Vote for your top ten.

1. religion

(2. being predictable)

Many were increasingly of the opinion that they’d all made a big mistake coming down from the trees in the first place, and some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no-one should ever have left the oceans.

Invading Poland.

Getting caught.

plenty work here just with my own, avoiding them too, good luck divining all the sin, and collective regret/s that could have been, doubt be able to help with that, you need Jesus maybe, though heard he’d retired, overwork, burnout was it

there’s a book here somewhere, mentions him, probably didn’t leave a phone number or email address, prayer possibly was mentioned in the book, that might be worth a try

1. Idiots and dickheads being born everyday. And for some reason, they all live.
2. Not being able to legislate against stupidity.
3. Cold draughts and inconvenience.

tobacco

evolving into humans

a sort of dry, detached retrospective, though i’ve not been around long enough to say, of history, what was a mistake, or greatest mistakes, but i’d happily argue about what a mistake is, or might be, or argue about the generalization in the term humankind’s with that possessive, or I could ask what you mean by greatest, because you may mean a good outcome, like a happy accident, occasionally i’ve had a happy mistake

happy accidents possibly aren’t fashionable, but more than a few happened that resulted in, well, anyone really, fairly much everything

transition said:

a sort of dry, detached retrospective, though i’ve not been around long enough to say, of history, what was a mistake, or greatest mistakes, but i’d happily argue about what a mistake is, or might be, or argue about the generalization in the term humankind’s with that possessive, or I could ask what you mean by greatest, because you may mean a good outcome, like a happy accident, occasionally i’ve had a happy mistake

happy accidents possibly aren’t fashionable, but more than a few happened that resulted in, well, anyone really, fairly much everything

but i’m guessing you mean some group got it collectively wrong, did some things, or failed to do some things, or both, or some part of the group did or didn’t whatever, or some other group, or individuals failed to do something, wrong enough any regular person, through the generations and across cultures even, that they might agree that it quite obviously was a mistake

i’ll take greatest to mean had the worst outcome or effects for the most people for the longest time

tough question, can’t see a lot of cheer in exploring it, i’ll give it some time tomorrow

transition said:

transition said:

a sort of dry, detached retrospective, though i’ve not been around long enough to say, of history, what was a mistake, or greatest mistakes, but i’d happily argue about what a mistake is, or might be, or argue about the generalization in the term humankind’s with that possessive, or I could ask what you mean by greatest, because you may mean a good outcome, like a happy accident, occasionally i’ve had a happy mistake

happy accidents possibly aren’t fashionable, but more than a few happened that resulted in, well, anyone really, fairly much everything

but i’m guessing you mean some group got it collectively wrong, did some things, or failed to do some things, or both, or some part of the group did or didn’t whatever, or some other group, or individuals failed to do something, wrong enough any regular person, through the generations and across cultures even, that they might agree that it quite obviously was a mistake

i’ll take greatest to mean had the worst outcome or effects for the most people for the longest time

tough question, can’t see a lot of cheer in exploring it, i’ll give it some time tomorrow

> i’m guessing you mean some group got it collectively wrong

I’m happy to go with either some group or some individual. Most mistakes are made first by a single individual and then amplified by others. The individual may be powerful, eg. Khufu, or not, eg. the two bridge guards who failed to arrest Lenin on his way to the Bolshevik revolution.

party_pants said:

1. religion
(2. being predictable)

You mean the five major religions by that? Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hindu, Buddha. Or do you extend that to religions without a God, such as Tao, Confucius, Jain? What about aboriginal and african? When stripped to its barest essentials, religion is all about health.

“Being predictable” is an interesting one.

furious & SCIENCE said:

Many were increasingly of the opinion that they’d all made a big mistake coming down from the trees in the first place, and some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no-one should ever have left the oceans. … Evolving into humans

Perhaps that thought deserves to go into the “God’s greatest mistakes” thread.

> 2. Not being able to legislate against stupidity.

Oh, how you’ve made me yearn for this to be possible. In a sense, it could be possible, if ethics committees were not themselves stupid.

> Invading Poland … tobacco

That’s more what I had in mind when I started this thread. Historical events like Union Carbide at Bhopal, the manufacture of the atom bomb and H-bomb, the Crusades.

A lesser known event was when the secret service in ancient Rome sold the position of Roman emperor to whoever could offer them the largest bribe. That was pivotal mistake in the downfall of the Roman empire. The public was appalled.

DDT?

mollwollfumble said:

A lesser known event was when the secret service in ancient Rome sold the position of Roman emperor to whoever could offer them the largest bribe. That was pivotal mistake in the downfall of the Roman empire. The public was appalled.

I suppose you mean the Praetorian Guard. Which emperor in particular are you referring to?

Witty Rejoinder said:

mollwollfumble said:

A lesser known event was when the secret service in ancient Rome sold the position of Roman emperor to whoever could offer them the largest bribe. That was pivotal mistake in the downfall of the Roman empire. The public was appalled.

I suppose you mean the Praetorian Guard. Which emperor in particular are you referring to?

