What Are The Most Important Developments in Human History?

[JD]

Earlier today I got randomly thinking about what would be the most important developments that we have come up with in our entire history.

• Controlling fire - I think this was probably the first thing we did that really started to separate us from the other animals.
• Domesticating animals - Gave us companionship, transportation, and stable food sources, both meat and more extensive farming.
• Gun powder - Brought about a big change in both war and industry
• Controlling electricity - Without electricity we couldn't have most of our modern technology
• Cars and planes - Allowed us to travel further and faster than ever before
• Computers - Brought about big changes in the way we gather and use information
• Internet - Connected the world like never before

If I were to guess what the next big development is going to be, I think it will probably be fully sentient AI. It seems to me that this will be the closest we've ever come to creating a completely new form of life since some farmer let his horse get busy with his donkey.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I would think that written language, agriculture, and the development of mathematics would all have to be in there somewhere.

 

[Timewalker]

I would think that written language, agriculture, and the development of mathematics would all have to be in there somewhere.

The first time I won the Miscellaneous Avatar contest, the theme was "the most important invention in human history."

My entry: the printing press.

Back around the turn of the 20th/21st century, A&E had a 2-night special, counting down the 100 most influential people of the last thousand years. Shakespeare came in at #5. The person who came in at #1 was Johann Gutenberg, for inventing the printing press. Up to that time, literacy was limited, and most people were dependent on what they were told. Afterward, books were more common and people could read their religious texts for themselves (among other things like poetry, prose literature, and reference works). Of course this brought chaos, but it also brought reform.

Widespread literacy, thanks to the printing press, is one of the prime things that made our modern life possible. It's what is allowing us to talk about this right now.

 

[Oddish]

The steam engine is a big one not mentioned. It may be outdated now, but it took us away from relying on wind, water, or muscle to get things done.

 

[JD]

These are all great, I can't believe I didn't think of them. That was why I started this as a thread, because there would be a lot I didn't think of.

 

[sevenstars]

What, no wheel? Did I miss something?

 

[JD]

Oh, another good one.

 

[StarCruiser]

Space flight kinda fits in there - though more recently.

Could just about look at the list of techs in the classic Civilization games.

 

[antinoos]

The abandonment of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and the foundation of cities, which lead to the creation of civilization, which lead to the invention of drama and theater, which lead to the creation of... Star Trek.

 

[Timewalker]

Space flight kinda fits in there - though more recently.

Could just about look at the list of techs in the classic Civilization games.

Hence Literacy. Build the Great Library, and you get any tech that two other civs have for free (if you don't already have it).

This is especially handy when you play the Original Extended scenario (available as part of the Test of Time game) and you opt to start on Alpha Centauri, with the goal of making it to Earth. The Alpha Centauri start means you don't have contact with Earth in the early and middle games, but the Great Library still works.

At least real history doesn't tend to have spearman vs. tanks and the spearman wins. And there was a Civ I game I played in which my battleship got sunk by a trireme.

 

[think]

thinking---(as a important development in itself) I think,..

(Maybe?) God or religion as a kind of artificial non-natural type of human development and on going and such- the animals can be our God but really animals don't understand this type of idea IMO. but yeah. -

 

[Timewalker]

thinking---(as a important development in itself) I think,..

(Maybe?) God or religion as a kind of artificial non-natural type of human development and on going and such- the animals can be our God but really animals don't understand this type of idea IMO. but yeah. -

My cat is fully cognizant of her higher status in our little household.

Of course she's often frustrated that I don't acknowledge it by constantly leaving dry cat food on her altar. She has had to learn patience.

 

[XCV330]

some other inventions that were important:

Writing. It was developed independently at least four times (Egypt, Sumeria, China, MesoAmerica) and possibly many more times (Inca "qipu", Easter Island "Rongo rongo", Indus Valley Script, Vinca Symbols, Miqmaq protowriting). It seems to be something that humans have to develop in some form or another once society reaches a certain level of complexity. Writing allows you to store information and pass it on with less error, requiring less effort to reinvent the wheel, as it were, though writing predates the wheel, and in some cases is developed by civilizations that never made use of the wheel (MesoAmericans, for instance, knew of the wheel, but never employed it beyond toys). Writing allows laws, theology, science, literature.

Locks: locks become necessary as possessions develop, economies grow and societies urbanize. Locks predate police. The complicated metalworking and industry required to keep one's stuff secure may have had a much bigger development on technology than we understand today. But locks are secretive stuff, and not something many were going to write about in the past.

The horse collar: This is a big one. Horses could not be fully utilized until the horse collar was developed. This, along with the invention of the stirrup made them more useful for work and warfare. Donkeys and oxen continued to be useful, but were superseded in many roles after this.

hydrology: Until humans learned how to control water, farming and the development of cities had a natural limit. Irrigation and the development of aqueducts, canals and other water delivery systems were a lasting legacy still with us.

 

[J.T.B.]

The abandonment of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and the foundation of cities, which lead to the creation of civilization, which lead to the invention of drama and theater, which lead to the creation of... Star Trek.

IOW, agriculture.

 

[Santaman]

The bed.. one of the most important inventions ever..

 

[BK613]

I'd add tool use and the making of new tools.

 

[think]

this is a major development in space saving ideas---

 

[JD]

Ummmm... there's just one problem with that.

some other inventions that were important:

Writing. It was developed independently at least four times (Egypt, Sumeria, China, MesoAmerica) and possibly many more times (Inca "qipu", Easter Island "Rongo rongo", Indus Valley Script, Vinca Symbols, Miqmaq protowriting). It seems to be something that humans have to develop in some form or another once society reaches a certain level of complexity. Writing allows you to store information and pass it on with less error, requiring less effort to reinvent the wheel, as it were, though writing predates the wheel, and in some cases is developed by civilizations that never made use of the wheel (MesoAmericans, for instance, knew of the wheel, but never employed it beyond toys). Writing allows laws, theology, science, literature.

Locks: locks become necessary as possessions develop, economies grow and societies urbanize. Locks predate police. The complicated metalworking and industry required to keep one's stuff secure may have had a much bigger development on technology than we understand today. But locks are secretive stuff, and not something many were going to write about in the past.

The horse collar: This is a big one. Horses could not be fully utilized until the horse collar was developed. This, along with the invention of the stirrup made them more useful for work and warfare. Donkeys and oxen continued to be useful, but were superseded in many roles after this.

hydrology: Until humans learned how to control water, farming and the development of cities had a natural limit. Irrigation and the development of aqueducts, canals and other water delivery systems were a lasting legacy still with us.

A couple other people mentioned writing, but those other three never would have occurred to me.

I'd add tool use and the making of new tools.

I'm not really sure if I'd count that since it's not a unique human development.

 

[BK613]

I'm not really sure if I'd count that since it's not a unique human development.

Perhaps not unique but definitely important. Especially, the making of new tools. Seeing a stone and a stick and making an axe. Or bone and plant fibers and starting to sew. Having a task in front and creating something to perform the task easier or better.
Tool making: One of the foundation stones on which the whole thing is built.

 

[Timewalker]

Perhaps not unique but definitely important. Especially, the making of new tools. Seeing a stone and a stick and making an axe. Or bone and plant fibers and starting to sew. Having a task in front and creating something to perform the task easier or better.
Tool making: One of the foundation stones on which the whole thing is built.

Crows make tools. They are capable of teaching their offspring and others in their flock to hate specific humans. That's more than a cut above most birds.

Whales can't make tools, but are we going to argue on a Star Trek forum that they don't have language and culture?