[Closed] What's mankind's greatest achievement?

Electrickery

Obviously [url= http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/24/mars-rover-penis-nasa_n_3144656.html ]this[/url].

650b wheels.

Fire, the wheel, and writing are pretty important as well.

Voyager space probe and it leaving our solar system.

Global warming.

Wheel

Moon landing was basic physics, we knew how to do it, we had the technology....so no...it wasn't our great achievement or breakthrough.

I would say the the discovery of DNA and the subsequent mapping of the genome is.

Complex natural language and the development of abstract thought. Everything else is just a consequence.

The answer will come when we stop killing each other, and just get along.

Me, 😀

That's not our achievement though. That was mostly natures, we didn't actively pursue it as a goal.

Britain's got talent!

If the moon landing is just basic physics, then the genome project was just basic biology.

Complex natural language and the development of abstract thought. Everything else is just a consequence.

Is a great answer

Penis beakers

Some say the wheel but I reckon it's the second wheel.
One wheel is just a wheelbarrow

Scampi Nik Naks.

Did the moon landings help us to start unravelling who we are?

We strapped ourselves onto rockets derived from ballistic missiles that we built to kill one another and decided to embark upon an international penis waving contest, to stand on a chunk of rock to look at how magnificent our planet was and then decide to carry on ****ing it up.

MUSIC.

Belief religions? 2013 and many still believe that crap.

i don't really see what's so important about the moon landings. apart from stuff like instant coffee what usable legacy did they leave ?

compared to zippykona's example i'd say pretty little

One wheel is just a wheelbarrow

Hopefully aracer isn't reading this thread.

I think the moon landings were an amazing achievement. People having the vision of leaving our atmosphere and heading off to a satellite orbiting thousands of miles away. Fair dues to them.

Voyager is up there for me too.

Mapping of the genome.

Dropping implements of war and talking, whenever it happens is a great achievement. We don't seem to learn how great it is though, as we often forget, stop talking and start fighting again.

Anyone who has freed himself from desire and learned to be happy with little possessions has achieved greatness IMO.

Internet porn.

[quote=trailmonkey said]i don't really see what's so important about the moon landings. apart from stuff like instant coffee what usable legacy did they leave ?

I was listening to a radio programme last week where a similar question was asked. The answer was that the space programme kindled such an interest in young kids in the US that 10-15 years or so later the number of PHd students in Engineering / Physics grew massively and helped drive the US technology industries.

I think the moon landings were an amazing achievement. People having the vision of leaving our atmosphere and heading off to a satellite orbiting thousands of miles away. Fair dues to them.

Voyager is up there for me too.

Mapping of the genome.

Dropping implements of war and talking, whenever it happens is a great achievement. We don't seem to learn how great it is though, as we often forget, stop talking and start fighting again.

Anyone who has freed himself from desire and learned to be happy with little possessions has achieved greatness IMO.

i don't really see what's so important about the moon landings. apart from stuff like instant coffee what usable legacy did they leave ?

I don't think that achievements necessarily need to be important. I can ride a really long way on a hard trail and feel a sense of achievement but it's not important.

I think that evolving to where we are is a fairly good achievement, albeit one that we probably haven't actually tried at.

Just watching a bbc4 documentary about the moon landings. It has to be the biggest achievement to date for human kind doesn't it?

What has it achieved ? Why are we better off because it happened ?

Our exploits in space have absolutely been instrumental in helping us understand who we are and our place in the universe. And the technology that has been developed in order for us to be able to stand on 'chunks of rock and wave out willys' has definitely benefitted mankind fundamentally. Imagine where we'd be without Velcro, or Teflon or Microwave ovens?

The Interwebs. Not sure we know exactly where it's taking us yet, but I reckon it will either bring us all together or the exact opposite.

This, of course:
[img] [/img]

Space exploration was possible without landing on the moon.

The moon landing was impressive but I'm not sure that it represents mankind's greatest achievement.

Farming probably does. I can't see that there would have been any moon landings if we were still hunter gatherers.

Our exploits in space have absolutely been instrumental in helping us understand who we are and our place in the universe. And the technology that has been developed in order for us to be able to stand on 'chunks of rock and wave out willys' has definitely benefitted mankind fundamentally. Imagine where we'd be without Velcro, or Teflon or Microwave ovens?

For sure but we didn't have to land on the moon to peer into the depths of space or develop satellites.

Did the moon landings help us to start unravelling who we are?

