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Most defining event during our lifetimes

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  • #32
    Quazzie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 30,772 ✭✭✭✭Quazzie


    mike65 wrote: »
    "our lifetime" is a bit flexible as it depends on your age and how long you have till you die.

    The biggest event so far in mine - collapse of Soviet communism but the biggest yet to come is end of oil
    I dont think you'll be alive for that Mike.

    plus its of this generation not specific to individual lifetimes


  • #33
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,968 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    hey! we're all living much longer these days!

    /feels for zimmer frame


  • #34
    Quazzie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 30,772 ✭✭✭✭Quazzie


    Oil is going to last at least another 70-100 years, for two reasons.
    1. We are/will become less dependant on it.
    2. There are oil fields belonging to China that aren't even developed yet.


  • #35
    4zn76tysfajdxp
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,944 ✭✭✭✭4zn76tysfajdxp


    m83 wrote: »
    My birth.

    Yeah, it's one of those questions:
    • Where were you when the Titanic sank?
    • Where were you when Kennedy was shot?
    • Where were you when Lennon was shot?
    • Where were you on 9/11?
    • Where were you when m83 was born?

    All pivotal moments in our world's young lifetime.


  • #36
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 14,379 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    mike65 wrote: »
    The biggest event so far in mine - collapse of Soviet communism but the biggest yet to come is end of oil

    Sad but true.

    September 11th 2001 for me.


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  • #37
    asdasd
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,185 ✭✭✭asdasd


    Actually I thought of one other historical even which is far more important than Obama's election and it is Tim Berners Lee's new fangled mark-up language from 1992.

    EDIT:

    Without which we wouldnt be here.


  • #38
    prendy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,321 ✭✭✭prendy


    i think september 11th is the defining moment, i dont think another world event has changed the way we live as much as that single day.

    i think in 10 years time the current banking collapse will be included but as we dont know when it will end and what the long term ramifications will be it's too early to put this in yet.


  • #39
    Biggins
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 34,567 ✭✭✭✭Biggins


    asdasd wrote: »
    25 years from today starts in 1984. The man on the moon is not a world defining event because nothing else happened, and King is a local poltical even in America.

    Strange, I thought the title of the thread was "Most defining event during our lifetimes"

    Sorry, didn't see the hidden clauses saying it was only for the last 25 years, a non-local (King a local event!!!) political event and had to be continuous!

    :rolleyes:


  • #40
    asdasd
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,185 ✭✭✭asdasd


    King a local event!!!

    I meant it was local to America. I think people over-estimate the impact of America on the world, which is why the election of Obama - the reason for this thread - is not that important. In mu opinion, of course. YOu may argue it had effects across the globe.


  • #41
    kevpants
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,863 ✭✭✭kevpants


    The 9/11 vs Tsunami thing reminds me of some comedian who I can't rememebr talking about how he was touring around South America in September 2001 and was in some little shop with a crappy portable TV behind the counter.

    He saw what was happening and thought "Wow, these south american countries are fukced up", and kind of shook his head and went to leave.

    Then he realised where this was happening, New York! And that the people in the buildings spoke english! And that this was THE GREATEST CATASTROPHE THE WORLD HAS EVER WITNESSED!!!!11!!eleven!!!1


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  • #42
    Latchy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,190 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    John Lennons Death (3 years out )
    The Berlin wall
    9/11
    Obama


  • #43
    asdasd
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,185 ✭✭✭asdasd


    Sorry, didn't see the hidden clauses saying it was only for the last 25 years, a non-local(King a local event!!!) political event and had to be continuous!

    Well the 25 years was mentioned in the original post, and as for conintuous - if man getting the moon were to lead to something it would be, in retrospect, a defining moment.

    1492 was a defining moment because of what Columbus did next. if hothing else happened, and Europeans stayed away it would be a side story. Some chap got lost.


  • #44
    OldGoat
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,647 ✭✭✭✭OldGoat


    Biggins wrote: »
    Strange, I thought the title of the thread was "Most defining event during our lifetimes"

    Sorry, didn't see the hidden clauses saying it was only for the last 25 years, a non-local (King a local event!!!) political event and had to be continuous!

    :rolleyes:
    I blame the OP. Danged young'ns can't even phrase a question proper.

    I'm older than Minecraft goats.



  • #45
    Earthhorse
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,728 ✭✭✭✭Earthhorse


    mike65 wrote: »
    "our lifetime" is a bit flexible as it depends on your age and how long you have till you die.

    Yeah, not entirely sure what the scope of the thread is. The Berlin Wall collapsing and September 11 to me seem like the biggest individual moments that led to huge changes on a large scale or at least were symbolic of them.
    asdasd wrote: »
    Actually I thought of one other historical even which is far more important than Obama's election and it is Tim Berners Lee's new fangled mark-up language from 1992.

    Surprised it took so long for this to be mentioned. The internet has changed how we, as human beings, interact with the world and each other. We've yet to see the first internet from infant generation come of age too and it will be interesting to see how it shapes them and their social interactions.


  • #46
    Mint Sauce
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,293 ✭✭✭✭Mint Sauce


    OldGoat wrote: »
    Agest! Some of us go back further then that.:)
    First man on the moon.


    but does it count if it was done in a TV studio

    :confused:


  • #47
    4zn76tysfajdxp
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,944 ✭✭✭✭4zn76tysfajdxp


    Earthhorse wrote: »
    We've yet to see the first internet from infant generation come of age too and it will be interesting to see how it shapes them and their social interactions.

    I don't know about their social interactions, but I'd say they'll be shaped like eggs.


