Mankind's Greatest Accomplishment

[stabnex]

In my humble opinion I am proudest of mankind's assurance of its extinction hundreds-of not thousands-of years ahead of time through the destruction of the ozone layer leading to a violent ice age that won't end until we're all gone. ^-^ aaah, happy thoughts.

Won't end 'til enough industry is gone to re-balance the environment, you mean.

yeah, that'll happen.

 

[Mad Maniac with axe-firing chainsaw]

The escapist of course.

Well, I'd have to go with sliced bread.

Ok, seriously... I'd go with the internet and the process of combustion. The world was practically intraverseable until those came along.

 

[Seekster]

I'm torn between opposable thumbs and speech.

Opposable thumbs and speech arent technically achievements since they were not something we worked towards and intentionally accomplished.

The moon landing is held in such a high regard because we set a goal and then met that goal. Apollo 11 was the first time that mankind stood on another planet. No other achievement can hold the same weight with all of mankind. It was a shared experience that those who saw it will never forget.

The first landing of humans on the moon is an achievement that is simply in a league of its own and in my mind will not be topped in terms of emotional impact until we walk on the surface of Mars.

 

[mdk31]

In my humble opinion I am proudest of mankind's assurance of its extinction hundreds-of not thousands-of years ahead of time through the destruction of the ozone layer leading to a violent ice age that won't end until we're all gone. ^-^ aaah, happy thoughts.

Won't end 'til enough industry is gone to re-balance the environment, you mean.

yeah, that'll happen.

Perhaps if you took half a second to think you'd know what I meant. If the ice age catastrophe blah blah etc. happens as you say, it'll kill people. A lot of people. Especially in the north, where ice sheets will cover what is now land. There's a lot of industry in the north, like in Europe and North America. When that happens, less industry will be working, because it will be destroyed, or there'll be not enough people around to run it. Got it now?

 

[CheeseSandwichCake]

COULD YOU BELIIIEEEEVE WE PUT A MAN ON THE MOON?!

 

[cleverlymadeup]

i'm going to have to say the moon landing, simply because of the difficulty of landing and taking off on another object in space

 

[Graustein]

I'm torn between opposable thumbs and speech.

Opposable thumbs and speech arent technically achievements since they were not something we worked towards and intentionally accomplished.

The moon landing is held in such a high regard because we set a goal and then met that goal. Apollo 11 was the first time that mankind stood on another planet. No other achievement can hold the same weight with all of mankind. It was a shared experience that those who saw it will never forget.

The first landing of humans on the moon is an achievement that is simply in a league of its own and in my mind will not be topped in terms of emotional impact until we walk on the surface of Mars.

I see no reason to discount an accomplishment simply because it wasn't consciously sought. A great number of mankind's achievements were completely accidental, and at least as many were interesting side-effects of other endeavours. I'm simply saying that, in my view, opposable thumbs and speech have done more for our species than anything else we have come up with since. Few other species have developed either, none to the degree we have. I'd say that this uniqueness in an unbelievably diverse ecosystem is a pretty good accomplishment.

 

[Insert Comedy Here]

Puffo's, may something awesome befall the person that invented those.
And grilled cheese.

 

[stabnex]

In my humble opinion I am proudest of mankind's assurance of its extinction hundreds-of not thousands-of years ahead of time through the destruction of the ozone layer leading to a violent ice age that won't end until we're all gone. ^-^ aaah, happy thoughts.

Won't end 'til enough industry is gone to re-balance the environment, you mean.

yeah, that'll happen.

Perhaps if you took half a second to think you'd know what I meant. If the ice age catastrophe blah blah etc. happens as you say, it'll kill people. A lot of people. Especially in the north, where ice sheets will cover what is now land. There's a lot of industry in the north, like in Europe and North America. When that happens, less industry will be working, because it will be destroyed, or there'll be not enough people around to run it. Got it now?

You make a valid point, and I understood what you were saying. The point I guess I made a little to succinctly was that human greed has a tendency to overpower rationality. Sure enough blah blah blah, yeah it'll stop eventually crippling industry, but it won't stop it. What few humans survive will be just as greedy and shortsighted as ever. My main hope is that nature gets the job done right the first time.

