Mankind's Top 5 Greatest Achievements?

Question

I don't want philosophical, platitudinous answers like 'achieving world peace'. Seriously thought out answers would be appreciated.

My Top 5:

1. The U.S. Constitution - The gold standard in human rights and Liberty. If you never have, read it!

2. The Space Shuttle - This machine was, is, and always will be an extraordinary vision carried out by great minds.

3. The Moon Landing - This could be argued to be #1 but I don't think it would have happened without the formation of a constitutional republic in 1788. And then came the Space Shuttle in 1981.

4. Mathematics - Everything that we enjoy today in some form or fashion is based on math.

5. The Great Pyramids - No explanation needed.

Thanks for participating!

Answer 1

Metal (music)

Pizza

Beer

Video Games

Movies

o hey man we never landed on the moon

its a conspiracy

Answer 2

I really like your list, but I would substitute the space shuttle for the Hubble telescope.  The space shuttle deserves top 10, but we have learned much more about our universe from the Hubble than the space shuttle.  Also I think the invention of the movable printing by Johannes Guttenburg deserves an honorable mention.  Because of it, books became accessible to the common man, and with that came an explosion of ideas that persist today.

Answer 3

1. the creation of democracy.

2. moon landing.

3. creation of computer.

4. mathematics.

5. the seperation of science from religion.

Answer 4

law

music

nukes

the internet

space exploration

Answer 5

the Pyramids

Answer 6

- discovering insulin to save the lives of diabetics

- the invention of the MP3 player...it really is amazing!

- abolishing slavery in the US

- working together to aid natural disasters

- the eiffel tower!

Answer 7

1. Pain drugs. We've conquered pain.

2. Musical instruments.

3. Radio.

4. Voyager far away from the solar system (and still sending data)

5. The United Nations

Answer 8

put in war

even though its bad, its amazing to see conflicts, and what was made (battleships, stealth fighter etc)

Answer 9

What about the invention of the remote control?

Answer 10

The printing press. Allowed for the mass production and distribution of literature. Before that books took years to reproduce and hence the transfer of knowledge was very slow and limited to the elite classes

Answer 11

Serious:

Agriculture and what goes with it: wheat, bread, rice, wine, ...

Writing

Law

Electricity because it make life very comfortable

Vaccines

Not Serious or the worst:

The plastic that wraps CDs

Boring TV programs

Dope for athletes

Windows that takes 1 1/2 minute to shutdown

Traffic jams

Answer 12

1. Sewers - probably has saved more lives than any invention in history.

2. Penicillin / immunisation - (medical breakthroughs) rank possibly just under sewers for life saving ability.

3. Theory of evolution by natural selection - underpins all biological science.

4.Telephone - made communication worldwide, allowed for Internet.

5. The Wheel - allowed for travel over long distances.

I have to disagree with your US centred constitution, as I think that the Westminster system, as used in the UK, Canada and Australia, is better, and less corruptible, putting less power into the hands of one man - dangerous. The constitution is not the gold standard, try the Magna Carta, which limits the power of monarchs, and establishes that even peasants have rights. Under your constitution, as stable and good as it is, slavery was legal. That is not to say that it is a bad document.

.

.

Answer 13

just trying to stay alive is one of them for sure, the rest are just so so

Answer 14

1. Writing

2. Farming & domestication of animals

3. Fertilizers & modern farming methods that increased crop yields 10 fold in the 3rd world (read about Norman Borlaug)

4. Indoor plumbing & the flush toilet that increase hygiene

5. Vaccines

Answer 15

1.) The Discovery of Fire, (which later led to the discovery of electricity)..

2.) The Invention of the Wheel.

3.) Civilization, (the move from caves to houses).

4.) Nuclear weapons.

5.) The exploration of Space (esp. the Apollo Moon landings).

Answer 16

1.The Declaration of the Rights of Man

2.Electricity

3.Air travel

4.The Apollo project

5.The digital computer

Answer 17

No one has mentioned the internal combustion engine ! Interesting !

Answer 18

I always liked Douglas Adams top 3: Mozart, Velcro, and HyperCard, though the last is pretty much superseded, though in part held the seed of the worldwide web.

Answer 19

The greatest advancement in all history was sanitary sewage disposal.

More lives have been saved and/or greatly lengthened by the revelation that is not a good idea to p**p in your drinking water than by any other discovery.

Answer 20

1. pot  2.cotton candey 3. south park 4.democracy 5. hockey

Answer 21

So many achievements that are worthy of mention and I am not sure if I can categorize them, but at least I will mention the first five that come to my mind.

1- Electricity

2- Discoveries in molecular science, and thermodynamics.

3- New mathematical formulas that have been discovered (math is part of everyday life, we use math literally every in every minute of our lives, what has changed with time is the ability of the human brain to understand and discover new mathematical formulas.

4-Logistics technology (computers)

5- The invention of the telescope. We owe all new discoveries in astronomy to the modern telescope, like the Hubble, that are able to capture images of distant galaxies, of other planets, other stars, etc. These discoveries have helped us better understand our planet, our galaxy, and our sun, and have given us more info of other planets in our galaxy.

Answer 22

1. Wii

2. 360

3. Computer

4. Phones

5.Creating the inventors who invented 1-4

Answer 23

I don't think the shuttle should be there.  Not above the airplane.

Anyway,

1. The written word.  (Allowed for a historical documentation and sharing of knowledge and experience beyond bards and criers.)

2. Mathematics (Good call)

3. Bill of Rights

4. Tower of Babel (Hey, GOD had to step in and break it up!)

5. Irrigation (Makes large population centers feasible)

Answer 24

my word, kind of limited aren't we.

all of us.

how 'bout

wheel.

pulley

lever

wedge

inclined plane.

note, i could live w/o yours.

you'd have a much harder time w/o mine.

if i were limited to ideas such as yours, maybe i'd list:

transistor.

DNA.

optics.

mathmatics -- calculus.

photography.

Answer 25

the toilet

Answer 26

There is no MANKIND.

20,000 CHILDREN DIE A DAY IN THIS WORLD.

Because MAN is self centered.

most of them need water.

EARTH IS 75% WATER

MANKIND NEVER EVOLVED. SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU

THE HUMAN RACE IS A DIFFERENT STORY

Answer 27

electricity

Answer 28

If you consider Mankind as the entire race, then the top achievements would have to be ones that benefit all of mankind.

So, I would disagree with your choice for #1 and #5 - as great as they are, they don't benefit the entire race.

My choices would be:

1. Harnessing fire - without it, there would be no civilization

2. Creating the wheel - same as #1

3. Developing tools - same as #1

4. I agree with you on mathematics

5. I am torn between the harnessing of electricity and the moon landing (I'm partial to the landing)

Answer 29

1 iphone

2 tv

3video games

4 internet

5 b***s

Answer 30

Yeah Electricity and the INTERNET!!!

Answer 31

MY TOP

~breaking the sound barrier

~airports (LAX specifically)

~killing Sadam Hussein

~Prisons (to keep scary people away)

~Mathematics