# 10 Greatest Human Achievements



## Couchie

What is your list of the 10 greatest human achievements in any field (lists of just composers or works is too easy).

I offer this list to get you started (I didn't make it ):

http://listverse.com/2009/11/16/10-great-achievements-of-the-human-mind/


----------



## brianwalker

That list is terrible apart from the Ring.


----------



## Polednice

A lot of the stuff on that list seems to be plucked from the writer's **** based on what has a lot of cultural awareness. To me, a "great human achievement" ought to refer to a collaborative endeavour; not the subjective creations of any one individual. Anyway, here's one for the 'self-evident' thread: it seems more obvious than anything else to me that the greatest thing our species has ever done is put a man on the moon.

The MOON, FFS.


----------



## starthrower

The invention of the printing press by Gutenberg is one of the single most important achievements in human history.


----------



## Alberich

Nuclear Fusion. More or less making a miniature star on earth his pretty damn cool.


----------



## science

1. The Green Revolution. 
2. The industrial revolution and the end of slavery. 
3. Republican government / the disestablishment of agrarian aristocracies. 
4. The welfare state. 
5. Science's ever-increasingly accurate account of the universe. 
5a. The discovery of the solar system and Earth's movement in it.
5b. The discovery of natural selection.
5c. Quantum physics and relativity (tie). 
5d. The discovery of galaxies and even larger structures. 
5e. The big bang theory. 
6. The spread of the idea that the sphere of our moral concern should encompass all humanity / the slow fall of all sorts of ethnic and religious parochialisms. 
7. The epic meal time videos on youtube. 
8. Calculus. 
9. The mini-skirt. 
10. American football.


----------



## quack

1. Getting up in the morning
2. Making coffee
4. Not wasting time
3. Putting up with idiots
4. Not killing each other
6. Math
7. Finding good in the bad
8. Knowing when to not follow rules


----------



## Polednice

science said:


> 1. The Green Revolution.
> 2. The industrial revolution and the end of slavery.
> 3. Republican government / the disestablishment of agrarian aristocracies.
> 4. The welfare state.
> 5. Science's ever-increasingly accurate account of the universe.
> 5a. The discovery of the solar system and Earth's movement in it.
> 5b. The discovery of natural selection.
> 5c. Quantum physics and relativity (tie).
> 5d. The discovery of galaxies and even larger structures.
> 5e. The big bang theory.
> 6. The spread of the idea that the sphere of our moral concern should encompass all humanity / the slow fall of all sorts of ethnic and religious parochialisms.
> 7. The epic meal time videos on youtube.
> 8. Calculus.
> 9. The mini-skirt.
> 10. American football.


I don't think the greatest human achievements are ones where we correct things we ****ed up ourselves.


----------



## science

Polednice said:


> I don't think the greatest human achievements are ones where we correct things we ****ed up ourselves.


I guess you're talking about the long, slow, arduous process of turning "soccer" into "football."

Well, I wouldn't be so hard on soccer, since evidently the ends occasionally justify the means.

Edit: You know, I might be outnumbered here, so just in case it matters - Just kidding, lads! We all know _rugby_ is the proper way to play that game.


----------



## Art Rock

science said:


> 9. The mini-skirt.


Hell, yes!


----------



## Vaneyes

Fire, wheel, law, mathematics, surgery, pasteurization, penicillin, TV, CD, Viagra.


----------



## Fsharpmajor

Just a quick list, the rankings are somewhat arbitrary, and it excludes a lot of things:

1. vaccines
2. antibiotics
3. anaesthesia
4. theory of relativity
5. quantum theory
6. theory of evolution
7. theory of plate tectonics and continental drift
7a. understanding volcanoes and earthquakes
8. meteorology and weather forecasting
8a. understanding hurricanes and tornadoes


----------



## starthrower

quack said:


> 4. Not killing each other


Now this would be a monumental achievement if ever accomplished!


----------



## sabrina

1. Alphabets
2. Greek democracy
3. Concrete discovery
4. Printing
5. Industrial revolution
6. airplanes (flying)
7. antibiotics
8. Vaccines
9. Internet
10. E=mc2


----------



## starthrower

How about the American revolution? A bunch of poorly trained volunteers defeating the British empire. No small feat!


----------



## science

starthrower said:


> How about the American revolution? A bunch of poorly trained volunteers defeating the British empire. No small feat!


I feel the defeat of the Spanish armada was a bigger upset.


----------



## science

Fsharpmajor said:


> Just a quick list, the rankings are somewhat arbitrary, and it excludes a lot of things:
> 
> 1. vaccines
> 2. antibiotics
> 3. anaesthesia
> 4. theory of relativity
> 5. quantum theory
> 6. theory of evolution
> 7. theory of plate tectonics and continental drift
> 7a. understanding volcanoes and earthquakes
> 8. meteorology and weather forecasting
> 8a. understanding hurricanes and tornadoes


Some really good stuff there. I might add the germ theory of disease, and public sanitation (clean water did at least as much to improve public health as anything else).


----------



## Fsharpmajor

science said:


> Some really good stuff there. I might add the germ theory of disease


That's a major one that I missed. There's also the invention of the transistor. Removing 7a and 8a from the list as "givens" under their parent category would leave room for those. Then I would add the Big Bang theory, and mass production, to make a list of twelve things, not necessarily in order of importance, and leave it at that, for further discussion:

1. vaccines
2. antibiotics
3. anaesthesia
4. theory of relativity
5. quantum theory
6. theory of evolution
7. theory of plate tectonics and continental drift
8. meteorology and weather forecasting
9. germ theory of disease
10. Big Bang theory of cosmology
11. invention of the transistor
12. mass production in manufacturing


----------



## Huilunsoittaja

1. The Scientific Method


----------



## violadude

Hey man, this alcohol crap we keep cleaning stuff with, let me show you some cool stuff you can do with it.