  • #48
    IvyTheTerrible
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,949 ✭✭✭✭IvyTheTerrible


    Collapse of communism
    9/11
    The tsunami (yes)
    The collapse of the world banking system.

    I am waiting for:
    The last of the oil
    Wars over food supply


  • #49
    Earthhorse
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,728 ✭✭✭✭Earthhorse


    Sloan Nervous Elf wrote: »
    I don't know about their social interactions.

    Maybe someday Sloan Nervous Elf, eh? Maybe someday.


  • #50
    Mc Love
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,015 ✭✭✭✭Mc Love


    of my lifetime, i think it has to be the 9/11 attacks. Nothing has shocked or scared me as much


  • #51
    pallepille
    Closed Accounts Posts: 124 ✭✭pallepille


    didnt they bring the Wispa back


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  • #52
    shane86
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,584 ✭✭✭shane86


    9/11. Hard to believe it is approaching 8 years.

    My housemates took over the sitting room from 7 until midnight watching chick flicks last night, so the Obama inauguration has pretty much went over my head in terms of watching any of it (though I did watch a bit online, just to hear him say "I, Barack HUSSEIN Obama..." in the oath. Take that Alabama! :pac: )

    Barring Ireland winning or coming close to winning the World Cup/Euros I cant think of anything in the future which could come close to 9/11.


  • #53
    Latchy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,190 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    irish-stew wrote: »
    but does it count if it was done in a TV studio

    :confused:
    You need conspiracy theories thread .

    ( Forgot to mention moon landings )


  • #54
    skywalker
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,707 ✭✭✭skywalker


    asdasd wrote: »
    Well the 25 years was mentioned in the original post, and as for conintuous - if man getting the moon were to lead to something it would be, in retrospect, a defining moment.

    1492 was a defining moment because of what Columbus did next. if hothing else happened, and Europeans stayed away it would be a side story. Some chap got lost.

    Just to clarify, Im asking about what people consider to be the most defining event in their own lives, so if your 100, feel free to pick from the last 100 years.


  • #55
    stovelid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,252 ✭✭✭✭stovelid


    Communication advances ('Net, phones, personal technology, file-sharing and its effect on intellectual property) - I'm loath to say 'Information Age'. Also globalization of media
    Globalization of sport, especially football with the concomitant ill-effects on local sports, traditions
    Economic depression
    Postmodern stasis in popular music: 'originality' is fatally compromised or no longer even possible, circuity, and endless, knowing, cannibalization of trends
    Collapse of Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc
    US 'War on Terror'/ Rise of Islamic fundamentalism
    Rise of China as a superpower
    AIDS
    Election of black president to US office


    I disagree about 9/11. Perhaps in terms of the uniqueness and scale of the attack, but there was plenty of (non-US) lives lost in other terrorist attacks in this period


  • #56
    Keano
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 12,810 Mod ✭✭✭✭Keano


    9/11

    Obama - the world waits...


  • #57
    Earthhorse
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,728 ✭✭✭✭Earthhorse


    stovelid wrote: »
    I disagree about 9/11. Perhaps in terms of the uniqueness and scale of the attack, but there was plenty of (non-US) lives lost in other terrorist attacks in this period

    It's not really about the lives lost but the fallout after the attack. The Afghanistan war, the Iraq war, the Bush presidency and everything it did. One might even argue that Obama would not have gotten into power had the circumstances had been different. It was clearly a game changing event.

    Speaking of which, that's the Edge World Question centre topic for 2009. I'm currently on page 2 but the answers aren't as interesting in this years compared to previous ones: http://www.edge.org/q2009/q09_1.html.


  • #58
    walshb
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 61,078 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    Nodin wrote: »
    And not the Tsunami that killed somewhere between 190 - 290,000 thousand people.

    No, if it was, I would have listed that!


  • #59
    JBoyle4eva
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,264 ✭✭✭JBoyle4eva


    Born in '88, these are the moments I remember:

    The Good Friday Agreement
    Millennium Celebration
    The Euro switchover
    The film Titanic breaking records in the box office :O
    Setember 11th
    Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty
    The current economic downturn

    And yes, I would include Barack Obama's election into these moments.


  • #60
    walshb
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 61,078 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    stovelid wrote: »
    Communication advances ('Net, phones, personal technology, file-sharing and its effect on intellectual property) - I'm loath to say 'Information Age'. Also globalization of media
    Globalization of sport, especially football with the concomitant ill-effects on local sports, traditions
    Economic depression
    Postmodern stasis in popular music: 'originality' is fatally compromised or no longer even possible, circuity, and endless, knowing, cannibalization of trends
    Collapse of Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc
    US 'War on Terror'/ Rise of Islamic fundamentalism
    Rise of China as a superpower
    AIDS
    Election of black president to US office


    I disagree about 9/11. Perhaps in terms of the uniqueness and scale of the attack, but there was plenty of (non-US) lives lost in other terrorist attacks in this period

    Yes, and there was plenty of non U.S lives lost in the 9/11 attack!

    It was an attack on humanity and the free world.

    That's not to say the 'free world' are immune or infallible!


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  • #61
    big b
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,432 ✭✭✭big b


    The moon landings may not have changed the course of politics or killed thousands, neither did breaking the 4 minute mile, but in terms of human ingenuity, courage, achievement & taking "one great leap for mankind" it's the single event that made the most lasting impression on me, and probably all those who were around at the time.

    Like a lot of things, it's very easy to dismiss it when it's before your time.
    Sometimes an act itself is enough, it doesn't have to lead to something else.


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