Active Users:536 Time:06/04/2025 06:08:40 AM
Amusing that the underlying expectation seems to be more along political history lines Larry Send a noteboard - 07/04/2010 12:56:49 PM
I saw this on a YouTube video and wanted to ask you guys.

If you could change 1 thing in history, what would you change, and how do you think that that would affect things?


Although a few have facetiously mentioned religious history shifts and one on the plague.

Well, you could look at tools and wonder what would have happened to homo habilis without tools or homo erectus without fire, I suppose. Or consider what if horses, donkeys, and camels had been butchered for food or had been wiped out due to climate change, as what occurred in the Americas 10,000 years ago? If they and cows and oxen, the so-called beasts of burden, did not exist in the Eastern Hemisphere, what would have happened then? Or conversely, what if such animals had remained extant in the Americas? Would I have then inherited a mutated gene that would allow me to process bovine milk after the age of 4-5?

The game of "what if" I suppose is fun, but it's more fun when such queries are then turned around and applied to what did transpire.
Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie

Je suis méchant.
Reply to message
I know I just did a survey, but this was too good to pass up. - 07/04/2010 12:44:15 AM 713 Views
Myself: World War I. - 07/04/2010 12:45:57 AM 591 Views
I don't think it's that simple. - 07/04/2010 12:57:16 AM 536 Views
I see your point. - 07/04/2010 01:02:33 AM 516 Views
Sometimes sooner is better than later. - 07/04/2010 01:10:11 AM 487 Views
True. - 07/04/2010 01:14:45 AM 502 Views
True, one might even say *adding* a war there would've improved things. - 07/04/2010 01:36:07 AM 498 Views
*nods* A small war is usually preferable to a big war. - 07/04/2010 01:49:06 AM 476 Views
The Plague - 07/04/2010 12:52:33 AM 467 Views
Re: The Plague - 07/04/2010 01:05:35 AM 376 Views
Maybe; there were episodic plague epidemics before and after that time. - 07/04/2010 02:05:18 AM 506 Views
I am talking about one of the plagues not THE plague - 07/04/2010 02:50:25 AM 472 Views
Re: I am talking about one of the plagues not THE plague - 07/04/2010 08:45:26 PM 465 Views
I'm so glad you have the time and inclination to type up these replies. *NM* - 08/04/2010 07:09:22 AM 313 Views
...? - 08/04/2010 07:51:14 PM 368 Views
Sounds like he was thanking you for saving him the effort of writing a similar reply. *NM* - 08/04/2010 09:28:55 PM 335 Views
If that is the case, then great *NM* - 08/04/2010 09:30:51 PM 297 Views
The spread of Christianity - 07/04/2010 12:55:29 AM 543 Views
Huh. Wild to think about. *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:06:44 AM 324 Views
Re: The spread of Christianity - 07/04/2010 08:47:06 PM 364 Views
Re: The spread of Christianity - 08/04/2010 09:29:17 AM 386 Views
Why would that have an impact on Judaism? - 08/04/2010 01:40:47 PM 468 Views
Re: Why would that have an impact on Judaism? - 08/04/2010 01:42:25 PM 303 Views
But wasn't Christianity the inspiration for a whole era of art? *NM* - 08/04/2010 01:41:34 PM 332 Views
Re: But wasn't Christianity the inspiration for a whole era of art? - 08/04/2010 01:44:36 PM 505 Views
precisely. - 08/04/2010 05:37:26 PM 490 Views
sorry, didn't see that Lorraine already addressed this. *NM* - 08/04/2010 07:55:00 PM 324 Views
The Partition of India, 1947... *NM* - 07/04/2010 12:59:32 AM 319 Views
Any paticular reason why? *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:34:54 AM 314 Views
Agreed. *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:59:02 AM 402 Views
The destruction of the Great Library. - 07/04/2010 01:02:59 AM 423 Views
Internet spam sucks indeed. - 07/04/2010 01:08:23 AM 552 Views
We'll never know; makes for fascinating speculative fiction. - 07/04/2010 01:13:49 AM 459 Views
This whole topic is wild, it's something I sometimes think about. - 07/04/2010 01:17:50 AM 472 Views
Ya, that's what makes history so gripping. - 07/04/2010 01:19:54 AM 574 Views
I don't know if that's really true... - 07/04/2010 01:39:51 AM 483 Views
It wouldn't have been as sudden or extreme. - 07/04/2010 01:58:39 AM 513 Views
"Joel captures Alexandria! The Great Library is destroyed!" *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:08:35 AM 195 Views
NOOOO1111 - 07/04/2010 01:11:33 AM 390 Views
A shame. It's one of the better ones, too. *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:14:20 AM 314 Views
Not in the first two Civs. - 07/04/2010 01:22:43 AM 338 Views
Civ, i love that game... - 07/04/2010 03:01:13 AM 450 Views
Yeah that's one of the small annoying things - 07/04/2010 07:34:52 AM 329 Views