It showed us who we can be when we aim for the stars. It may be surpassed by the eventual path the genome project leads down. But I wonder how many who worked on the genome project were inspired as children by the moon landings.

Has any other scientific endeavour touched so many peoples imagination to such an extent.

Voyager 1 and the iphone

lego

But I wonder how many who worked on the genome project were inspired as children by the moon landings.

I'm not sure Watson, Crick and Maurice Wilkins were (the lot who kick started it all).

Our greatest achievement judging by future consequences then, has to be the enlightenment surely?

Imagine where we'd be without Velcro, or Teflon or Microwave ovens?

In my house ?

Some of the human feats of adventure, exploration and survival are up there for me.
Some of the

the enlightenment surely

Plus 1

Philosophy in general, but that's too general to count.

Moon landing was basic physics, we knew how to do it, we had the technology....so no...it wasn't our great achievement or breakthrough.

My father worked in the aerospace industry during the 60s. His view on this - mindful of the fact that he designed some of the important bits of Goonhilly - was that we were very much on the bleeding edge of technology back then. An aircraft that could break the speed of sound without flying apart had only existed for fourteen years before Gagarin. On top of that, one cannot over-emphasise just how hostile space is. It's either freezing cold or inhospitably hot, it's bathed in lethal radiation, there's no pressure and it's completely disorienting for organisms that have the inertia of a billion years of evolution dictated by "up" and "down".

To send three men, 250,000 miles further than any human being before, with only the most basic of life support systems, to enable two of them to walk on the surface of an airless world and to bring them home is nothing short of astounding. Thousands of aerospace engineers worked on Apollo - not all of them American or refugees from Nazi Germany, although the motivations were far from altruistic, we've managed to inspire generations of people. Even now, it's hard to believe that humanity actually saw beyond its' limitations for a brief period and indulged the innate need to explore.

However, as a technical achievement, my father is keen to point out that Concorde is right up there.

Silicon chip.

Stepping away from the contemporary, the Aztec's and Egyptian's did some amazing things in construction. As did the Chinese. Stonehenge was also remarkable, not least in a logistical sense. Nowadays we have become very good at moving stuff from one part of the globe to another... And back again.

Whilst good, I would consider things like speech, abstract thought, compassion, empathy etc to be evolutionary achievements, rather than those of mankind's doing/making.

Me

It was all building up to me. The rest of you were failed experiments.

Now it is downhill for the entire human race.

Sorry. I had to tell someone eventually.

^ 😀

GTA V

Whassup Dog....

Some modern acheivements that affect day to day life in a big way
creation of Windows OS and invention of mouse in computers
internet
powered flight
standardized machine parts

A bit older
Repeating revolver
Steam engine
Knowledge of the chemical processes involved in cereal fermentation
First telescopes and the discovery of the 4 main Jovian moons by Galileo

Really old
Most of what the Romans did (excluding unfeasibly short tunics)
The Pyramids at Giza

[quote=TooTall ]Me
It was all building up to me. The rest of you were failed experiments.
Now it is downhill for the entire human race.
Sorry. I had to tell someone eventually.

I think that you're probably older than me. That makes me a little pointless 🙁

I think some folk are just listing inventions, which are really only a better kind of stick to hit things with.

The greatest achievement is the NHS.

The vision required to see a society that would contribute as they were able to develop and maintain a healthcare system that would last so long, treat so many in such a non-judgemental, we-don't-care-who-you-are-or-how-much-you-earn fashion is one of the greatest, most civilised concepts seen on the planet so far.

[i]"We are not here in this world to find elegant solutions, pregnant with initiative, or to serve the ways and modes of profitable progress. [b]No, we are here to provide for all those who are weaker and hungrier, more battered and crippled than ourselves. That is our only certain good and great purpose on earth[/b], and if you ask me about those insoluble economic problems that may arise if the top is deprived of their initiative, I would answer 'To hell with them.' The top is greedy and mean and will always find a way to take care of themselves. They always do"[/i]

A Michael Foot quote, btw.

Beer

The greatest achievement is the NHS.

Fair point. Not as glamorous as a moon landing, but socially a watershed moment.

Fire on demand.

Or, porn on demand. Can't decide.

Thank you crikey. That sums up everything that is so wonderfully right about humans.

But beer comes next.

The elimination of smallpox?

I reckon it goes in leaps and there are a few contenders that have really changed everything socially, economically and politically.

Language
Fire
Farming
Mass production
The Internet

Laughter - we are the only things on the planet that can do it. Lets not forget it.