You know it. Excellent. Yes, the Praetorian Guard. The incident is described in detail in Gibbons “Decline and fall”. I looked up the web and have trouble figuring out which emperor it was. Possibly one of the four in the year of four emperors.

mollwollfumble said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

mollwollfumble said:

A lesser known event was when the secret service in ancient Rome sold the position of Roman emperor to whoever could offer them the largest bribe. That was pivotal mistake in the downfall of the Roman empire. The public was appalled.

I suppose you mean the Praetorian Guard. Which emperor in particular are you referring to?

You know it. Excellent. Yes, the Praetorian Guard. The incident is described in detail in Gibbons “Decline and fall”. I looked up the web and have trouble figuring out which emperor it was. Possibly one of the four in the year of four emperors.

The Praetorian guard and the Roman Army wielded significant power but their corrosive effect on the empire was really something that took decades and centuries to develop and not anything that directly led to decline under any particular emperor IIRC.

Separating humans beings into races so then one race could claim superiority over others and treat them how they wished.

>Most mistakes are made first by a single individual and then amplified by others

there possibly is another sort of mistake, call it an error, or errors, of which when whatever proliferates it isn’t properly an error, doesn’t qualify, is well under the threshold, never qualifies in any individual example, but multiplied enough may become a substantial problem, and over some threshold is irreversibly transformative, unrecoverable

transition said:

>Most mistakes are made first by a single individual and then amplified by others

there possibly is another sort of mistake, call it an error, or errors, of which when whatever proliferates it isn’t properly an error, doesn’t qualify, is well under the threshold, never qualifies in any individual example, but multiplied enough may become a substantial problem, and over some threshold is irreversibly transformative, unrecoverable

What?

Michael V said:

transition said:

>Most mistakes are made first by a single individual and then amplified by others

there possibly is another sort of mistake, call it an error, or errors, of which when whatever proliferates it isn’t properly an error, doesn’t qualify, is well under the threshold, never qualifies in any individual example, but multiplied enough may become a substantial problem, and over some threshold is irreversibly transformative, unrecoverable

What?

I didn’t have much to contribute of humankind’s greatest mistakes, of history to this day, i’d exhaust my knowledge in a couple of minutes applied to that, so I stayed with a nearer proposition, of that contemporary, what would happen if the force of ideas, so abundantly and easily communicated, displaced external reality (the larger environments of the thinkers’ ideas), and larger environment that didn’t come into existence by thinking, nothing like ideas

transition said:

Michael V said:

transition said:

>Most mistakes are made first by a single individual and then amplified by others

there possibly is another sort of mistake, call it an error, or errors, of which when whatever proliferates it isn’t properly an error, doesn’t qualify, is well under the threshold, never qualifies in any individual example, but multiplied enough may become a substantial problem, and over some threshold is irreversibly transformative, unrecoverable

What?

I didn’t have much to contribute of humankind’s greatest mistakes, of history to this day, i’d exhaust my knowledge in a couple of minutes applied to that, so I stayed with a nearer proposition, of that contemporary, what would happen if the force of ideas, so abundantly and easily communicated, displaced external reality (the larger environments of the thinkers’ ideas), and larger environment that didn’t come into existence by thinking, nothing like ideas

…and larger environment that didn’t come into existence by thinking, nothing like ideas..

should perhaps have been writ and read

a larger environment that didn’t come into existence by thinking, nothing like ideas, or the larger environments…….

The lie of human warming of the planet and the cost to the economy

The-Spectator said:

The lie of human warming of the planet and the cost to the economy

Crawl back down your hole.

PermeateFree said:

The-Spectator said:

The lie of human warming of the planet and the cost to the economy

Crawl back down your hole.

You are the one that lives in a hole smelly hippie

The-Spectator said:

PermeateFree said:

The-Spectator said:

The lie of human warming of the planet and the cost to the economy

Crawl back down your hole.

You are the one that lives in a hole smelly hippie

That’s the extent of your understanding, dummy!

PermeateFree said:

The-Spectator said:

PermeateFree said:

Crawl back down your hole.

You are the one that lives in a hole smelly hippie

That’s the extent of your understanding, dummy!

Cram it in your bong hole

The-Spectator said:

PermeateFree said:

The-Spectator said:

You are the one that lives in a hole smelly hippie

That’s the extent of your understanding, dummy!

Cram it in your bong hole

Observer, I am probably less than a hippie than yourself, plus I have never smoked a bong. But this is the thoughtless life you live, you don’t care about any living thing and are more than happy to send them off to extinction. Observer you are a parasite and amongst the worse living creatures that ever drew breath. You have my complete contempt!

PermeateFree said:

The-Spectator said:

PermeateFree said:

That’s the extent of your understanding, dummy!

Cram it in your bong hole

Observer, I am probably less than a hippie than yourself, plus I have never smoked a bong. But this is the thoughtless life you live, you don’t care about any living thing and are more than happy to send them off to extinction. Observer you are a parasite and amongst the worse living creatures that ever drew breath. You have my complete contempt!

