[onoway]

The question came up as a result of insomia but still...What events for which humans were responsible has had (is having, will have) the most profound effect on world history?

It started out as one event but that seemed to be impossible to decide so allowed for a couple more. I was wondering if anyone else would come up with the same events as I did.

[Fluffy]

the question is a bit vague.

I guess you mean world history about human history.


Discovering computers will be one of the biggests events on human history, it has changed the way people live, and it is one of the prerrequisites for future planet colonizations, but as it is now, it hasn't had as much impact as agriculture. On the other hands will colonizing other planets be part of ' world' history?


Nuclear bombs, as stupid as it sounds have contributed to having an era of peace that my father has lived his whole life, since more people have lived since middle of 20th century till now than dozens of centuries before added together, one could think that an event on the 20th century has more weight that previously, but that is debatable as well.


For me the biggest was when we turned from nomad to sedentary, I am not sure if this happens before or after raising our own food, but it is the start of everything, ever since we have decided that instead ov addapting to the enviroment, it is more comfortable to addapt the enviroment to ourselves, IMO this has had an impact on human evolution and has damaged natural selection on our genes.

[kenberg]

Such an open ended question allows for many interpretations.

It is my understanding that the Black Plague of the 14th Century should be placed high on the list. Of course it killed a lot of people but the reduction in population, it has been argued, set the stage for the Renaissance. Is this correct? Beats me, I'm no expert.

Of course the Big Bang is one of those sine qua non things.

The idea of keeping historical records, although not really a single event, certainly was important. So was crawling out of the sea, or standing up on our hind legs.

And then there is Facebook

It's hard to rank things, and hard to know exactly what constitutes an event. The Magna Charta, the American Revolution, the French Revolution are all part of an ongoing development but it's hard to say that it is a single event.

Another ongoing event is the shift from superstition to science. In my view this is a very tricky business with an uncertain outcome.

[hrothgar]

onoway, on 2014-February-16, 06:45, said:

The question came up as a result of insomia but still...What events for which humans were responsible has had (is having, will have) the most profound effect on world history?

It started out as one event but that seemed to be impossible to decide so allowed for a couple more. I was wondering if anyone else would come up with the same events as I did.

That afternoon way back when when "Lucy" decided to boff "Bob" rather than "Sam"...
This is a simple way to saying, the further in time that you go back, the more consequential relatively insignificant acts become.
The ripple effects of a slight change in the gene pool during time immemorial are unimaginable.

With this said and done, here's a few relatively modern decision points

1. The Hongxi emperor suspends Chinese naval expeditions and burns the fleet
2. Caesar crosses the Rubicon
3. Constantine converts to Christianity

(Please note: I don't consider issues like the discovery of general relatively by Einstein that important. If he hadn't done this, someone else would have. In s similar vein, I think that the reforms of Martin Luther would have come to a boil one way or another. However, the decisions that I listed could have gone very differently.)

In current times, I'd argue that failure to act on global climate change is by far the most significant

[aguahombre]

If we restrict to events for which humans were responsible (did something to make them happen), we can probably eliminate the Big Bang and planetary evolution. I guess mating habits resulting in gene pool changes are on topic.

Now we have to decide whether certain events really occurred. Did she eat the apple?

[32519]

onoway, on 2014-February-16, 06:45, said:

What events for which humans were responsible has had (is having, will have) the most profound effect on world history?

kenberg, on 2014-February-16, 07:38, said:

Of course the Big Bang is one of those sine qua non things. The idea of keeping historical records, although not really a single event, certainly was important. So was crawling out of the sea, or standing up on our hind legs.

Another ongoing event is the shift from superstition to science.

hrothgar, on 2014-February-16, 08:13, said:

3. Constantine converts to Christianity

In similar vein, I think that the reforms of Martin Luther would have come to a boil one way or another.

However, the decisions that I listed could have gone very differently. In current times, I'd argue that failure to act on global climate change is by far the most significant

aguahombre, on 2014-February-16, 09:31, said:

If we restrict to events for which humans were responsible (did something to make them happen), we can probably eliminate the Big Bang and planetary evolution. I guess mating habits resulting in gene pool changes are on topic.