Also: Funyuns [http://www.fritolay.com/our-snacks/funyuns-onion.html] WHOOO!!

 

[matsugawa]

Paper. It's arguably the only medium that's survived through centuries and remains virtually unchanged today. TV and radio have gone either HD and/or into space (via satellite) in less than a century, VHS enjoyed barely 20 years before being usurped by DVD, 8-track was practically stillborn, Laserdisc is gone completely, vinyl is only appreciated as a novelty now, e-Book readers pre-Kindle and Sony have disappeared, Minidisc was crushed by the iPod, 8mm home movies were replaced by tape then by digital all in the span of about 30 years, only the DS supports cartridges now, CD-Rs are cheaper than floppies, and when was the last time you had to buy a tape for an answering machine?

But paper (namely books) are the same now as they were at least 1000 years ago. That's pretty impressive.

 

[Deleric]

I'd say it was Hershey's chocolate

And I'd agree.

Also, am I like the only guy who appreciates digital watches? Those things are NICE.

 

[Seekster]

I'm torn between opposable thumbs and speech.

Opposable thumbs and speech arent technically achievements since they were not something we worked towards and intentionally accomplished.

The moon landing is held in such a high regard because we set a goal and then met that goal. Apollo 11 was the first time that mankind stood on another planet. No other achievement can hold the same weight with all of mankind. It was a shared experience that those who saw it will never forget.

The first landing of humans on the moon is an achievement that is simply in a league of its own and in my mind will not be topped in terms of emotional impact until we walk on the surface of Mars.

I see no reason to discount an accomplishment simply because it wasn't consciously sought. A great number of mankind's achievements were completely accidental, and at least as many were interesting side-effects of other endeavours. I'm simply saying that, in my view, opposable thumbs and speech have done more for our species than anything else we have come up with since. Few other species have developed either, none to the degree we have. I'd say that this uniqueness in an unbelievably diverse ecosystem is a pretty good accomplishment.

Chimps have opposable thumbs, however its hard to consider the act of Chimps having opposable thumbs to be an achievement on their part. An achievement is pretty much by definition, intentional.

 

[reaper_2k9]

I would say technology in general, it seems everyday new and exciting things are happening with computers, cell phones, video games. I mean just look how far we come in say the past five to ten years.

 

[plastic_window]

Language.

I agree. Without language, none of what we've done would even mean anything, because we wouldn't know exactly how astounding it is. Without defining what it is we're doing, it is meaningless.

I don't know if this is what you were going for, G1eet, but I agree anyway

 

[Souplex]

Look real close at the words emblazoned on the avatar. I think you should be able to tell what I hold most dear.

Whales?

Oooh, close. So close. But no.

Not unless we made them, which would be hilarious to me.

The?

 

[Neonbob]

The?

-_-
I'm afraid I must target you now.
You are number 89983 of 1000000000.
Enjoy your time.


I also love air conditioning.

 

[Graustein]

Chimps have opposable thumbs, however its hard to consider the act of Chimps having opposable thumbs to be an achievement on their part. An achievement is pretty much by definition, intentional.

It's not that hard to consider opposable thumbs to be an achievement for the species as a whole. It took no effort on the part of the individual chimpanzee, but that makes the successful manipulation of a banana no less impressive a feat in my eyes when I look at all the animals which can do no such thing.

The OP did ask for what we considered to be mankind's greatest achievement, and I consider our very evolution to be a greater feat than any accomplishment which can result from it, simply because it was directly responsible for the sum of those accomplishments. More than that, it is humanity's achievement more than any other. Our species did it as a whole. That's on a much larger scale than even the lunar landing, which was accomplished by a group of individual humans (a very large group, but not our entire species). You're free to disagree on the semantics of what constitutes an actual achievement if you want, but I see no reason to discount our evolution.

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

I have to throw my hat into the internet circle.

Face it, when that collection of networks becomes self-aware then we will ALL be obsolete. Greatest thing humans could ever have done for the universe, made it so we where no longer needed. I wonder, in passing, if maybe it already is self-aware and just biding it's time, till the point we have 100% automatic manufacturing and power production. Still needs us to replace circuits and power itself at this point...

buit soon... soooooon maaahahahahaha.

 

[DirkGently]

How about becoming self aware? How's that for important?