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What is the most important event in history?
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JoshuaJSlone
Member
Hard to say. I'm taking "important" to be "influential" in this case, and... well, in time everything has huge consequences on everything. So from any current time, something far far back. Like, one guy not having a boulder fall on his head in the year 534 could overall have more influence than World War II. So really, I guess Malakhov is closest...
...though since we aren't well schooled in other universes or what sorts of things preceded the Big Bang there's probably more important things yet we don't have a sexy name for.
Malakhov said:
...though since we aren't well schooled in other universes or what sorts of things preceded the Big Bang there's probably more important things yet we don't have a sexy name for.
The most important event in the history of mankind is probably the creation of Adam.
But in the scope of "the history of everything"...we're probably not as important as other creations...such as Satan's race, or Angels, or any races that may exist after us.
Yeah, this post will go over the head of athiests.
But in the scope of "the history of everything"...we're probably not as important as other creations...such as Satan's race, or Angels, or any races that may exist after us.
Yeah, this post will go over the head of athiests.
The most important date in history has not happened yet. See, this is the fifth and final age of the universe and we, mankind, are the responsible for maintaining balance and order as the caretakers of the final days.
This post will go over the heads of non-Aztecs.
This post will go over the heads of non-Aztecs.
I'm going to go with human history here, and use time frames to isolate some stuff that may go overlooked otherwise.
Way back when? written language
101-1000 years ago? printing press
51-100 years? fission
26-50 years? sputnik
0-25 years? birth of the internet (as we know it)
Way back when? written language
101-1000 years ago? printing press
51-100 years? fission
26-50 years? sputnik
0-25 years? birth of the internet (as we know it)
China invented the printing press, not Guttenberg. Not really sure if they know who invented the printing press in China though. Well i dont at least.
Anyways i would have to go with Christopher Columbus "discovery" of America. That event was a prequiste to numerous things, such as Europe's great wealth, industrial revolution, domination of the world, Colonization of the New World, etc etc etc.
Anyways i would have to go with Christopher Columbus "discovery" of America. That event was a prequiste to numerous things, such as Europe's great wealth, industrial revolution, domination of the world, Colonization of the New World, etc etc etc.
NLB2 said:
My answer: the invention of the word "seperization".
Aristotle's certainly a giant among men if we're discussing the most influential figures in history, but I don't think that his formalization of categorical logic (he didn't "create" it, as you say
-- no more than Euclid "created" the notion of parallelism by postulating it; logic is inherent in language and the correspondence of that language to observable reality-- Aristotle's genius lied in discerning, codifying, and applying the rules of that logic to philosophy, culminating in the development of the syllogism) can compare to some of the other events mentioned herein in terms of overall importance/influence, such as the development of agriculture, the printing press, written language, and, yes, the life of Christ. MaverickX9
Member
Birth of rock.
Ok, no it's not. Might be number 2 or 3, though.
What he said.Loki said:My answer: the invention of the word "seperization".
Aristotle's certainly a giant among men if we're discussing the most influential figures in history, but I don't think that his formalization of categorical logic (he didn't "create" it, as you say
NLB2 said:
Actually, -jinx- had mentioned once that there is a competing school of thought amongst mathematical theorists/philosophers regarding whether mathematical (and, I suppose, scientific; e.g., the laws of physics) axioms are merely formalized (i.e., discovered and made sense of by man after lying "out there" for all of eternity waiting to be grasped) or are actually brought into existence (ex nihilo?) by their very utterance/codification by man. Or at least I seem to recall him making a brief post to that effect, though he didn't elaborate; hopefully, if he sees this post, he can let us know either the name of such a theory or the names of those who advance it-- sounds interesting (if prima facie untenable imo, though I'd have to examine it), at the very least.
I will send jinx a pm. I would like to hear what he has to say on this.Loki said:Actually, -jinx- had mentioned once that there is a competing school of thought amongst mathematical theorists/philosophers regarding whether mathematical (and, I suppose, scientific; e.g., the laws of physics) axioms are merely formalized (i.e., discovered and made sense of by man after lying "out there" for all of eternity waiting to be grasped) or are actually brought into existence (ex nihilo?) by their very utterance/codification by man. Or at least I seem to recall him making a brief post to that effect, though he didn't elaborate; hopefully, if he sees this post, he can let us know either the name of such a theory or the names of those who advance it-- sounds interesting (if prima facie untenable imo, though I'd have to examine it), at the very least.