Now we have to decide whether certain events really occurred. Did she eat the apple?

The single most profound event?

New evidence continues to come to light regarding an orchestrated movement between the Jews of the day and the early Roman Catholic Church to muddy the books and letters which make up the New Covenant. Jesus’ actual name is Yehoshua which means “Yahweh-is-Salvation.” If the original unaltered message was allowed to spread across the globe, who knows where we would be standing today? Amazingly, even despite this concerted effort to muddy the original documents, believers across the globe continue accepting Yahweh’s Way of Salvation.

The Jews have done a lot to discredit Jesus and the New Covenant. Read this http://jesus8880.com...ia/yehoshua.htm
Here is an extract:
“By the 5th Century BC the name YEHOSHUA was shortened to YESHUA (see Neh. 8:17). By the 1st century AD, probably due to Greek influence, the name YESHUA was shortened twice more ... first to Y'SHUA, and then again to Y'SHU. The Y'shu form seems be a deliberate attempt by orthodox Jews of that time to express their displeasure to the name of Jesus, the recently arrived Greek Christian God who was trying to seduce Jews away from their religion.”

Here is a second extract:
“Theodosus made Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire in 391. Jerome's Latin Vulgate soon became the undeclared “official” text of the Roman Church. The Council of Toulouse in 1229 made the Latin Bible official by "expressly forbidding it's translation into vulgar tongues." In 1234 the Council of Tarragona declared: "No person except a cleric may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments and if anyone is found to possess them he must be turned over to the local bishop so that he may be burned at the stake."

But the Roman Catholic Bible was misrepresented in so many ways. Any translation other than theirs was banned. Read this article on William Tyndale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyndale. The Roman Catholic Church controlled the scriptures. New evidence continues to surface as to the extent that the New Covenant as we have become familiar with it, was corrupted and distorted. A lot has been done to correct all these misrepresentation, but even now we still do not have the full story of what really happened during the ministry of Jesus and later Paul. Tragically we have become so used to the translation in our possession it will need a monumental mind shift to believe anything else. A classic example of this is what we believe about James, the brother of Jesus.

The Roman Catholic Church has elevated James, the brother of Jesus, as a super hero who changed his views on Jesus. But there are clues scattered throughout the New Covenant that James is “the false apostle” and Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” which has been buried underneath the way the New Covenant has been translated. The super hero status of James comes from his edict during the council of Jerusalem in Acts 15. But everything that James did before and subsequent to that council would suggest that he was speaking under the unction of the Holy Spirit, just as Caiaphas was speaking under the unction of the Holy Spirit in John 11:49-53. The biggest damning evidence against James comes from Jesus himself in John 19:25-27 when he placed his mother into the custody of John. Doing that is unheard of in Jewish society, 2000 years ago and still applicable today. In Jewish custom it is the responsibility of the oldest surviving son to take care of aging parents. So what is it that Jesus knew about James that the casual reader of the Bible will never pick up? The answer lies in Mark 7:9-13. James was a Pharisee who had taken the Corban Vow, therein distancing himself from any responsibility towards his mother. Joseph, his father was already dead. There is plenty more damning evidence against James in-between, but fast forward to Galatians 2:9, “…James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship,…” What exactly is this “right hand of fellowship?” “Giving the right hand of fellowship” (Galatians 2:9) has its origins in the Maccabean Wars. “Let us offer the hand of friendship to these men and make peace with them and with their entire whole nation” (1 Maccabees 6:58); “Give us the right hand of peace, and let the Jews stop their fight against us and the city” (1 Maccabees 11:50). When James offered Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship he was offering peace or a truce between them regarding their differences on whether circumcision and upholding the law were necessary for gentiles. This scripture is of significant importance as the rest of Acts and Paul’s letters unfold. There are plenty more clues in the New Covenant damning James but I will stop here for now.

