)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/17 "2007-03-16T16:27:47Z")
For sheer destructiveness: World War I World War II The European conquest of the Americas For total breakdown of civilized society: The Black Plague The Cultural Revolution And **mamboman** wins the thread. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/18 "2007-03-16T16:37:00Z")
I tend to narrow things like this down to humans. I’m not terribly broken up about dinosaurs being extinct. 1: Nuclear energy, especially as weapons. 2: See 1 3: See 2 So far, there just isn’t anything to compare. It really did change everything. Of course, so far it has prevented large-scale warfare (there’s no way the US and USSR wouldn’t have gotten into it without nukes in the way), but we’re still screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/19 "2007-03-16T16:40:39Z")
[QUOTE=lachesis] 1. the destruction of the Library at Alexandria 2. the Inquisition 3. the Burning Times 4. the Holocaust 5. man rising above being kept in check by natural predators since you asked. [/QUOTE] This is a hijack, but should you be living naked in a cave somewhere if you really believe 5? ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161/20 "2007-03-16T16:44:28Z")
[QUOTE=Rodgers01] > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by lachesis > 5) man rising above being kept in check by natural predators Why? [/QUOTE] because i think needing to keep your ass out of the mouth of the local saber-tooth lion would go a long way to keep the idiocy levels currently demonstrated by humanity in check. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-worst-things-to-ever-happen/396161.md?page=2)