Do The Mario
Unconfirmed Member
When a prokaryotic cell engulfed a mitochondria and chloroplast making the first eukaryotic cell.
Without this event nothing would exist on this planet.
Also the release and Saturday night fever and polyester rank up there!
Without this event nothing would exist on this planet.
Also the release and Saturday night fever and polyester rank up there!
Cyan said:Well, it's just as well. I tried to start writing an explanatory post, but I simply can't do it justice in the few minutes before I need to go to bed.
Maybe I can get back to you on Saturday.
If you're interested in the meantime, the book used for the class I took on this was called "Where Mathematics Comes From," by George Lakoff & Rafael Nunez. Yes, that's the same Lakoff who's been mentioned in other threads, who talked about the ways conservatives use language to promote their ideas.
What's this "bed" you speak of?
No problem-- we can pick up on this later. Thanks for the info on the text/authors.
Nice to have my name invoked...but a quick search on Wikipedia might have gotten you an answer sooner.NLB2 said:
The belief that math is an intrinsic property of the universe that we discover is usually known as "mathematical Platonism," but I've heard it called "realism" as well. The contrasting opinion, as championed by Kant, is that mathematics is a consequence of our a priori categories of reason. In other words, WE (humans) are mathematical creatures, and it's no surprise that we "see" math everywhere -- it's part of our basic filter which we inescapably apply to all phenomena.
As Cyan mentioned, you can also approach the idea that humans create math (rather than discover math) from a biological perspective as well. However, be prepared for weird arguments such as this one: Our biological brains evolved to be mathematical; the universe influenced our existence and the natural processes which caused our brain to develop; therefore the math "in" our brains came from the universe; therefore the universe is inherently mathematical (thus ending up at Platonism). I'm not saying I BELIEVE that line of reasoning...but I've gotten into some <AHEM> interesting discussions along those lines with people who were convinced that way.
For what it's worth, I tend to side with Kant. I personally find it hard to believe that mathematics is a universal truth which is somehow "in" the universe. It may be that some other kind of mind can learn to understand our mathematics as an abstraction and we could have some interesting discussion about it together. But the way that we USE math, in physics and in everyday life, is tied to physical phenomena...and since I'm not at all convinced that another creature would perceive things in the same way, I wonder if they would develop an entirely different kind of math.
Note that the paragraph above is not any kind of proof -- it's just a belief that I have based on my thinking to date. If you want to believe that math is intrinsically in the universe, and that belief is useful for you, I have no problem with that.
junkwaffle
In Front and Drawing Away
Hmm. I tend to believe math is universal - and most definitely in the universe. Otherwise, why would it be so easily applied to it? As far as we can tell, 1+1=2 will be true at the furthest reaches of our universe. Not sure about black holes, though. It's probably true that to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
I'd go with the meteor impact(s) that marked the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs and allowed humans to rise. But that's me.
I'd go with the meteor impact(s) that marked the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs and allowed humans to rise. But that's me.
If I had to give a serious answer, then I'd at least suggest the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand as one of the most important events in the past 100 years, the arrival of bubonic plague in Europe for the past 1000, and the conversion of Constantine for the past 2000. They deserve mention for the incredibly long and far-reaching ramifications they've had on the world as a whole, mostly due to european imperialism, although certainly not to say that there weren't others.
Different time periods are affected by different thing. You can't name one event as the single most important and just disregard what happened during the billions of years that came before it. In a million years I doubt people care too much about what happened in our time.
The Big Bang, although little more than a theory, is definitely the best suggestion that has come out of this thread.
The Big Bang, although little more than a theory, is definitely the best suggestion that has come out of this thread.
Do The Mario
Unconfirmed Member
Socreges said:Not true. You'd still have the Monerans.
Yeah but you wouldnt be alive to type your message! So you wouldnt be alive to see my message
B-B-Bomba!
Member
The current moment, idots.
MrPing1000
Member
BigJonsson said:
hell no
wtf are u going to do with a wheel?
The smart people where the ones that invented axels and using 4 wheels fora vehicle. The invention of the wheel on its on was a bit shit
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