Greatest single circumstance that changed human life?

Ophelia

What is the greatest single circumstance that changed the course of human life and /or society, be it an invention, discovery, development or single event?

I've taken the idea of this question from a reader at amazon.
He wrote "human nature" and I'm not keen on this phrasing of the question, so I've written "human life" "human society".

I'm not thinking in terms of medical discoveries such as vaccinations or cures that have actually saved millions of lives, though this could be one of the answers.

I'll quote this reader at amazon:

Thomas Hood

Chris OConnor · Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 5:56 pm Post subject:

Rice Krispie Treats (TM). I love 'em. Shocked

I give the top credit to the discovery of electricity.

My books · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:23 pm Post subject:

Human society - global exploration/establishment of trade routes and, more recently, cell phones
Human life - penecillin and, more recently, the Human Genome Project
Human nature - gunpowder and, more recently, uranium

Chris OConnor · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:33 pm Post subject:

This is really a tough question because one accomplishment or discovery builds off of the previous one. It seems impossible to narrow the search down because no one discovery or advancement stands as alone.

But this is a pretty fun thread and worth thinking about. Cool

Penelope · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:18 pm Post subject:

At the risk of sounding - trivial....but I know it is not trivial.

I think the 'sense of humour' is the greatest circumstance that changed human life....

If we can 'laugh' at ourselves....together....that is real communication....

I am thinking about one of my greatest human heroes...Captain Bruce Bairnsfather....who made cartoons about the First World War....

If you can Google...and retrieve and see some of his work....during the First World War.....It was a tragic war....

But the Germans and the English and the Americans and the Indians, and the Africans.....and it was the first war that involved the whole World....but they all laughed at Captain Bruce Bairnsfather's cartoons....together.........Oh if we could just recognise the absurdity of it all.......we can only laugh.....and then stop......blaming one another.

Perhaps.....Peut etre....

Ophelia · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:09 pm Post subject:

Chris wrote:

Penelope · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:25 pm Post subject:

Ophelia....I am very sorry to pursue/force the issue.....but I think at the top of your list......should come humour!!!

If we can just find a point of giggling........

Sorry...but I am famous/infamous in our village for getting all the po-faced old ladies in our parish church....giggling at the true images in the stained glass windows.....

And I am convinced that a SOH is a gift of the gods...... Wink

Penelope · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:30 pm Post subject:

After all....the Jewish people in the concentration camps.....actually found something to laugh at.......

That is Human....and that is where we discover ourselves......

It is very akin to spirituality......so I guess if you've got one...you've got the other...gift.

This is not my own idea....it has been noted by those who have suffered.

Humour should go at the top!!!!!

Ophelia · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:46 pm Post subject:

Penelope, you are correct that humour is an essential characteristic of human nature and the human experience.

Frans de Waal mentioned apes laughing and having fun a lot, but I don't know if he used the expression "sense of humour".

Now, this is an informal thread, and my starting question is to be used however one sees fit, but for me the word "change " is important.

There must have been a time when humans had no language or writing, and then they had them. Probably they always laughed, the way apes do (but, I imagine, less often) ?
And then at some point in evolution, a sense of humour appeared? That means, not only haughing when somebody slipped over a banana peel, but being able to put a distance, to laugh at yourself, to use irony... Would that come with language?
If we could envision such a change, yes it would be a defining moment in human experience.

Penelope · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:58 pm Post subject:

Oh dear...as happens often with me....I have just seen something on TV which has shown me how wrong I am.

I was going to delete my above posts....but you have answered me..and so it will destroy the thread if I do any deleting.

Suffice it to say....your list is correct. I WAS WRONG. Humour comes a little way down on the list....although as you have so wisely said...it is essential.....an essential element....but that is all. Embarassed

Ophelia · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 3:16 pm Post subject:

Well, you've made me think. Apparently a lot has been written about whether animals laugh (rats can laugh apparently!) , but now I have those pictures of humans and evolution and wondering when they first showed a sense of humour.
It can't be irrelevant.

Now I'm feeling a bit impish- we have to imagine that language, printing, were discovered in different parts of the world (and some of the young upstarts probably invented computers, so we won't even mention that) but where would the first human being with a sense of humour have appeared? Smile

Penelope · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 6:32 pm Post subject:

I have been informed that Rats are one of the most intelligent of animals and that they make wonderful pets. Better than hamsters, gerbils etc..

I have been thinking about humour though. We don't all share the same sense of humour, do we?

I think we all like to see 'authority' get a custard-pie in its face. It is very funny if it hits the local policeman or the mayor, but not nearly so funny if it is the local vagrant.

And there are a lot of things which pass for humour now, which I feel are not funny at all....it seems to be the ability to shock, to make you laugh rather than a comic situation. I have seen some very cruel 'comedy' on our televisions recently.....but my children think it is funny.

I have thought that there is a great difference between generations, where humour is concerned.....I didn't laugh at what my parents thought hilarious. And I wonder what the first joke was!

LanDroid · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 10:54 am Post subject:

BEER!!!
No beer, no civilization!
Is there anything beer cannot do?

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/07/the_essential_beer.h tml

Thomas Hood · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:22 pm Post subject:

After language, I'd say the steam engine. One for information, the other for energy.

Tom


	FORUMS	ABOUT	BOOKS	VIDEOS	TRANSCRIPTS	LINKS	BLOGS	DONATE	CONTACT