The Defining Moment of Mankind

I recently sat down to dinner with three close friends.  After some time, the conversation entered into some intriguing domain.  The following question was posed: “What moment in history best defines mankind?”  There are so many instances where man has done something of great significance.  How could one choose just one defining moment?  It would need to be an event of upmost importance – one that changed the course of history in a major way.  It should also reflect the nature of our species and set us apart from other ones.  After some pondering, each of us expressed our respective view on the matter.

We Know Too Much

In some ways, life was so much simpler a thousand years ago.  If you were an adult living at this time, chances are, you knew just about everything there was to know.  You were informed on the best agriculture techniques of the day, the best hunting methods, and the appropriate medicines for any ailments.  You, and all adults in your community, knew that a wheel rolled, that a lever was useful for lifting heavy things, that sharp things were good for cutting, and that a wound could heal quicker if pressure were applied to it.  You knew everything you needed to know to survive, and a little more.  You believed, wrongly, that the Sun revolved around the Earth; but, to your credit, so did your neighbour.

A lot has changed in the ensuing years.  The quantity of knowledge amassed by man during these years is truly astonishing; particularly in the past one hundred years.  If we consider our current net volume of knowledge, we may literally blow our minds.  To avoid scraping our brain bits from the walls, we tend to set limits on what we are willing to learn.  A scientifically inclined individual like me will tend not to read textbooks on Politics, and most politicians do not know the second law of thermodynamics.