Humankind's Greatest

**Skyward** · 12-23-2010, 10:48 AM

I cast my vote for the wheel, for obvious reasons. Without the wheel it would be almost impossible to move large loads. We'd be back to having Beasts of Burden which are highly expensive to maintain in comparison to the work they do. But it's not just limited to that. The wheel makes travel far easier as well. The car, the plane, the bike, the tank, the just about any other major vehicle. Anywho, that's just my two cents.

Also, I have to disagree with those that are saying evolution. For one thing I don't believe it, but thats a diferent discussion altogether. The point is that if it were true then it still wouldn't be an invention of man's. It would simply be a natural process. If evolution counted as an invention, then so would the rain cycle or plate techtonics. And seeing as those are obviously not inventions, niether is evolution.

**imnothere** · 12-23-2010, 10:50 AM

i would submit psychology to go with Conrads philosophy. for while Philosophy is what we think about things, psychology is why we think it.
the way that Dylans Books go with Falls language, and demons cave is fun for parties, i think that these two thought analyzers go hand in hand.

**Boleslav** · 12-23-2010, 12:27 PM

Great question, Rota! The answer is "education."

Education is the learning of a new concept, skill, or idea. The vehicle for learning is social interaction with a peer. Sometimes that peer is less able than ourselves (me assisting a forum n00bie) or equal (Goats reminding me how to search for spambots), sometimes the peer is more capable (H1T teaching me how to make sigs), and sometimes the mediation occurs through individual interaction with a text.

I would argue that essentially the function of communication is learning. Fall's cave paintings, Rota's sanitation, and Conrad's philosophy nominations are all instantiations of this, humankind's greatest achievement.

**Fallbreeze** · 12-23-2010, 06:02 PM

Originally Posted by Boleslav

Great question, Rota! The answer is "education."

Education is the learning of a new concept, skill, or idea. The vehicle for learning is social interaction with a peer. Sometimes that peer is less able than ourselves (me assisting a forum n00bie) or equal (Goats reminding me how to search for spambots), sometimes the peer is more capable (H1T teaching me how to make sigs), and sometimes the mediation occurs through individual interaction with a text.

I would argue that essentially the function of communication is learning. Fall's cave paintings, Rota's sanitation, and Conrad's philosophy nominations are all instantiations of this, humankind's greatest achievement.

LOL! I'm not surprised you'd say that, Bole.

I'll not argue it, really, since both of ours do tie in together.

What I am surprised at: I would have thought Rota would have nominated the invention of simple mathematics, or the invention of the barter system?

**Kudis** · 12-23-2010, 06:54 PM

The greatest invention have to be gunpowder. Without that the swedish empire would never have been accomplished..

**Boleslav** · 12-23-2010, 06:58 PM

Originally Posted by Kudis

The greatest invention have to be gunpowder. Without that the swedish empire would never have been accomplished..

I totally disagree with you, but I love love love that you made a forum account to post that

**Kudis** · 12-23-2010, 07:08 PM

It was conrad who dragged me here to take our discusisons to the next step xD

**Conrad_Jalowski** · 12-23-2010, 07:08 PM

Yes, the Swedish Empire which lasted from 1611-1721 CE was the greatest military power of its time. Unfortunately, King Charles [Karl] XII of Sweden suffered a great defeat at the battle of Poltava to Tsar Peter I the Great of Russia. However, the Swedes did achieve a spectacular victory despite great odds at the earlier battle of Narva. As usual, the overextension of manpower and the increasing strains placed upon an ever advancing force allowed the Russians to disrupt the flow of supplies and the line of communication of the ponderous armies of the Swedes which resulted in the rapid depletion of available resources and the deterioration of the advancing Swedish forces. King Charles XII should have never allowed his forces to be thinly stretched and he should not have pursued the Russians into the Ukraine. The tale of King Charles [Karl] XII of Sweden is a tale of military hubris and an overconfidence in victory.