Instead I will add this. It comes from Vincent’s Word Studies on PC Study Bible:
2 Corinthians 6:8 – By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
Deceivers. See 2 also Cor 2:17; 4:2. The opinions concerning Paul as a deceiver are mirrored in the Clementine Homilies and Recognitions, spurious writings, ascribed to Clement of Rome, but emanating from the Ebionites, a Judaizing sect, in the latter half of the second century. In these Paul is covertly attacked, though his name is passed over in silence. His glory as the apostle to the Gentiles is passed ever to Peter. The readers are warned, in the person of Peter, to beware of any teacher who does not conform to the standard of James, and come with witnesses (compare 2 Cor 3:1; 5:12; 10:12-18). Paul is assailed under the guise of Simon Magus, and with the same words as those in this passage, "deceiver and unknown."

The early Roman Catholic Church has created all sorts of fictitious accounts around James e.g. “He had calloused knees like a camel from all the time he spent on his knees in prayer.” Bunkum! Jews don’t pray on their knees. That is something that the Catholics introduced. Jews pray while standing, swaying to and fro while they pray. It’s called “shokeling.” You can read more on James here http://latter-rain.c...hurch/james.htm

For the record, James' actual name is Jacob, which means "Deceiver." I think he has lived up to the meaning of his name, thanks to the Roman Catholic Church and the Jews of the day.

The two witnesses of Revelation Chapter 11 are two people, but more significantly it is also the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Old Covenant must verify the New Covenant. If it does not then the New Covenant must be rejected as false, or more likely, it has been translated incorrectly/has been corrupted. Starting with Martin Luther’s reformation in the 1500s, slowly, bit by bit, all these misrepresentations are being corrected. That is one of the reasons we have so many different translations today. Every time enough new evidence is uncovered as to what really happened, a new translation appears in an effort to improve the text. Once the full picture has been recovered we will be entering into all the tribulations of the Book of Revelation. If you have never read it, or if you have been taught all sorts of crap concerning the book, think again. Much of the figurative language used in Revelation all comes from the Old Covenant, something every Jew is familiar with. Elohim’s wrath is soon to be poured out on all who continue to reject Yehoshua, Elohim’s way of Salvation.

Regarding the name Y'shu, here is another very interesting article for you to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshu

[aguahombre]

Regardless of whether we grasp or buy all of the above, people's belief in theistic things is definitely an ongoing event which ranks among the top profound effects on history.

[blackshoe]

The development of agriculture. The industrial revolution. Possibly the development of computers or, as Ken suggested, the Black Death. I would suggest the development of space travel, but it's not yet clear whether that's actually going anywhere (play on words intended).

[mike777]

onoway, on 2014-February-16, 06:45, said:

The question came up as a result of insomia but still...What events for which humans were responsible has had (is having, will have) the most profound effect on world history?

It started out as one event but that seemed to be impossible to decide so allowed for a couple more. I was wondering if anyone else would come up with the same events as I did.

First I would would put the on going Plato/Socrates vs Aristotle philosophy debate.

This debate has had the most profound human effect on world history.

I note that many of the above posts refer to this debate without mentioning it.

[jjbrr]

Here's my three in no particular order:

Spoiler

The birth of Timothy Richard "Tim" Tebow - August 14, 1987 ~7:30pm est

Spoiler

The 47 second mark of this video

http://youtu.be/cO9zxsRzN-M

Spoiler

Gordon Bombay gets a DUI, Early 1992

[Trinidad]

My three (which means with the perspective of an engineer):

Invention/discovery of fire
Invention of gunpowder
Industrial revolution

Rik

[billw55]

Beginning of Christianity and Islam
Modern medicine, particularly vaccines
Renaissance and rise of science

Honorable mentions:
Advanced agriculture
Communication technology
Trinity test

edit: and the printing press, which I overlooked at first. That probably belongs in the top three.

[Cyberyeti]

I'm interested in the word "event". An event to me is something that happens almost instantly (certainly over no more than a few years) rather than the sort of things Billw outlines.

