The Most Significant Event in Human History (years, civilization, ancestors)

[fjtee]

Walking upright. It gave us the ability to see further, carry things more easily, and dance. Cha cha cha.

[Capt. Dan]

1- the ability to irrigate
2-inventing gunpowder
3-discovery of penicillin
4 ability to aviate
5-written language

[Goodpasture]

Originally Posted by Capt. Dan

1- the ability to irrigate

for some reason I thought, at first, you said the ability to irritate

[TCMlover]

1. invention of the wheel
2. invention by Guttenberg of the printing press

for just making life more pleasant, indoor plumbing and air conditioning

[bricklayer25]

Yes, all these things are important. But if it wasn't for Jesus, none of us would be here talking about this question. I mean, he is the light of the world, so that trumps fire. He is the life of the world, so that trumps the lives of other brilliant people like Einstein and Newton. He is the bread of life, so that trumps the development of agriculture. He is the word, so that trumps the printing press and internet. He is the creator of heaven and earth, so that trumps any of the physical processes like divinely directed collisions or volcanic activity. And lastly, you can never know he is the son of god and savior of the world by the scientific method alone, so that trumps the scientific method (although I love the scientific method). There you go.

[chilaili]

Invention of the wheel and discovery of how to make fire

[Fred314X]

The concept of the city, which made it possible for humans to stop being nomads and start building civilizations.

[Pug Life]

Originally Posted by bricklayer25

Yes, all these things are important. But if it wasn't for Jesus, none of us would be here talking about this question. I mean, he is the light of the world, so that trumps fire. He is the life of the world, so that trumps the lives of other brilliant people like Einstein and Newton. He is the bread of life, so that trumps the development of agriculture. He is the word, so that trumps the printing press and internet. He is the creator of heaven and earth, so that trumps any of the physical processes like divinely directed collisions or volcanic activity. And lastly, you can never know he is the son of god and savior of the world by the scientific method alone, so that trumps the scientific method (although I love the scientific method). There you go.

Well, the whole Jesus thing is significant because it was the beginning of the 2000 year old cult that has attempted to take over the world for centuries...
That post is so insane that it almost seems like a joke...can anyone actually think that Jesus has more significance to their daily life than the inventors who have created everything we use on a daily basis, or the people who made it possible for us all to be fed?

To me, the most important events in human history were the wars that led to the decimation of many peoples while leading to the rise of others. Genghis Khan's birth was more significant to us than Jesus' because he slaughtered millions while fathering so many kids that supposedly 1/200 of us is genetically descended from him. He changed the landscape of Asia, Europe and the Middle East and led to many of the political struggles we've seen over the past 750 years. Had he not slaughtered so many Muslims, the Ottoman Turks would have conquered Europe and Christianity would be in far less power than it is today.

That being said, the world is far too complicated for one event to be considered the most important in history. After all, for Americans, the Civil War is one of the most significant periods in history, but to the Chinese, it doesn't matter at all. Jesus is only important to certain people, the majority of people in the world could care less about him.

[jtur88]

Portable Wealth, AKA Money. Everything else, wheel, fire, agriculture, would have arisen simply as an obvious need, and probably through accident. But portable wealth required a design and widespread cultural agreement to something abstract.

[stanman13]

I don't know that this can be narrowed to a single event, but our realization of the basic laws of physics seems pretty important to me. It gave rise to so many things, the scientific method included.