# The World's Greatest Idea **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 9, 2011, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-idea/566967 "2011-01-09T09:19:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-idea/566967/41 "2011-01-11T21:07:47Z")
> [@iamnotbatman](#): > > IMO the “Abolition of Slavery” should not count as a “Greatest Idea”. Slavery was the idea; its abolition was obvious to the very first slave. Does this mean “the idea of abolition” or the “act of abolition”? Because if the latter, that’s news to me. De facto slavery still exists in many places, and it also did not start in post-sail Western civilization. It will be likely that in our dystopian future, it will become more common again. I have a hard time voting for some of these, even if they are important. Natural selection just **IS** ; another means could probably work just as well. I guess fire seems the most imporant. **Kobal2** , I believe “wine” is some brand of beer or something. And it was an important invention because it gave a source of sterile hydration. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-idea/566967/42 "2011-01-11T22:27:08Z")
I voted for Arable Farming, Logic, Music, Scientific Method, the Self, and Other (Mathematics). I don’t particularly care for this list because many of the items on it are rather… material. Pottery? Simplified Cheese? Coffee and Tea? I also think that some items are listed that are part of a greater whole which should have been listed instead - for example, “Banking”, “Capitalism”, and “Marxism” should be combined under a single item - “Economics”. Some of the wording is weird too - “Laws of motion”… why wouldn’t you just say “physics”? I would have included the following… 1. Cooking 2. Mathematics (remove “calculus” and “zero”) 3. Perspective in art 4. Teaching (far more expansive a concept than “University”) Anyway, thanks OP for finding this - I love lists like these. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-idea/566967/43 "2011-01-11T22:38:40Z")
I picked “other” because farming doesn’t quite cover what I have in mind. I think the greatest idea was the idea of growing one’s own food - be it plants or animals. Capturing a couple of goats and breeding them and then killing one of the herd whenever you needed meat had to have been easier than running around hunting. Ditto for not having to go into the woods and dig around to find plants to eat - you could just go out to the field in the backyard and do that. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-idea/566967/44 "2011-01-12T04:26:38Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Ridiculous! You are letting your fundamentalist beliefs overturn history again, Curtis. > > There were monotheistic Pharaoh-based religions in Egypt 1800-1200 years BC. > Zoroastrianism in Persia was monotheistic, about 600 BC. > Chinese religions were monotheistic starting about 1600 BC. > > And there are others. Study more. According to most estimates Abraham lived before Zorastarianism (and indeed the Kingdom of Israel existed well before Zoraster walked the Earth) and Atenism was more of a henotheism than monotheism. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-idea/566967/45 "2011-01-12T15:48:36Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Likewise, “Evolution by Natural Selection” was not an idea. In fact, a lot of things on this list are not ideas. The act of Evolution by natural selection was a natural occurrence, but certainly someone sitting down and working it out and describing it is to put the process into an idea. Consider that entry shorthand for “our understanding of evolution by natural selection”. > [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > By whom? Damn, someone posted an actual list. I was going to point out that Einstein is largely regarded as the genius of all geniuses - he’s entered the lexicon as that placeholder. This is based largely upon his discovery of Relativity (either or both). Although certainly quantum mechanics is a more puzzling aspect of modern physics for most people, relativity is still one of those mind bogglers for most people. “How can _time_ not be the same everywhere?” > [@JohnT](#): > > I don’t particularly care for this list because many of the items on it are rather… material. Pottery? Simplified Cheese? Coffee and Tea? I think you need to read that more closely. _cough_ **Chinese** _cough_ Things like Pottery and Coffee and Tea are on the list not just as physical items, but as the ability to produce and use them. Pottery, for example, allowed early means of storage of things like grain or wine, and also provides a record of things like culture - it is one of the enduring elements of earlier societies that archeologists can dig up. > [@](#): > > I also think that some items are listed that are part of a greater whole which should have been listed instead - for example, “Banking”, “Capitalism”, and “Marxism” should be combined under a single item - “Economics”. > > Some of the wording is weird too - “Laws of motion”… why wouldn’t you just say “physics”? The point is that what is really significant is not the field as a whole, but a certain element of that field - a discovery or invention or “idea” from within that field that was a major turning point. For example, “democracy” could be lumped with “totalitarianism” and “monarchy” and “rule by chimpanzee” and called “politics” - but that would bury the idea in question by lumping it with other ideas that did not have the significant effect that makes that idea considered so important. Lumping Capitalism and Marxism under Economics buries the significant differences in those two theories and how each affected world economies, societies, etc. “Physics” is a very broad field that covers everything from Newtonian motion to quantum mechanics, from optics to string theory. The point is the one element of physics that they wished to identify - understanding the behavior of motion at our macroscopic level. ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-idea/566967/46 "2011-01-12T16:42:12Z")
How is beer not #1? Seriously, why would wine appear on this sort of list and not beer? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-idea/566967/47 "2011-01-12T17:35:51Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > **Kobal2** , I believe “wine” is some brand of beer or something. And it was an important invention because it gave a source of sterile hydration. [Some archaeologists](http://www.livescience.com/culture/beer-helped-rise-of-civilization-101104.html)even attribute the rise of civilization at least in part to alcoholic beverages. It’s why I get smashed, by the way. I’m doing my part for civilization. It’s a dirty job but someone’s liver’s got to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Craneop2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Craneop2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Craneop2)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-idea/566967/48 "2011-01-12T19:08:47Z")
I vote for … Pockets! ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-idea/566967/49 "2011-01-13T17:46:45Z")
Interesting how different these responses are from the original survey, but that’s why I started the thread 🙂 - the top ten in the survey were: 1. The Internet 2. Writing 3. Contraception 4. Music 5. Use of Fire 6. Abolition of Slavery 7. Evolution by Natural Selection 8. The Scientific Method 9. Sewerage 10. Computer Programming [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-idea/566967.md?page=2)