Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Gawdawful · 07-02-2003, 08:22 PM

I vote for indoor plumbing. Yep, don't know what I'd do without it.

Actually, a friend's great-grandmother was asked at her 100th birthday, "What was the greatest invention in the your 100 years?" She said "Running water." She spent most of her youth and the first 30 years of marriage hauling buckets of water from a spring a quarter mile from their house. I guess it's all in your personal perspective.

Warren, flushing away, in Oklahoma

crocodile deathroll · 07-02-2003, 10:59 PM

I think I made the same mistake most of you made. I picked "Science and Technology" should of picked language. How can one pass on their new scientific ideas without language.

<Grunt!>The Wheel</Grunt!><Grunt!>E=mc^2 </Grunt!>

elwoodblues · 07-02-2003, 11:08 PM

Quote:

I think I made the same mistake most of you made. I picked "Science and Technology" should of picked language. How can one pass on their new scientific ideas without language.

I would call language neither a creation nor an invention. Language acquisition and use is more a skill inherent in homo sapiens, like seeing in 3 dimensions or walking upright. I have a tough time classifying it alongside these other things, that more or less took an act of volition to create or develop. Surely, it's essential. But I can't call it a great invention.

Vibrant Red · 07-02-2003, 11:35 PM

NUTELLA! What is wrong with you people?! That's god's gift to mankind!

Darwin26 · 07-03-2003, 12:38 AM

Viagra ! bar none

and the gas engine...

But for the life of me i'd have to say mr bellows is out to lunch...

Necessity is the Mother of Invention ... and cave painting came long before your little applied sciences ...

To be sure they are mutually exclusive... Art is not Science and has no need for it, similarly Science is it's own ballgame ...however it henges on *ingenuity* .

Stiletto One · 07-03-2003, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Vibrant Red
NUTELLA! What is wrong with you people?! That's god's gift to mankind!

*yawn
I vote goldfish.

BTW, you're even easier to trace than I am. Three posts and it's immediately obvious who you are!

Anyway, my more serious suggestion: contraceptives.

07-04-2003, 05:54 AM

I think that religion actually is the human mind�s greatest invention. It is the only thing in the poll that that does not flow out of some sort of necessity. Monkeys are capable of using a tool (a simple stick) to poke ants out of a hollow, and what is our technology but an extrapolation of this simple skill. Language and the arts are merely the grunts of overdeveloped apes.

Religion is not needed to feed, clothe or house us yet countless generations make it the central platform for their thoughts and actions. It is the only thing that separates us from the monkey with a stick.

CV

Howard · 07-04-2003, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by wonkothesane
... why are Jewish people so damn smart? I'm serious ans don't mean to offend - but some of the smartest people that I have know or read about are Jews...

Natural selection. After a couple of thousand years of persecution, and having to live by their guile and their wits, Jews had to be pretty smart to survive. Dumb Jews didn't live long enough to reproduce.

phaedrus · 07-04-2003, 06:39 AM

Greatest Invention => GOD
Greatest Discovery => GOD DOESNT EXIST

Greatest Creation => ideologies / self-referential worlds

Darwin26 · 07-04-2003, 07:59 AM

monkey i'd rather
BE
with a stick
or a ball

but a human
with religion
is Sick with
viral conventions

View Poll Results: What Are the Human Mind's Greatest Creations?
Science & Technology?	34	48.57%
Art?	2	2.86%
Music?	4	5.71%
Language?	9	12.86%
Written Language?	8	11.43%
Literature? (meaning written language + the possibility for creative fiction, poetry)	3	4.29%
Math?	3	4.29%
Philosophy?	1	1.43%
Religion? (Just kidding?)	1	1.43%
Something Else? (please specify)	5	7.14%
Voters: 70. You may not vote on this poll

07-02-2003, 10:59 PM	#22
crocodile deathroll Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Darwin Posts: 1,466	Oops!!!!!! I think I made the same mistake most of you made. I picked "Science and Technology" should of picked language. How can one pass on their new scientific ideas without language. <Grunt!>The Wheel</Grunt!><Grunt!>E=mc^2 </Grunt!>

07-03-2003, 12:38 AM	#25
Darwin26 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Encino, CA Posts: 806	Best Inventions Viagra ! bar none and the gas engine... But for the life of me i'd have to say mr bellows is out to lunch... Necessity is the Mother of Invention ... and cave painting came long before your little applied sciences ... To be sure they are mutually exclusive... Art is not Science and has no need for it, similarly Science is it's own ballgame ...however it henges on ingenuity .

07-04-2003, 07:59 AM	#30
Darwin26 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Encino, CA Posts: 806	Monkey with a stick monkey i'd rather BE with a stick or a ball but a human with religion is Sick with viral conventions

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07-02-2003, 08:22 PM	#21
Gawdawful Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: In a cardboard box under the viaduct. Posts: 2,107	I vote for indoor plumbing. Yep, don't know what I'd do without it. Actually, a friend's great-grandmother was asked at her 100th birthday, "What was the greatest invention in the your 100 years?" She said "Running water." She spent most of her youth and the first 30 years of marriage hauling buckets of water from a spring a quarter mile from their house. I guess it's all in your personal perspective. Warren, flushing away, in Oklahoma

07-02-2003, 11:35 PM	#24
Vibrant Red New Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3	NUTELLA! What is wrong with you people?! That's god's gift to mankind!

07-04-2003, 05:54 AM	#27
Constable Visit Guest Posts: n/a	I think that religion actually is the human mind�s greatest invention. It is the only thing in the poll that that does not flow out of some sort of necessity. Monkeys are capable of using a tool (a simple stick) to poke ants out of a hollow, and what is our technology but an extrapolation of this simple skill. Language and the arts are merely the grunts of overdeveloped apes. Religion is not needed to feed, clothe or house us yet countless generations make it the central platform for their thoughts and actions. It is the only thing that separates us from the monkey with a stick. CV

07-04-2003, 06:39 AM	#29
phaedrus Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Indus Posts: 1,038	Greatest Invention => GOD Greatest Discovery => GOD DOESNT EXIST Greatest Creation => ideologies / self-referential worlds

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