Mankind's greatest gift

[YukonJack]

Mankind, being the most dominant life form, did not get to achieve that distinction by sheer luck. There have been many gifts to mankind by God/Providence/Nature, etc. that puts us where we are.

What "gift" do you think was the most important or significant that enabled mankind to reach that plateau?

 

[Cliffy]

Guns.

 

[YukonJack]

Sorry, Cliffy, guns do not qualify. They were invented and propagated, to the detriment of mankind, by man.

 

[AnnaG]

lol Humans the most dominant life form? That's debatable. Little bugs that can kill off humans by the thousands are pretty dominant, too. We'll likely never be rid of viruses and other such bugs regardless of how many we can kill.

Luck.

 

[YukonJack]

AnnaG, you are probably right. However, mankind can also kill off bugs and viruses.

Remember small pox? Polio?

The intent of the OP was to have an opinion from all here, who are interested, as to what was the greatest gift that HELPED mankind.

My apologies, if the OP was not quite clear about that.

 

[DurkaDurka]

Fire & the wheel, more so a discovery of man but important none the less.

 

[AnnaG]

AnnaG, you are probably right. However, mankind can also kill off bugs and viruses.

Remember small pox? Polio?

Yup, I have read about a few we have controlled, none like that that we've eliminated, though. And I also know that we have no clue as to how many different viruses and other bugs there are, let alone kill them all. Yet it is conceivable that sometime a virus or other bug can kill off humans before we find a way of fighting back.

The intent of the OP was to have an opinion from all here, who are interested, as to what was the greatest gift that HELPED mankind.

Luck.

My apologies, if the OP was not quite clear about that.

You were clear. I am just saying that whether we are the dominant lifeform or not is debatable.

 

[karrie]

interesting. I just watched a show last night that discussed what makes humans unique animals, and they boiled it down, very simply, to empathy, and grammatical language. While I'm sure many animal lovers and primatologists might argue about empathy being unique, grammatical language is definitely the largest leap that has given us the greatest advantage.

Mind you, if I had to choose between speech and empathy, I'd give up my ability to talk before I'd give up empathy. Hmm.

 

[lone wolf]

Without opposable thumbs, where would we be?

 

[AnnaG]

Without opposable thumbs, where would we be?

Without the luck of having a planet that is able to support us, the luck of having the right essentials for life to concoct life here, we wouldn't be, period. lol

 

[Outta here]

All gifts are only as good as the ability to use them wisely. That said, I think our insatiable quest to expand our knowledge of all things of this earth and beyond is one of our greatest gifts.

 

[Curiosity]

YukonJack

Great topic - I would say the weight of responsibility which the human animal has
evolved into - regardless of the debits - responsibility for all his environment has
set mankind apart as fully unique even as we continue to erode our world just as carelessly as lessser creatures do their smaller environment.

 

[selin]

wit.

 

[darkbeaver]

YukonJack

Great topic - I would say the weight of responsibility which the human animal has
evolved into - regardless of the debits - responsibility for all his environment has
set mankind apart as fully unique even as we continue to erode our world just as carelessly as lessser creatures do their smaller environment.

That's always an interesting concept for me Curiosity. Why do we think we are responsible for the earth? I prefer to think that we are responsible only for following the laws of the natural world. It seems to me that those lesser creatures obey the laws of nature and that there may only be apparent erosion from the conceited perspective of the human and then only expressed in the human removed from nature. Much has been written about the gift of dominion over the other organisms of this world. We may win little battles but we can never win the war. Mankind apart from nature is an aberation. There is no escape from nature and to wish otherwise is perversion of the worst kind similar to what many see as Satans prime task, to turn us from the laws of nature, and I don't mean shoes aspirin or pizza.
We should feel no more responsible than the next sparrow. Discovery of electricity is our finest gift.:smile:

 

[Machjo]

Mankind, being the most dominant life form, did not get to achieve that distinction by sheer luck. There have been many gifts to mankind by God/Providence/Nature, etc. that puts us where we are.

What "gift" do you think was the most important or significant that enabled mankind to reach that plateau?

As a Hadith says:

Before all else, God created the mind.

 

[darkbeaver]

God is mind, Ive read. A very big mind.

 

[talloola]

curiosity

 

[darkbeaver]

curiosity for sure

 

[Cliffy]

curiosity for sure

especially if she looks anything like her avatar.

 

[Curiosity]

That's always an interesting concept for me Curiosity. Why do we think we are responsible for the earth? I prefer to think that we are responsible only for following the laws of the natural world. It seems to me that those lesser creatures obey the laws of nature and that there may only be apparent erosion from the conceited perspective of the human and then only expressed in the human removed from nature. Much has been written about the gift of dominion over the other organisms of this world. We may win little battles but we can never win the war. Mankind apart from nature is an aberation. There is no escape from nature and to wish otherwise is perversion of the worst kind similar to what many see as Satans prime task, to turn us from the laws of nature, and I don't mean shoes aspirin or pizza.
We should feel no more responsible than the next sparrow. Discovery of electricity is our finest gift.:smile:

Darkbeaver!!! Great answer!

I'ts 5:30am here and your post just woke me up - absolutely fascinating concept - in that we a flawed creatures but we continue to develop our environment whether it be tragic or monumentally great.

I'm gonna be savoring this all day because responsibility sounds "cranky" and "baggage laden" - I think flawed gives up impetus to try to improvement as a species (which we could do with).

As long as we continue to use killing others as a method of existence, we are indeed imperfect. In tune with your sparrow analogy - the birds on my rooftop just woke up and are singing....they must have been reading your post! curio.