What is man's greatest achievement?

[guyver01]

So... ATOT...

What is man's greatest achievement?

When CNN posed the question: "What is man's greatest achievement?" the answers ranged widely from the wheel, music, the airplane -- even cup noodles. Oddly, on the 40th anniversary of man landing on the moon, the answers did not include the history-making flight into space

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Wow, the moon landing would have been my first pick, easily. Not because of this week either, but because I really believe that. Next on the list would be modern physics (general relativity and the Standard Model) because of how insanely successful these theories have been.

 

[KLin]

I am man's greatest achievement!

/me flexes

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: KLin
I am man's greatest achievement!

cloned sheep?

 

[Albatross]

stance of dominance

 

[Synomenon]

Man's greatest achievement is that we've made it this long w/o wiping ourselves out.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
Man's greatest achievement is that we've made it this long w/o wiping ourselves out.

It hasn't really been that long. We've only been capable of self destruction for less than half a century. Don't worry, it will happen eventually.

 

[Synomenon]

I should add:

or w/o being wiped out by some natural cataclysm.

Aren't we overdue for another massive asteroid or meteor strike?


Edit:
Never mind. We can't control those.

 

[Xylitol]

cooking

 

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
I should add:

or w/o being wiped out by some natural cataclysm.

Aren't we overdue for another massive asteroid or meteor strike?

Well if you count how bad nbc's meteor show was I would count that as a natural disaster.

 

[Locut0s]

Agriculture

/thread

 

[Mo0o]

The internet.

Decentralization and democratization of information has really changed how the world operates and how people interact with one another.

 

[nocash]

sliced bread?
antibiotics

 

[DivideBYZero]

Bulk Beef.

 

[guyver01]

i would have to agree that Ramen Noodles is our greatest achievement...

When even a broke college student can eat for a month for under $5... we've come a long way

 

[Red Irish]

Language (beer comes in a close second)

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
Man's greatest achievement is that we've made it this long w/o wiping ourselves out.

It hasn't really been that long. We've only been capable of self destruction for less than half a century. Don't worry, it will happen eventually.

Just wait until we figure out how to efficiently produce and contain antimatter.

Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
I should add:

or w/o being wiped out by some natural cataclysm.

Aren't we overdue for another massive asteroid or meteor strike?


Edit:
Never mind. We can't control those.

Sure we can, to a degree. We just don't spend the money on it because it probably won't happen during our lifetime. When it does happen though, depending on the size of the impactor, the results would be utterly devastating.


Our greatest feat thus far.....I don't know. There'd be a lot to choose from.

Development of physics theories and our language of mathematics are decent achievements though.

 

[edro]

Originally posted by: Red Irish
Language

True... without our advanced language, we wouldn't even be a successful species.

If everyone is looking for a more obvious answer, I would say landing on the moon.
It is the culmination of millions of small advances by humans.

 

[BriGy86]

I vote bacon!

But in all seriousness I think harnessing fire and the invention of the wheel is what made a lot (if not all) of our other advancements possible.

 

[nerp]

Originally posted by: Mo0o
The internet.

Decentralization and democratization of information has really changed how the world operates and how people interact with one another.

The internet is just an incremental step in the progression of technology. It could easily be argued that the printing press was more profound of an influence on the world than the internet.

My answer for this thread is mastering fire. That is what laid the groundwork for civilization.

 

[shortylickens]

Pie.
And cheesecake.

 

[ultimatebob]

I'm going to vote for the iPhone... mostly just to piss off the Apple haters

 

[tboo]

The fleshlight

 

[imported_Section8]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Pie.
And cheesecake.

This....beat me to it, but just pie.

 

[amdhunter]

The Moon has nothing of value - big waste of time and although an achievement, it's nothing special. People were going to get there eventually.

Maybe if the Moon had oil or something it might be a higher achievement, but inevitably, the sending of our troops there to gather Moon oil would make it just as expensive and unproductive as it is today -- making the achievement useless again.