Note: I do not endorse or encourage excessive alcohol intake of any kind.


----------



## violadude

Hey man, let me show you what you can do with this piece of wood, my dead cats organs and some hair from a horse's tail. Prepare to have your mind blown!


----------



## violadude

Johann Ambrosius Bach: "My lady, would you like to try for another child tonight
Maria: Ok, Johann, but this is the last time! I mean it!


----------



## Kopachris

Language. Collaboration wouldn't work very well without language.


----------



## Vaneyes

science said:


> Some really good stuff there. I might add the germ theory of disease, and public sanitation (clean water did at least as much to improve public health as anything else).


Though the people of Alabama are beginning to wonder about this one...

*8a. understanding hurricanes and tornadoes
*


----------



## Polednice

Kopachris said:


> Language. Collaboration wouldn't work very well without language.


But language arose without any human ingenuity. I don't know if it has already been suggested, but the invention of writing is probably the most significant achievement in our history.


----------



## Vaneyes




----------



## Kopachris

Vaneyes said:


>


Very good point, Vaneyes. Writing started out as pictographs which, like early language, required no human ingenuity.

Fine. If the presence of human ingenuity is what you're looking for, how about the calendar?


----------



## Fsharpmajor

Amazingly detailed drawings and paintings in caves preceded the invention of writing, though--it's clear that early humans (at least the more artistic ones) were able to paint accurate pictures of animals, using contrast and colour, long before writing appeared. Writing, in my opinion, is basically a distillation and simplification of the symbols used in drawing


----------



## Fsharpmajor

Click to enlarge and see the detail. The Altamira cave paintings are considered to be genuine by almost all paleontologists. So, I say, painting preceded writing.


----------



## Polednice

Fsharpmajor said:


> Amazingly detailed drawings and paintings in caves preceded the invention of writing, though--it's clear that early humans (at least the more artistic ones) were able to paint accurate pictures of animals, using contrast and colour, long before writing appeared. Writing, in my opinion, is basically a distillation and simplification of the symbols used in drawing


But I think it's communication of complex ideas that really matters.


----------



## Couchie

Interesting nobody yet has included _music_.


----------



## science

I was thinking of speech, fire, and music; but the problem is, as Polednice suggested, I'm not sure they should count as human achievements.


----------



## Vaneyes

Something like this discovered in one of those ancient caves would've been "neat".


----------



## rojo

Surviving.
A parent/guardian reading a story to a/their child.
A parent/guardian teaching a child to read, tie a shoelace, ride a bicycle etc.
A family sitting around the kitchen table, talking during a meal.
A person doing something nice for another just to put a smile on the other's face.
Children playing.
A person coming to another person's assistance in a time of need.
All forms of expression, including the arts and the use of limitless imagination.
All the things that parents/guardians do for years to help their children.


----------



## StlukesguildOhio

Anyway, here's one for the 'self-evident' thread: it seems more obvious than anything else to me that the greatest thing our species has ever done is put a man on the moon.

The MOON, FFS.

You would be even more impressed if you had ever had the chance to see one of the NASA space capsules in person. These things were essentially tin cans mounted atop x-thousand gallons of rocket fuel... in other words, a tin can with all of three or four switches strapped to a bomb. The first time I saw these capsules in the National Aerospace Museum in Washington all I could think was "Jesus Christ, what the ****** were they thinking!?? Columbus in his little canoes traversing the Atlantic had nothing on these guys.


----------



## StlukesguildOhio

A few thoughts of my own on the topic:

1. Language
2. Writing
3. Gutenberg's movable type printing press
4. The theater and philosophy of the Greeks
5. J.S. Bach
6. Shakespeare's plays
7. The Sistine Ceiling
8. Air conditioning
9. The Internet
10. Internet porn:lol:


----------



## Chi_townPhilly

science said:


> I was thinking of speech, fire, and music; but the problem is, as Polednice suggested, I'm not sure they should count as human achievements.


Oh, I think _mastery_ of fire definitely counts as a human achievement. 
Perhaps humanity goes the way of the Passenger Pigeon if not for that. Oh, 
and (here on page 3) let me be the first to mention the Invention of the Wheel.


Fsharpmajor said:


> Amazingly detailed drawings and paintings in caves preceded the invention of writing, though--it's clear that early humans (at least the more artistic ones) were able to paint accurate pictures of animals, using contrast and colour, long before writing appeared.





> Before the fall, when they wrote it on the wall
> When there wasn't even any Hollywood
> They heard the call, and they wrote it on the wall
> For you and me- we understood. Steely Dan, *The Caves of Altamira*


Nice to see some of Man's artistic endeavor getting some belated attention. 
I couldn't imagine making such a list without at least _some_ such entries...


----------



## Xaltotun

I actually sort of liked the list that the OP posted... not sure if my own list would be similar, but I can sure give it a "hell yeah"!


----------



## GoneBaroque

@science

American Football is for those who cannot play Soccer!


----------



## larifari

How about the remote control for all the wonderful electronic devices we enjoy?


----------



## Polednice

Wireless internet connection.


----------



## Klavierspieler

1. The tin can
2. The can opener
3. Canned tuna
4. Modern petfoods
5. The kitty litter box
6. The kitty litter
7. Pet beds
8. Human beds
9. High shelves
10. The cat door


----------

