The greatest ever achievement of mankind?

15-07-2019 4:26pm

we normalise a lot of amazing technology very quickly these days, but throw a kindle/mp3 player into the mix as well

thousands of years of refinement of music and literature and the end results tailored to your preference available in your pocket with a practically infinite range of choice for a monthly fee equivalent to something less than an hour's work.

if it all hadnt happened so quickly you would be staggered at the achievement really

Simi · 15-07-2019 4:27pm

alchemist33 wrote: »

Making stars out of Jedward?

Or what happened 50 years ago, when three brave men took off on a giant explosive device and spent three days in the vacuum of space, landed on a rock, and got back safely again? All planned by hundreds of very smart people with computing power a fraction of your smartphone's. There have been probably advancements in medicine and society that have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and made everyone's lives better, but for the sheer audacity, teamwork and organisation, the moon landing must be our greatest achievement so far.

Agreed, landing on the moon a mere 65 years after the invention of powered flight, with the comparatively primitive technology of the time, is and will likely forever be our great achievement.

It's simply not comparable to anything else, vaccines, farming etc. were all gradual natural progressions in development. The Apollo program set out a seemingly impossible goal and achieved it by pushing human ingunity to it's limits!

riffmongous · 15-07-2019 4:32pm

Former Observer wrote: »

I saw Jedward one time many years ago on the kiddies train in Fota Wildlife park. They were all smiles, and giggling like school girls enjoying all the attention they were getting but when I raised my hand to give them a high five as they streamed past neither one of the boys reciprocated.

That story belongs in the Mankind's Greatest Crimes thread, you NEVER leave someone hanging

branie2 · 15-07-2019 4:49pm

Films

markjbloggs · 15-07-2019 4:52pm

The Alphabet. Greek or Phoenician, take your pick.

mariaalice · 15-07-2019 4:55pm

Learning to cultivate spuds.

wing52 · 15-07-2019 5:00pm

You cant ignore the auld wheel.

A few spokes never went astray either!

Junkyard Tom · 15-07-2019 5:09pm

Clean water. Fresh clean water for drinking, sanitation, and sewerage.

Your Face · 15-07-2019 5:10pm

The Transistor

Infernal Racket · 15-07-2019 5:14pm

alchemist33 wrote: »

Making stars out of Jedward?

Or what happened 50 years ago, when three brave men took off on a giant explosive device and spent three days in the vacuum of space, landed on a rock, and got back safely again? All planned by hundreds of very smart people with computing power a fraction of your smartphone's. There have been probably advancements in medicine and society that have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and made everyone's lives better, but for the sheer audacity, teamwork and organisation, the moon landing must be our greatest achievement so far.

Never happened

freshpopcorn · 15-07-2019 5:15pm

Breakfast roll!

Boom_Bap · 15-07-2019 5:19pm

The Right Click button

Infernal Racket · 15-07-2019 5:45pm

Berties_Horse wrote: »

I've run out of tinfoil, have you got a fresh roll?

The "Apollo 11" documentary is mesmerising.

Hahahaha, I have absolutely nothing to base my theory on except the ramblings of many nutjobs over the years.

IAMAMORON · 15-07-2019 5:45pm

Toilet Roll.

Boom_Bap · 15-07-2019 5:51pm

IAMAMORON wrote: »

Toilet Roll.

The toilet roll holder

flazio · 15-07-2019 5:52pm

Talking

Sheridan81 · 15-07-2019 6:06pm

jaykay74 wrote: »

Fire or the wheel. Or the wheel of fire.

Or Wheel Of Fortune with Carol Smillie.

steamsey wrote: »

Anesthetic and/or soap

Coronation Street.

Hector Savage · 15-07-2019 6:12pm

Father Hernandez wrote: »

And going through the cell a few minutes later, incredible

How do they not get injured ?

InTheShadows · 15-07-2019 6:17pm

Brexit

InTheShadows · 15-07-2019 6:18pm

Gerry G wrote: »

Never happened

Stop that.

Franz Von Peppercorn II · 15-07-2019 6:20pm

Simi wrote: »

Agreed, landing on the moon a mere 65 years after the invention of powered flight, with the comparatively primitive technology of the time, is and will likely forever be our great achievement.

It's simply not comparable to anything else, vaccines, farming etc. were all gradual natural progressions in development. The Apollo program set out a seemingly impossible goal and achieved it by pushing human ingunity to it's limits!

It would have the greatest thing if space travel had become a thing. It didn’t.

The best things that humans ever invented are boring but obvious enough.

Controlling fire.
Agriculture.
Writing.
The printing press.
Electricity.

RMAOK · 15-07-2019 6:24pm

flazio wrote: »

Talking

That can be overrated tbh.....

Littlehorny · 15-07-2019 6:24pm

Writing must be one but for me it's mathematics it gave smart people the tools to understand and work out so much of our planet and the universe around it. I haven't the brain to understand a bit of it but physics and maths blows me away.

bodhrandude · 15-07-2019 6:26pm

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

Vaccines

The Late Doctor Noel Browne, we have to thank for this in Irish history anyway.

markjbloggs · 15-07-2019 6:31pm

bodhrandude wrote: »

The Late Doctor Noel Browne, we have to thank for this in Irish history anyway.

