What is the most significant event in the history of mankind

[Jeremiah]

We have much more immediate problems than failing to work our way through space, Meow. War, crime, disease, pollution, poverty, energy crisis, natural disasters. These are the problems mankind currently faces. These are the problems we should be thinking about before we even daydream about colonizing other worlds.

"War, crime, disease, pollution, poverty, energy crisis, natural disasters. These are the problems mankind currently faces. These are the problems we should be thinking about before we even daydream about colonizing other worlds"

Some people might want to also turn their focus on these issues instead of daydreaming about a life after death or the return of a 2000 year old, dead hippie.

People with fanciful religious beliefs are in no position to criticize others for a little sci-fi daydreaming.

 

[Midnight Pete]

"War, crime, disease, pollution, poverty, energy crisis, natural disasters. These are the problems mankind currently faces. These are the problems we should be thinking about before we even daydream about colonizing other worlds"

Some people might want to also turn their focus on these issues instead of daydreaming about a life after death or the return of a 2000 year old, dead hippie.

People with fanciful religious beliefs are in no position to criticize others for a little sci-fi daydreaming.

Meow Mix said everything depends on us getting into space, and I disagreed. But maybe my words were a little too harsh. But since Meow is so pragmatic, I thought it appropriate. And that hippie is not dead.

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

In prehistory the most significant is when man got up off walking on his knuckles and started walking upright, because it freed up his hands for fine motor skill and tool making and that lead to his brain to evolve to aquire its massive frontal lobe for executive function.

In history the most significant event could have been Minoan eruption, a volcano at Thera 3637 years ago, which was probably the inspiration for the story of the destruction of the legendary land of Atlantis. The volcanic explosively index VEI is estimated to be between 6 and 7 or about 30 times more powerful than the one that destroyed Pompeii in 79AD I think the world would have been a very different place if that eruption never happened.

 

[enchanted_one1975]

I would say that when man discovered how to create fire, he pretty much peaked.

 

[kai]

I would say that when man discovered how to create fire, he pretty much peaked.

That one thing unlocked so much to the human race.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ancient_History/Human_Evolution/Paleolithic_Age#Fire

 

[crimsonlung]

A speedy escape may be completely out of the question, but perhaps we could build some-type of mobile secondary Earth and live there as it slowly moves through space. Who knows though? Such things may just be impossible and we may just be stuck here until Mother Nature decides it is time for humanity to end.

Are you saying we should build a death star?:clap

 

[Revoltingest]

Are you saying we should build a death star?:clap

Oh yeah...we should so get one of those.
But be sure to protect those vulnerable exhaust ports from missiles.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Oh yeah...we should so get one of those.
But be sure to protect those vulnerable exhaust ports from missiles.

That's just one thing they never could get right on the Death Stars. Anakin destoyed something similar by accident when he was just a kid (Star Wars 1), and Luke did it, then the other dude.

It's not just external ports, but centralized power.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

So, what do you consider the most significant event in the history of mankind?

The day Angellous became our "daddy?"

 

[angellous_evangellous]

The day Angellous became our "daddy?"

:clap:

 

[painted wolf]

In prehistory the most significant is when man got up off walking on his knuckles and started walking upright, because it freed up his hands for fine motor skill and tool making and that lead to his brain to evolve to aquire its massive frontal lobe for executive function.

Man was never a knuckle walker... that was independently evolved by gorillas and chimps. The rest of the apes, including us, never knuckle walked.

In history the most significant event could have been Minoan eruption, a volcano at Thera 3637 years ago, which was probably the inspiration for the story of the destruction of the legendary land of Atlantis. The volcanic explosively index VEI is estimated to be between 6 and 7 or about 30 times more powerful than the one that destroyed Pompeii in 79AD I think the world would have been a very different place if that eruption never happened.

I think Toba was far more imporant as far as volcanoes go.

wa:do

 

[Jeremiah]

Are you saying we should build a death star?:clap

Do whatever you want, I don't care. I am more concerned with the present. I just recognize that there is problem with speed and that it could take tens of thousands of years to travel a single light year.

 

[Meow Mix]

We simply may not be able to leave our solar system. The vastness of space just may make it a impossibility; a moat we cannot cross. Technology can only be pushed so far and even it must have limits.

A speedy escape may be completely out of the question, but perhaps we could build some-type of mobile secondary Earth and live there as it slowly moves through space. Who knows though? Such things may just be impossible and we may just be stuck here until Mother Nature decides it is time for humanity to end.

I'm sure you're well aware of the fact, though, that such possibilities don't mean we shouldn't try. At one time people suggested it may be impossible to fly but some individuals tried -- successfully -- anyway.

We humans are already doom to extinction, it can not be avoided. Even if we escape all the perils of Mother Nature, evolution, whether by our own hands or natural course, will end the human species.

If we gain control of evolution, would we really leave ourselves as human? No, we'd start to make "improvements" and after a time, when the process is perfected by trial and error, what remains, I doubt, could be called human.

I'm not concerned about protecting the "human" species so much as sentient life of some type, be it a branched ex-human species, AI, dolphins, or hopefully all of the above and more.

 

[Meow Mix]

We have much more immediate problems than failing to work our way through space, Meow. War, crime, disease, pollution, poverty, energy crisis, natural disasters. These are the problems mankind currently faces. These are the problems we should be thinking about before we even daydream about colonizing other worlds.

Do you suppose scientists and politicians can't work on both at once?

 

[Jeremiah]

Do you suppose scientists and politicians can't work on both at once?

Not so much the politicians, they really should just be cogs, in my opinion. It has to be the political system. The politicians themselves can not be trusted to be altruistic, humans are too easily corrupted. We have to have a system balanced in such a way that it counters natural human lust for power and wealth. And it may very well be up to the common person to create this system, make sure it is put in place and kept in power. I doubt waiting for the politicians to fix our political system will result in positive direction. In fact, the more apathetic the common people the more the politicians will twist the system in a negative direction.