My job here is done then

The-Spectator said:

PermeateFree said:

The-Spectator said:

Cram it in your bong hole

Observer, I am probably less than a hippie than yourself, plus I have never smoked a bong. But this is the thoughtless life you live, you don’t care about any living thing and are more than happy to send them off to extinction. Observer you are a parasite and amongst the worse living creatures that ever drew breath. You have my complete contempt!

My job here is done then

Yes you have done a bloody good job, you and others like you still have considerable influence in the National and Liberal Parties and are responsible for the expansion of fossil fuels and the delays in moving away from them. And I bet you got considerably more than 40 pieces of silver for your tireless efforts.

PermeateFree said:

The-Spectator said:

PermeateFree said:

Observer, I am probably less than a hippie than yourself, plus I have never smoked a bong. But this is the thoughtless life you live, you don’t care about any living thing and are more than happy to send them off to extinction. Observer you are a parasite and amongst the worse living creatures that ever drew breath. You have my complete contempt!

My job here is done then

Yes you have done a bloody good job, you and others like you still have considerable influence in the National and Liberal Parties and are responsible for the expansion of fossil fuels and the delays in moving away from them. And I bet you got considerably more than 40 pieces of silver for your tireless efforts.

A Humvee and a Ferrari for a start

The-Spectator said:

PermeateFree said:

The-Spectator said:

My job here is done then

Yes you have done a bloody good job, you and others like you still have considerable influence in the National and Liberal Parties and are responsible for the expansion of fossil fuels and the delays in moving away from them. And I bet you got considerably more than 40 pieces of silver for your tireless efforts.

A Humvee and a Ferrari for a start

Hate to think what people would do you if they knew you were stealing their children’s future.

PermeateFree said:

The-Spectator said:

PermeateFree said:

Yes you have done a bloody good job, you and others like you still have considerable influence in the National and Liberal Parties and are responsible for the expansion of fossil fuels and the delays in moving away from them. And I bet you got considerably more than 40 pieces of silver for your tireless efforts.

A Humvee and a Ferrari for a start

Hate to think what people would do you if they knew you were stealing their children’s future.

Bit dramatic I could say the same about you, crippling the economy so the children become poor

The-Spectator said:

PermeateFree said:

The-Spectator said:

A Humvee and a Ferrari for a start

Hate to think what people would do you if they knew you were stealing their children’s future.

Bit dramatic I could say the same about you, crippling the economy so the children become poor

Except I rely on scientific research, you use ideology and kick backs from the fossil fuel industry. Climate change is not opinion, it is fact.

PermeateFree said:

The-Spectator said:

PermeateFree said:

Hate to think what people would do you if they knew you were stealing their children’s future.

Bit dramatic I could say the same about you, crippling the economy so the children become poor

Except I rely on scientific research, you use ideology and kick backs from the fossil fuel industry. Climate change is not opinion, it is fact.

That’s your opinion

PermeateFree said:

The-Spectator said:

PermeateFree said:

Hate to think what people would do you if they knew you were stealing their children’s future.

Bit dramatic I could say the same about you, crippling the economy so the children become poor

Except I rely on scientific research, you use ideology and kick backs from the fossil fuel industry. Climate change is not opinion, it is fact.

and the dumbing down is only making the kids poor anyway unless they are Richie Rich.

so, if I had to point toward something, to generalize of all the substantial mistakes of humankind that could have been made, avoiding pretending to be able to contemplate them all, i’d expect they’d be uncountable, and endlessly arguable, i’d point to one important thing as a prophylaxis, a philosophical caution, a moral caution

consider the possible importance of

the world humans inhabit is mostly not human

transition said:

so, if I had to point toward something, to generalize of all the substantial mistakes of humankind that could have been made, avoiding pretending to be able to contemplate them all, i’d expect they’d be uncountable, and endlessly arguable, i’d point to one important thing as a prophylaxis, a philosophical caution, a moral caution

consider the possible importance of

the world humans inhabit is mostly not human

We are making it that way though

transition said:

so, if I had to point toward something, to generalize of all the substantial mistakes of humankind that could have been made, avoiding pretending to be able to contemplate them all, i’d expect they’d be uncountable, and endlessly arguable, i’d point to one important thing as a prophylaxis, a philosophical caution, a moral caution

consider the possible importance of

the world humans inhabit is mostly not human

5.972 × 10^24 kg for planet Earth.

5.5 × 10^14 kg of total biomass.

6 × 10^10 kg of human biomass.

Yep, pretty true.

transition said:

so, if I had to point toward something, to generalize of all the substantial mistakes of humankind that could have been made, avoiding pretending to be able to contemplate them all, i’d expect they’d be uncountable, and endlessly arguable, i’d point to one important thing as a prophylaxis, a philosophical caution, a moral caution

consider the possible importance of

the world humans inhabit is mostly not human

By some measures it is mostly human :-(

Agricultural mammal stock on Earth has a much higher biomass than all wild mammals counted together.

IIRC, even the biomass of all wild fish on Earth is less than the biomass of agricultural stock.

Communism