Which non religious event has the biggest impact?
- Thread starter The Basket
- Start date
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Lucky13
Forum Mascot
Lucky13
Forum Mascot
Oh those Vikings...then they came back as the Normans and took it all.
Well, when we see something that we like/want....
Lucky13
Forum Mascot
Ahum....good people, fellow earthlings and space travellers, aren't we forgetting something....? 
buffnut453
Captain
You've been hanging around Terry far too much kid!
That's a malicious rumour and I deny it vociferously...the "kid" part, not the "hanging around Terry" part...actually, I deny all of it, rather like Baldrick.
Peter Gunn
Master Sergeant
No. See post #19.Ahum....good people, fellow earthlings and space travellers, aren't we forgetting something....?
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Snautzer01
Honourably banned
- 42,932
- Mar 26, 2007
You keep dropping Mike. Get a better grip. Mike said he is getting tired of being dropped.
Snautzer01
Honourably banned
- 42,932
- Mar 26, 2007
Ahhh lunch.Ahum....good people, fellow earthlings and space travellers, aren't we forgetting something....?
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wuzak
Captain
The pressure wave went around the world 4 times in both directions!
Some eruptions have changed the climate for years. One of the outbreaks of The Plague in the 14th or 15th centuries may have been due to a volcanic eruption. The reduced temperatures allowed the Plague to take hold in Africa, which had been too warm for the Plague, after which it was transferred to Europe through trade.
Peter Gunn
Master Sergeant
Eh... Mike knows his place, he'll get drop kicked if he complains too much.
Thumpalumpacus
Major
The fact that the K/T impact -- and other events -- weren't measured and recorded does not mean they didn't change things. Us mammals might still be scurrying little rodents were it not for the Chicxulub.
Krakatoa was, at best, the first natural event recorded worldwide in human history, and even that is arguable. It didn't have nearly the effect of the K/T comet/asteroid. We haven't even mentioned the impact that broke off a significant portion of the Earth to form the Moon, which I think is even more significant, and yet obviously not recorded by humans.
Krakatoa was a little firecracker compared to either event, an angry planet with an upset tummy. We just happened to be around to see it.
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That was actually my point, of course many had greater significance but Krakatoa was the first to event recorded and reported all around the globe as it happened or as pressure sensors sensed it.
Thumpalumpacus
Major
The thread's title specifically asked for the biggest incident, which Krakatoa clearly is not. "Recorded and reported" (by humans, presumably) is not part of the topic. Hell, if we're talking about just volcanic events, the Siberian extrusions dwarf this one explosion. Check this out: Siberian Volcanic Eruptions Triggered End-Permian Mass Extinction, New Study Confirms | Sci-News.com
But that's not including extraterrestrial impacts which, because of the potential energies and masses involved, could be either much smaller or much more immediately harmful.
One volcano blowing up? Sure, sad for 36,000 people. but hardly the biggest game-changer the world has seen. Us humans have been around for perhaps 250,000 years, while the planet's been around for, oh, four-and-a-half billion. Reckoning the worst things to have happened by recorded human history would be like asking a fly to explain the life-cycle of redwoods or sequoias.
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I didnt say it was a game changer, just that it was the first in human history to be an "event" a single recorded and reported event around the globe. Some asteroid hitting earth a long time ago had no effect on humanity.
Thumpalumpacus
Major
The idea that the K/T impact had "no effect" on humanity is short-sighted. Had mammals not had the opportunity to propagate 65 mya, we wouldn't be sitting here having this silly-ass conversation, now would we? You'd be a little mouse and I'd be a little rat and we'd both be too busy dodging the neighborhood deinonychus to worry about things like Spitfires or plumbing breaks or replacement tires, because humans wouldn't exist at all. That's kinda how natural selection works, if you read up on it. Random accidents favor some, kill others, and niches open up for a multitude of reasons, large and small.
Look again at the thread's title. Nothing in there about "recorded" or "reported" in human history. It asked which single non-religious event shaped human history most. Lots of things that shaped our being happened before we arose at all. Our existence is contingent on many facts which were extant before we arose as a species at all.
Krakatoa doesn't have a seat at this table. It did nothing to change human life, aside from the people it killed.
wuzak
Captain
It changed global climate. Reduced temperatures by 0.3-0.4C in the Northern Hemisphere.
The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora was bigger, and also affected the climate.
The 1257 Samalas eruption, also in Indonesia, lowered global temperatures by as much as 2C, disrupted agriculture causing famine, and influenced the downfall of the Byzantine Empire. Probably also caused a few other conflicts.
wuzak
Captain
I may have misremembered the volcano that allowed the Plague to spread across Europe and Asia.
There was one eruption in the 6th century that may have caused The Plague to run rampant.
Ancient volcanic eruption 'plunged world into darkness' – and may have led to plague that killed 50million people
A DEVASTATING plague that killed up to 50million people may have spread across Medieval Europe thanks to an explosive volcano. The eruption in 536 AD belched out so much ash and rock that it blocke…
www.thesun.co.uk