The 3 most important IMO using that definition would be:

The election of Adolf Hitler (which shaped a large part of the way the world developed since)
The dropping of the atomic bombs in Japan
The discovery of America by Columbus

Honorable mention to 9/11, I think we don't yet know how big an effect that will have, and the discovery of penicillin.

[hrothgar]

Trinidad, on 2014-February-17, 07:10, said:

My three (which means with the perspective of an engineer):

Invention/discovery of fire
Invention of gunpowder
Industrial revolution

Rik

Here's my problem with these types of choices:

If gunpowder hadn't been discover in year X, it would have probably been discovered in year X+1...
I don't disagree that these were very significant events, but in some ways they seem inevitable.

In a similar vein, the Middle East was full of various apocalyptic miracle cults.
If Christianity hadn't taken off, I expect that one of the others would have.

I tried to identify events that seemed more singular in nature.

[billw55]

Cyberyeti, on 2014-February-17, 07:54, said:

I'm interested in the word "event". An event to me is something that happens almost instantly (certainly over no more than a few years) rather than the sort of things Billw outlines.

The 3 most important IMO using that definition would be:

The election of Adolf Hitler (which shaped a large part of the way the world developed since)
The dropping of the atomic bombs in Japan
The discovery of America by Columbus

Honorable mention to 9/11, I think we don't yet know how big an effect that will have, and the discovery of penicillin.

Yeah, it depends a lot on how short an "event" must be to qualify for the discussion.

Certainly, the bomb is a very significant short term event, which I included. Columbus and America, not so much: I think this was inevitable within a decade or two anyway.

[Cyberyeti]

billw55, on 2014-February-17, 08:25, said:

Yeah, it depends a lot on how short an "event" must be to qualify for the discussion.

Certainly, the bomb is a very significant short term event, which I included. Columbus and America, not so much: I think this was inevitable within a decade or two anyway.

Columbus and America would have happened anyway, but I suppose what I really mean was the discovery of America by the white man, and Columbus is the single event that symbolises that.

[Trinidad]

hrothgar, on 2014-February-17, 08:14, said:

Here's my problem with these types of choices:

If gunpowder hadn't been discover in year X, it would have probably been discovered in year X+1...
I don't disagree that these were very significant events, but in some ways they seem inevitable.

You seem more certain about that than I am. Gunpowder was not invented because there was a "research effort" to find an explosive. If that would have been the case then it indeed would be more or less inevitable that someone would have invented it sooner or later. But instead, gunpowder was "developed" as a potion for immortality (Wikipedia).

Therefore, the invention of gunpowder was purely accidental, and did change history.

Of course, I cannot answer with great accuracy "what would have happened if...". But my idea is that if these chinese alchemists would have known what they were doing, we wouldn't have had gunpowder. Not then, and not later either.

Rik

[Vampyr]

blackshoe, on 2014-February-16, 11:56, said:

Possibly the development of computers

Has this had a big effect on history as of now? It may have, I grant, in the future.

[hrothgar]

Trinidad, on 2014-February-17, 09:00, said:

You seem more certain about that than I am. Gunpowder was not invented because there was a "research effort" to find an explosive. If that would have been the case then it indeed would be more or less inevitable that someone would have invented it sooner or later. But instead, gunpowder was "developed" as a potion for immortality (Wikipedia).

Therefore, the invention of gunpowder was purely accidental, and did change history.

Of course, I cannot answer with great accuracy "what would have happened if...". But my idea is that if these chinese alchemists would have known what they were doing, we wouldn't have had gunpowder. Not then, and not later either.

I disagree

The history of innovation is rife with examples of the the same discovery occurring independently at multiple locations

Consider Newton and Leibnitz and the development of calculus or the lightbulb or the steam engine or yada, yada, yada

Once a society hits a certain point, it's going to figure out "foo"...

[TylerE]

I'm really surprised by a lot of these responses. For me, CLEARLY the most important even of at least the last 200 years was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914. If that doesn't happen WWI doesn't happen, which has the knock on effect of not decimating Germany with the armistice so the Nazis and thus WWII and thus the cold war never happen.