What vaccine did he develop? And how successful was it?

15-07-2019 6:37pm

markjbloggs wrote: »

What vaccine did he develop? And how successful was it?

He didn't invent anything, but he was the first to kick Bishop Brennan up the arse.

The administration was flawless, and although there was some initial adverse reaction, public immunity to the Bishops has since proven very successful.

Hamsterchops · 15-07-2019 6:46pm

Mars bars & pot.
Space travel, interplanetary exploration & levitation all possible whilst chewing, chillin...

Littlehorny · 15-07-2019 6:50pm

bodhrandude wrote: »

The Late Doctor Noel Browne, we have to thank for this in Irish history anyway.

Nah, Doc Browne's greatest achievement was building a time machine from a Delorean

Teepinaw · 15-07-2019 7:03pm

Curry coleslaw chips

Infernal Racket · 15-07-2019 7:08pm

Teepinaw wrote: »

Curry coleslaw chips

Followed by battered Mars bar

bodhrandude · 15-07-2019 7:32pm

markjbloggs wrote: »

What vaccine did he develop? And how successful was it?

He helped eradicate the TB crisis in Ireland when he came into power briefly by starting a mass hospital building programme, so pretty important for the brief time he was a Taoiseach.

RobbingBandit · 15-07-2019 7:34pm

AS GAWD IS MA WITNUS HE IS BROKEN IN HALF

nuyil simp · 15-07-2019 7:36pm

Boom_Bap wrote: »

The Right Click button

the left handed mouse

Greyfox · 15-07-2019 7:37pm

Curry, chocolate and tea

blackbox · 15-07-2019 7:45pm

The electric guitar.

CrabRevolution · 15-07-2019 7:58pm

bodhrandude wrote: »

He helped eradicate the TB crisis in Ireland when he came into power briefly by starting a mass hospital building programme, so pretty important for the brief time he was a Taoiseach.

Noël Browne was never Taoiseach.

AMKC · 15-07-2019 8:21pm

I will say the one no one has said yet. Landing on a Comet there a year or two ago. I was going to the moon which is really the greatest but it has been said so I guess Mars is next only one problem there. We have not landed anyone on Mars yet only robots and Rovers. So that's where all the Rover cars went lol.

Pinch Flat · 15-07-2019 8:23pm

Beaming Love Island to 20,000,000 homes simultaneously.

nuyil simp · 15-07-2019 8:25pm

we have a planet in our solar system entirely inhabited by machines, how cool is that?

The One Doctor · 15-07-2019 8:26pm

Former Observer wrote: »

Literature, music, art. Everything else is a distraction.

You've got that the wrong way around.

harry Bailey esq · 15-07-2019 8:27pm

Has anyone mentioned sliced bread?

stimpson · 15-07-2019 8:37pm

Your Face wrote: »

The Transistor

I can’t believe I was the only person to thank this post. I guess it just shows us how ubiquitous they have become.

I say that the transistor is the most important invention ever. More important than the printing press. Landing on the moon is great, but they couldn’t have done it without transistors. The ability to manufacturer chips with billions of transistors at a vanishingly small cost per transistor gives us the tools to research and model almost anything you can think of. If anything saves us from any of the myriad of impending dooms we face as a species, it will be done with transistors..

scamalert · 15-07-2019 8:40pm

the man who ate some cheese covered in mold just to find out penicillin :pac:

imme · 15-07-2019 8:42pm

Surviving

JupiterKid · 15-07-2019 8:47pm

Humankind has made so many achievements and advances over the past 10 millenia it is very difficult to pick one out as the greatest one of all.

However the top five in my book would be:

Writing
Agriculture
Fire
Computing
Space Travel

JupiterKid · 15-07-2019 8:50pm

nuyil simp wrote: »

we have a planet in our solar system entirely inhabited by machines, how cool is that?

Yes, it's cool but it will be much more cool when those machines on Mars are joined by the first human explorers.

Wibbs · 15-07-2019 9:30pm

stimpson wrote: »

I say that the transistor is the most important invention ever. More important than the printing press.

While the transister is an amazing invention S, without the printing press the modern world including the transistor would simply not have happened until it was invented. Without the printing press it's unlikely the Reformation would have happened, nor the Enlightenment. Printing gives you concepts like indexing(the interwebs wouldn't work without that), jargon, a massive increase in specialisation which gave rise to more research and more thorough research. Look at how Europe rapidly advanced compared to cultures that didn't use it, including China who largely came up with the concept. They stagnated.

odyssey06 · 15-07-2019 9:35pm

As an achievement... the original population of North America... all the logistical challenges of a new continent AND the threat of mega predators such as the giant running bear.

Printing press is a good shout too but I would class it as an invention. I think an achievement should battle adversity.

Roger Hassenforder · 15-07-2019 9:38pm

Language
Fire
Wheel
Domestication of animals

4068ac1elhodqr · 15-07-2019 9:40pm

Someone from 2030 said it was time-travel, also added as a word of caution, to be beware of Skynet.

The greatest ever achievement of mankind?

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