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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Senate What is the "best thing" that humans have ever done?

Discussion in 'Community' started by Ghost, Aug 14, 2011.

  1. Katana_Geldar

    Katana_Geldar Jedi Grand Master star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2003
    I see a challenge! :D
     
  2. Mortimer_Snerd

    Mortimer_Snerd Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 14, 2004
    No, but it can generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity needed to get your DeLorean back to 1985.

     
  3. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Oct 13, 2003
    To slightly update and bump (wanted to tag everyone, but the page kept crashing)…

    *Communication/Language (Kawphy, Darth_Yuthura, Ender_Sai … fiercely contested by Jabba-wocky)
    *Plant/Animal Domestication (Jabbadabbado)
    *Science (Darth_Yuthura, shanerjedi)
    *Compassion (DarthBoba)
    *The Internet (Darth Geist)
    *The United Nations (SithLord_Darth_Vader)
    *Defeat of the Axis Powers in WWII (MasterDillon)
    *Creation of the United States (MasterDillon)
    *Photography (WormieSaber)
    *Survival since Nuclear Weapons (firesaber, Gonk)
    *Religion/Christianity (Obi-Zahn Kenobi)
    *Writing (Mortimer_Snerd)
    *The Washing Machine (Kawphy)
    *Recognize Slavery as abhorrent (Kawphy)
    *Harnessing Electricity (darthdrago, Sauntaero)

    *Landing on the Moon (Mustafar_66, Katana_Geldar)


    What do people think about the pro's/con's of each being "the best thing that humans have ever done"? Most people provided an argument for their case. I'll go through this list myself later, along with any new ideas that people come up with.

    Maybe there are some that could be combined too? For example: Photography, Writing and the Internet are all basically forms of communication.
     
  4. AaylaSecurOWNED

    AaylaSecurOWNED Jedi Master star 6

    Registered:
    May 19, 2005
  5. Darth Somnambulous

    Darth Somnambulous Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Bolded the ones I cared to comment on.

    *Communication/Language (Kawphy, Darth_Yuthura, Ender_Sai … fiercely contested by Jabba-wocky)
    I would have to agree with what appears to be the majority on this one. Without our advanced communication, most if not all of the other things on this list would have been impossible.

    *Plant/Animal Domestication (Jabbadabbado)

    *Science (Darth_Yuthura, shanerjedi)

    This would be my second choice of those on the list. I would only rank communication before it because I think language is very necessary for science. The scientific process and results of it have been responsible for some of the most amazing things accomplished by "modern" humans. (See below)

    *Compassion (DarthBoba)

    Possibly the only of these that could be accomplished without language, but I would argue that many animals are also capable of compassion.

    *The Internet (Darth Geist)
    *The United Nations (SithLord_Darth_Vader)


    *Defeat of the Axis Powers in WWII (MasterDillon)
    *Creation of the United States (MasterDillon)

    I think both of these are a bit, well, nationalistic.

    *Photography (WormieSaber)
    *Survival since Nuclear Weapons (firesaber, Gonk)
    *Religion/Christianity (Obi-Zahn Kenobi)

    *Writing (Mortimer_Snerd)
    I feel like this could be grouped with Communication, even though they were not developed simultaneously.

    *The Washing Machine (Kawphy)

    lol

    *Recognize Slavery as abhorrent (Kawphy)


    *Harnessing Electricity (darthdrago, Sauntaero)
    *Landing on the Moon (Mustafar_66, Katana_Geldar)
    I think both of these can be grouped in with science.
     
    DarthBoba and Darth-Ghost like this.
  6. DarthBoba

    DarthBoba Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2000
    I don't think you can label "science" as one big thing. I'm a science fan, but that doesn't render me blind to the fact that there's been some hideously ugly things done in the name of furthering human knowledge. Facets of science like General Relativity, evolution, space travel, conquering of disease, and so on, sure, but you don't need to lump those wondrous achievements in with eugenics, syphilis tests, and Nazis freezing and dissecting people to learn more about hypothermia.
     
  7. Darth Somnambulous

    Darth Somnambulous Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Language has been used for some horrible things too. I don't think that downplays its importance as a whole or diminishes the good things accomplished through it.
     
  8. Mar17swgirl

    Mar17swgirl Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Dec 26, 2000
    Art and music and literature.
     
