Biggest event ever?

[Whitey James]

Has anything had more of an impact on human beings than the advent of the Internet? Generation X is the last generation that grew up without it.

 

 

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

My vote goes to the airplane and human flight.

[Rip Snorter]

My Wife & I, and later our children, were earlyish adopters, us for work.  Very successful in work life, we were ahead of the curve. What sticks in my mind is a grade school project on Chameleons my son had.  Things were such that he was in direct contact via the net, with a World Renowned expert.  Unfortunately, I do not believe that would happen today.  Kind of Dodge City or Tombstone Cubed.  Check this out (long) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/everyone-is-cheating-their-way-through-college/ar-AA1EjCRk

[Blackwater 53393]

I’m in the air travel crowd!  Perhaps equally important was the automobile!

 

(borrowed from the internet)

“Before the advent of automobiles, the average person rarely traveled far from their birthplace. A lifetime's worth of travel usually involved walking, riding horses, or boat travel on rivers and coastlines, rarely exceeding a few hundred miles. Most people's lives were centered around their local area, with travel primarily for necessity or occasional leisure.”

 

 

Edited May 8, 2025 by Blackwater 53393

[Pat Riot]

The printing press. I think it had the greatest impact on everything up until the internet. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

Some good suggestions. I'd have to go with the discovery of antibiotics or vaccines.  

Or maybe insecticides. 

[El Sobrante Kid]

The discovery and harnessing of electricity. Without it, none of the modern goodies would function (or exist). Electricity is such a fundamental part of our lives now, we frequently don't realize what life would be like without it.

[Texas Joker]

Ferguson's 3 point hitch and industrial farming.  

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

The bread slicer

[Rye Miles #13621]

Smokeless powder! 

 

Just kidding (kinda) I’ll go with electricity. 

[Eyesa Horg]

I'm going to concur with the "electricity" crowd. All the others pretty much depend on it, except antibiotics etc.

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I've been working with computers since 1966.

 

I still don't understand them, don't trust them, hate what I have to deal with just to get something very simple because everyone seems to use them for everything but scratching their butts.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

36 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I've been working with computers since 1966.

 

I still don't understand them, don't trust them, hate what I have to deal with just to get something very simple because everyone seems to use them for everything but scratching their butts.

So, you haven’t seen Butt Scratcher+ ?

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

1 hour ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

everyone seems to use them for everything but scratching their butts.

There's an app for that.

[Cypress Sun]

In my opinion, the internet is far down the list as far as the biggest event in human history.

 

Far more important events prior to the internet, such as....

 

- Evolution of language.

- Progressive advancements in metallurgy.

- Gunpowder.

- Use of petroleum as a form of energy.

- Penicillin, vaccines and advancement in medicine.

- Electricity.

- Flight.

 

AI and the internet could  will possibly be the most important "event" in human history for a number of bad reasons, namely in the form of human complete trust and reliance ON computers, AI and the internet.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Nobody mentioned anything religious.

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

The brainiacs say agriculture was the launch for real civilization.

[Subdeacon Joe]

2 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Nobody mentioned anything religious.

 

Didn't want to start doctrinal or sectarian arguments. 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Celestial navigation and the sextant. 

 

 

[J-BAR #18287]

Tough to do anything when you and your family are hungry.

 

Another vote for modern agriculture here.

[Subdeacon Joe]

 

 

 

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

So according to those who think they know . Agriculture and the domestication of animals. It meant a stable and consistent food source. Sans droughts, hail, pests,  and thieves. And domestic animals meant again food, labor source, and clothing. Which meant they could stay in one place and build villages leading to cities. Then they invented the internet and it all went wrong.

[Pat Riot]

Always look at the vocation and education of “those in the know”. Their opinions usually track with what they know or what they have been taught to know. 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

21 hours ago, Pat Riot said:

Always look at the vocation and education of “those in the know”. Their opinions usually track with what they know or what they have been taught to know. 

As somebody once said, "It's not what don't you know that gets you in trouble, it's what you know that ain't so."

Edited May 10, 2025 by Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770

[Sedalia Dave]

The DEFINITIVE ANSWER.

 

 

 

[Kid Rich]

On 5/8/2025 at 10:18 AM, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Nobody mentioned anything religious.

Religion claimed both ends of the good to bad spectrum.

kR