An interesting point - 07/04/2010 02:57:03 AM 493 Views
That's usually my reply to this question too *NM* - 07/04/2010 11:42:55 AM 298 Views
if the giant meteor hadn't destroyed the dinosaurs... - 07/04/2010 01:10:42 AM 392 Views
"FOR" global warming? Now there's a phrase I never thought I'd here! - 07/04/2010 01:16:04 AM 326 Views
The spread of Islam - 07/04/2010 01:26:11 AM 494 Views
oh aren't you clever. *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:47:13 AM 303 Views
There's such a thing as being right for the wrong reasons, though I'm not sure he is. - 07/04/2010 02:12:14 AM 318 Views
Wikipedia is of course not a scholarly source, but all the same... - 07/04/2010 11:57:01 AM 472 Views
Fair enough. - 07/04/2010 12:51:16 PM 468 Views
I read the Bernard Lewis article referred to at Wikipedia... - 07/04/2010 01:19:03 PM 447 Views
So it's borrowed propaganda. - 13/04/2010 09:30:39 AM 438 Views
Re: The spread of Islam - 08/04/2010 09:24:31 AM 526 Views
Haha, are you kidding? - 08/04/2010 07:59:39 PM 299 Views
Re: Haha, are you kidding? - 08/04/2010 08:50:33 PM 288 Views
Ask yourself the question... - 08/04/2010 09:33:33 PM 303 Views
I don't see the connection. - 08/04/2010 08:49:46 PM 480 Views
Re: I don't see the connection. - 08/04/2010 08:51:21 PM 349 Views
I'd better not touch this one - 07/04/2010 03:12:00 AM 502 Views
The spread of Judaism. - 07/04/2010 04:30:37 AM 432 Views
Re: The spread of Judaism. - 07/04/2010 07:31:02 AM 386 Views
I...do not know. - 07/04/2010 07:18:13 AM 372 Views
Amusing that the underlying expectation seems to be more along political history lines - 07/04/2010 12:56:49 PM 551 Views
Considering the way history is taught, is it surprising? *NM* - 08/04/2010 07:11:03 AM 289 Views
Nope, not really - 08/04/2010 10:24:54 AM 471 Views
Here's one that'll be more to your liking... - 08/04/2010 10:40:53 AM 309 Views
Yes - 08/04/2010 10:52:11 AM 444 Views
Re: Here's one that'll be more to your liking... - 08/04/2010 11:58:27 AM 343 Views
Uh... - 08/04/2010 12:11:14 PM 497 Views
Re: Uh... - 08/04/2010 12:15:20 PM 521 Views
The Devil is always in the details - 08/04/2010 12:29:25 PM 460 Views
Re: The Devil is always in the details - 08/04/2010 12:32:34 PM 268 Views
Not really - 08/04/2010 01:07:57 PM 428 Views
Re: Not really - 08/04/2010 01:10:16 PM 337 Views
Only to a degree - 08/04/2010 01:27:22 PM 435 Views
Re: Only to a degree - 08/04/2010 01:30:12 PM 549 Views
I was into cultural and religious history - 08/04/2010 01:38:24 PM 436 Views
Re: I was into cultural and religious history - 08/04/2010 01:41:31 PM 333 Views
Ha! - 08/04/2010 01:49:23 PM 478 Views
Re: Ha! - 08/04/2010 01:51:28 PM 306 Views
I'm really sleep deprived... - 08/04/2010 02:13:20 PM 587 Views
Re: I'm really sleep deprived... - 08/04/2010 02:19:07 PM 356 Views
- 08/04/2010 02:52:59 PM 447 Views
Interesting fact of the day for you two... - 08/04/2010 02:45:15 PM 341 Views
I know - 08/04/2010 02:46:41 PM 484 Views
It was nice being a "threadkiller" of a different sort - 08/04/2010 10:08:34 PM 354 Views
Quote Pyramids of Destiny FTL *NM* - 08/04/2010 10:16:21 PM 306 Views
me being born mega rich *NM* - 07/04/2010 02:15:34 PM 316 Views
Joanie Loves Chachi. - 07/04/2010 03:42:56 PM 404 Views
worse than "afterMASH"?? *NM* - 07/04/2010 03:50:10 PM 284 Views
Worse than "Joey" ? *NM* - 07/04/2010 06:48:25 PM 295 Views
If you remember Joanie loves Chachi, you might be too old? - 08/04/2010 12:00:34 AM 327 Views
Re: I know I just did a survey, but this was too good to pass up. - 07/04/2010 09:04:02 PM 352 Views
Science getting on the ball in the 40's and making superhumans *NM* - 08/04/2010 05:31:34 AM 342 Views
The spread of peanut butter and jelly. - 08/04/2010 07:12:21 AM 479 Views
The Bread of Christianity. - 08/04/2010 07:12:51 AM 485 Views
The dead of Christianity. - 08/04/2010 07:13:34 AM 454 Views
The thread of Christianity. - 08/04/2010 07:14:15 AM 413 Views
The head of [Roman Catholic] Christianity. - 08/04/2010 07:15:21 AM 447 Views
You completely missed the "pick 1" part of the question, didn't you? *NM* - 08/04/2010 09:26:23 AM 304 Views
Well, techinically, I never said that you couldn't make multible posts, each discussing 1 thing. *NM* - 08/04/2010 05:36:37 PM 281 Views
I'm fairly sure he was just mocking someone's earlier post "just thought it would be interesting..." *NM* - 08/04/2010 08:06:56 PM 287 Views
I'm pretty sure of that too. *NM* - 08/04/2010 08:33:46 PM 291 Views
...it's pretty interesting *NM* - 08/04/2010 08:35:47 PM 343 Views
just as you thought it would be? *NM* - 08/04/2010 08:44:49 PM 285 Views
My parody. - 08/04/2010 10:41:29 PM 433 Views
Re: My parody. - 09/04/2010 07:29:19 AM 503 Views
The 1987 Rugby World Cup Final - 13/04/2010 12:23:17 PM 515 Views

Reply to Message