  9. TheShinyLightsaber

    TheShinyLightsaber Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    The discovery of natural law, the bedrock for all good laws, as a protector of individual liberty, which is the enemy of all evil and injustice.

    The single most important thing about humanity is respect for each other and through that respect, cooperation. That is what makes us so great, for alone, we would not be where we are, with everyone's individual talents combined like cells, tissues, and organs of a creature all working in harmony for a mutual goal.
     
  10. TheRascalKing

    TheRascalKing Jedi Master

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2008
    *Communication/Language
    This has to be it, or it has to be disqualified for being too broad. Everything else on the list is either: a) a subcategory of communication, b) stems from communication, or c) would be useless without communication.

    *Plant/Animal Domestication
    Would be useless without the ability to teach it to others and pass it on to the next generation

    *Science
    Is the ability comprehend and communicate natural law. It's also way too broad in my opinion.

    *The Internet, Photography, Writing, Art, Music and Literature.
    Are different forms of communication.

    *The United Nations
    Are a means of facilitating communication between nations.

    *Defeat of the Axis Powers in WWII, Creation of the United States, Survival since Nuclear Weapons
    Are political achievements, impossible without communication

    *Religion/Christianity
    Require communication to propagate.

    *Recognize Slavery as abhorrent
    Requires the capacity for abstract thought, which, as Kawphy pointed out stems from the development of language.

    *Harnessing Electricity,The Washing Machine, Landing on the Moon
    All stem from science/engineering



    Even "Call Me Maybe" is a song (which is a form of communication) about a plea for communication.
     
    Darth Somnambulous likes this.
  11. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2006
    I'm going to have to continue to lend my support to the scientific method as the single greatest/best thing humanity has achieved. It's a method that presents the best current understanding of nature and the universe.

    Actually, I'd say you're lumping those terrible things with the wondrous achievements. I doubt anyone else here who said science was thinking "syphilis tests" when he or she posted.
     
  12. Fluke_Groundrunner

    Fluke_Groundrunner Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 1, 2001
    Should communication really count? I mean, animals can communicate but they haven't gone to the moon.
     
  13. Darth Somnambulous

    Darth Somnambulous Jedi Padawan star 1

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    Sep 2, 2012
    Animals don't have the same level of communication that we do.
     
  14. tom

    tom Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 14, 2004
    i have to fiercely contest this, now that i have done the macarena.
     
  15. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2006
    Well, it really depends on the definition of something we as humans have actively "done." Humans didn't choose to develop communication. It just happened.
     
  16. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    Your mom.
     
  17. Darth Somnambulous

    Darth Somnambulous Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Pretty sure the scientific method just "happened" because we needed a way to figure things out. Just like communication just "happened" because we needed ways to share ideas with other people.
     
  18. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2006
    Perhaps I should word it better. The ability to communicate is a part of our biology. Like our ability to think or our thumbs.
     
  19. Darth Somnambulous

    Darth Somnambulous Jedi Padawan star 1

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    Sep 2, 2012
    All human achievements have to have been allowed by our biology or we wouldn't have achieved them.
     
  20. Fluke_Groundrunner

    Fluke_Groundrunner Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 1, 2001
    They don't, but it's still communication. I think that "communication" is too broad. I could see narrowing it down to developing language, but that is something that is still pretty broad as it is still a common feature among all humans and cultures.
     
  21. Jabba-wocky

    Jabba-wocky Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    May 4, 2003
    No it didn't. What are you talking about? Human society existed for literally several millennia worth of recorded history--let alone prior--without the scientific method ever coming up. By contrast, humans spontaneously began to develop language, so long as there are at least two of them. This happens even if they are in isolation.
     
  22. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2006
    I didn't say allowed, I said "a part of."

    If we're going to allow communication, I retract the scientific method and instead posit 'abstract thought' as the best things humans done.
     
  23. Jabba-wocky

    Jabba-wocky Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    May 4, 2003
    I think the best things humans have ever done is develop neuronal networks with high plasticity and rapid synaptic transmission.
     
  24. Darth Somnambulous

    Darth Somnambulous Jedi Padawan star 1

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    Sep 2, 2012
    Well, science did not originate with the scientific method. Just as language (not simple communication) did not originate with the same level of detail as it has today.
     
  25. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2006
    I never said science, though. I said specifically the scientific method.