MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - The 10 Most Important Events in Human History

6charlong · 04-08-2011, 04:42 PM

I don't think it's possible to list the most important events in human history in only ten items. You might make a list of ten events in Western European history, and ten events in Chinese history, Middle Eastern history, ten events in pre-Colombian America, etc., then list the ten most important things the Europeans borrowed from China and the ten the Chinese borrowed from Europe, etc., but these lists get very complicated.

Something like gunpowder was important but might be seen as doing more harm than good outside of the culture that developed it and events like the development of Christianity and Islam are important within the cultures where they emerged but proved harmful outside of their native cultures.

The universal things are the simplest ones that were adopted by people everywhere. There are fewer of these. Treating inventions as events:

language
control of fire
cooking food
clothing
tool making
counting
domestication of dogs
agriculture
peaceful trade
marriage

These seem to be fairly universal to humans. All of them break down under environmental stress though.

04-08-2011, 04:42 PM	#12
6charlong friendly lurker Posts: 896 Karma: 2436026 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: US Device: Kindle, nook, Apple and Kobo	I don't think it's possible to list the most important events in human history in only ten items. You might make a list of ten events in Western European history, and ten events in Chinese history, Middle Eastern history, ten events in pre-Colombian America, etc., then list the ten most important things the Europeans borrowed from China and the ten the Chinese borrowed from Europe, etc., but these lists get very complicated. Something like gunpowder was important but might be seen as doing more harm than good outside of the culture that developed it and events like the development of Christianity and Islam are important within the cultures where they emerged but proved harmful outside of their native cultures. The universal things are the simplest ones that were adopted by people everywhere. There are fewer of these. Treating inventions as events: language control of fire cooking food clothing tool making counting domestication of dogs agriculture peaceful trade marriage These seem to be fairly universal to humans. All of them break down under environmental stress though.