The NHS is a great achievement, however only to countries with that sort of health care model.
The invention of the telescope to see Jupiters moons changed our perception of the order of the universe and mankinds place within it.

TooTall - Member
Me

It was all building up to me. The rest of you were failed experiments.

Now it is downhill for the entire human race.

Sorry. I had to tell someone eventually.

But by your own admission, they didn't even get you perfect as you are TooTall 😉

As for greatest acheivement, got to be surgery/medicine without many of us wouldn't be here.

IMO disease control & modern medicine - penicillin, vaccines, antibiotics, anaesthetics.

Or, Marmite.

Laughter - we are the only things on the planet that can do it.

Laughing is just an evolved form of panting, other species laugh/pant when they are playing, chimps certainly do, and they also screech when playing.

I don't think language is unique to our species either, we've just taken it further.

Fire is a good one imo.

Seriously, no-one has mentioned chips? Ok, I will.

Chips.

Furthermore...

Numerous species demonstrate vocalizations similar to human laughter. A significant proportion of these are mammals, including non-human primates, which suggests that the neurological functions involved in expressing cheer occurred early in the process of mammalian evolution

Radio 4 reported only the other morning that rats can laugh.

Edit - beaten to it, so I'll go with:

Geordie Shore

[img] [/img]

Moon landing was basic physics

[img] [/img]

What the hell, mankind? What the hell?!

It is believed that homo erectus and neanderthalis were capable of some form of speech. Certainly different species from what we would call mankind.

Laughing is just an evolved form of panting, other species laugh/pant when they are playing, chimps certainly do, and they also screech when playing.

When you get a minute check this out, it was on the wireless the other week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bdpl5

EDIT, I stand corrected - even rats laugh.

The ability to surf the net whilst on the bog.

Tom_W1987 - Member

Our greatest achievement judging by future consequences then, has to be the enlightenment surely?

It's difficult to quantify great achievements because they all mean different things to different people. But the moon landings highlight the human desire for exploration and progression in the face of grave danger. It goes on here on earth all the time too. I look at buildings and bridges and stuff like that, and to think some lunatic would happily swing about on a cable 400ft in the air to build that. Our whole infrastructure relies on these brave people, to come up with new innovative ideas, and to put their lives at risk making them work. It amazes me. So many great achievements in our everyday lives. The moon landings came about through a normal bunch of people doing normal things...just with the volume turned up to 11. It is the perfect example of how we've come so far as human beings.

When you think about what it allows you to do, and how efficiently, the bicycle's a pretty bloody amazing thing.

Written language.

Only humans can do it. Being able to accurately record information for reference at a later time made most of the things mentioned above possible. Societies without writing didn't advance very far.

Or bacon!

We're nearly there.

Crikey +1 with the NHS. Having a society that cares for its infirm is a high point. Privatised care sees its clientele as cash cows to be bled for every test possible and discarded when dry of money.

Edlong +1 for the bicycle. Once we optimise our transport infrastructure for bicycles and make cars unnecessary we'll have made a major advance in looking after our planet and our health. Cars are chewing up the Earth's resources.

Now all we need is proper democracy...

But mankind's greatest achievement is we keep striving even though we get it wrong from time to time.

Agriculture

Prior to that, the human species was limited to that which was supplied by nature - reliant upon the wild plants and animals we could find - at that one point, when we began to cultivate the resources to secure our food supply, man truly became the master of his own destiny (for better or worse) and that makes it the most crucial event and achievement in the history of mankind.

Greggs cheese and onion pasties

First thought was farming.

Second thought was storytelling - ie the ability to think about things that are not literally true, may not happen and may have never happend. Though this may be more biological accident than an achievement.

It all hinges on your definition of "great" - I'm tempted to say the Welfare State.

However, I'm reminded of a quote from Freeman Dyson about what should be included on the Voyager discs - "We should just send Bach, but that would be showing off"

the toilet.

landing on the moon was impressive, chips are nice, but without toilets most of us would be dead, and those left would be stinking of shit - and destined for an early grave.

toilets allow humans to gather / live in large groups, without the inevitable outbreaks of cholera.

yay for toilets!

Surely its sliced bread, unless there was something better before that?

I'm late to the Paaaarrtaaayy...

I'd say it was Adam's intuition. If he hadn't looked around at Eve and thought "whats that stiring under my Fig leaf" we'd not be here to type on the Interbebz would we. 😉