Badfish

Cars and Computers (AI?)

Demosthenes

I feel it is science and technology that is the humanitiy's greatest creation.

Because without science we won't have learned about the world and our position in it. We won't be able to find a solid grounding for our atheism. Neither would we be able to apply our scientific knowledge in form of technology for our betterment and enrichment or equally vice versa make our lives a living hell.

Of all the poll choices, it is science that has transformed the world and ourselves the most and it's only the beginning.

As for the other choices:

Art, while a source of great beauty and enjoyment. However, ultimately it has little impact on us and serve nothing more than to amuse our senses.

Music falls under the same category as art and by consequent has the same reason as above.

Language, certainly one of the most valuable tool that humanity ever devised. But it is merely a tool of communication and a means to an end. It is what we have put it to use that points us to what is the greatest achievement of humanity. If it wasn't for language, we won't be able to communicate ideas nor record and store information nor construct abstract thoughts all of which is necessary for our civilization, science, art, and all other institutions.

Written language, without it we won't be able to record anything for posterity. No information would be able to last for very long. But by itself it really doesn't do anything.

Literature, once again has the same reason as art and music.

Mathematics, well, I'd like to argue that mathematics is humanity's greatest creation. But it's the ends which we've put science and technology to that distinguishes them from mathematics.

Philosophy...well hmmm, I enjoy reading philosophy, argue, formulate my thoughts, and understand the intricate logic underpinning philosophy. But does it has an impact as great as science?

Religion, haw haw haw, riiiiiiiiight

Other, well I have nothing to say beyond this point

NonHomogenized

Science and Technology, without a doubt.

My second choice would be Math and Music (I consider music to be an expression of math)

After that comes Language and Philosophy (that's a tie)

Then Art and Literature (another non-distinction)

Then Written Language (not all that useful without the aspects covered in Literature)

Then Other (for pretty much whatever else)

Then nothing at all

Then religion.

sakrilege

I voted language. Science would be next. To me, the most important aspect of the scientific method is the open communication between scientists.

Secular Pinoy

Sliced bread is humanity's greatest invention, of course! Hence the expression, "best thing since sliced bread." Jeez, what are you guys, uncivilized?

contracycle

I went for literacy. I think the ability to develop artificial memory systems that operate independantly of the individual is... awesome.

I was reading Livy a little while... reaching back nearly two thousand years, and I can get the jokes. Chills down the spine.

I think it has changed things immensely, the fact that we do more than just learn, we accumulate our learning, there is mometum, progress. Powerful stuff.

Shake

Ah, but mathematics is a language unto itself, and is the basis for your science and technology!

-Shake, BS Mathematics

Mageth

Literature? (meaning written language + the possibility for creative fiction, poetry)

Slight quibble - there was creative fiction and poetry (of sorts) before literature, and even before written language.

snoiduspoitus

Yes, fire. Dammit Elwood, you got me.

Fire kept the creatures at bay that would have eaten us into oblivion. We got to sit around bonfires and drink mead every night while BBQing giant reindeer. (Of course, the pain of the abscessed teeth probably served as a tempering effect on such pleasure.)

Friar Bellows

My answer is Science, to which everything else runs a poor second, except to the extent to which some of the other things support it (e.g. language and mathematics). Technology is an application of science, and to the extent that it has been used to improve the human condition, and again, support science, it's also one of our great achievements. As for Art, I would place it near the bottom of the list, but above Religion. Art's most valuable function (one it shares with Religion), and perhaps the main reason for its existence, is to act as a sort of cushion to protect us against the brutal reality we (well, most of us) experience every day of our lives. It hurts our eyes to see the poverty and suffering around us, and so we console ourselves by painting a pretty picture or moulding some clay. It hurts our ears to hear the harsh sounds of violence and abuse in our daily lives, so we drown it out by blowing a pipe or banging on a drum. As Paul Klee (Swiss expressionist painter) once said, "I create in order not to cry." But Art ultimately fails in this palliative task, because it just can't compete with the real world. Put a Giotto or Vermeer painting next to a simple mound of dirt, and then you'll see just how superficial and insubstantial Art really is. But maybe you won't. How about a glacier, or a bear, or lightning, or icicles in a cave? Have your senses been so dulled by the torment of life that you can't see the beauty in the simplest things? But rather then attempting (but failing) to escape reality with our unimaginative fantasies, wouldn't it be better if we first tried to understand the world around us -- I mean really understand -- and slowly unlock its secrets? Then we might ultimately find ourselves in a position to improve the human condition -- our experience of reality. And how do we achieve this miracle? By using the only reliable method of understanding the universe: Science.