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Your View: What is the worst human invention?

Listverse Staff . . . Comments

We have already done a “your view” on the best human invention and as I was recently browsing the forums, I saw a post by The Doppleganger suggesting a your view on the opposite subject – what is the worst human invention. So – here it is! Be sure to give your reasons in the comments.

070313-Old-Television-Hmed-6A.Hlarge
What is the Best TV Show Ever?

My answer: Television. Looking through the recent channel listings for cable, there is very little of merit to be seen there. Aside from the news (which is always biased one way or another) and documentaries – which also often have a bias, the television seems to have contributed nothing to society. In fact, I think you could safely say that television, having become a nanny for so many children, and an escape for so many adults, has helped to dumb down our society and reduce our ability to use our imaginations. I should confess that while I almost never watch TV, I do occasionally watch “made for TV” programs which I have downloaded (to avoid ads).

Listverse Staff

Listverse is a place for explorers. Together we seek out the most fascinating and rare gems of human knowledge. Three or more fact-packed lists daily.

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More Great Lists

  • Angry onliner

    the gun… It KIlLz!!1!1!1

  • Imperialdramon Paladin Mode

    The outdoor treadmill. (look it up)

  • cwizz

    condoms

  • Dan

    “New” Coke

  • Tommy

    the bananna protective case

  • jb

    ho ho … television contributed a lot to society! it’s incredible. I agree that in most developed countries it also contributed to decrease people’s mental skills, but just lately.

    Television helped making people closer and lazier. Which is what humans are doing for ages, so it contributed in that way. If you miss the old golden age of true values, wait a bit more to come back in the past :)

  • jake ryder

    The automobile. reponsible for numerous deaths and will someday destroy the planet.

    • The problem is not the automobile..
      The problem is the drivers…

  • Precision

    I do not think there is a single worst invention in human history. My reasoning is that for everything invented (that I can think of) there are other inventions that would not have been discovered where it not for that original invention. I’m struggling to think of a single invention that has not had at least one positive externality associated with its discovery.

    Of course if this is true it raises questions about how much negativity is acceptable in order to cause a positive result.

    Also, it would mean that the very first human invention (communication???) would be both the greatest AND worst invention ever. In this case, it would single-handedly have resulted in every subsequent positive and every subsequent negative invention ever discovered.

  • Carole

    The automobile .It has made us fat and lazy. It made the suburbs possible. It pollutes.

  • 6twenty

    It should be the gun powder. Yeah, fireworks are nice, but the things invented or associated with that…like guns, cannons, nukes. It will eventually lead to our utmost destruction. :(

    • Nukes are not gunpowder,they are primarily consist of…..
      Sorry,can't explain..It's a closely guarded secret…..

      • Chuk

        It’s not closely guarded, it just takes seone with half a brain to grasp it… which leads to my worst invention choice. The bow and arrow. I like swords and spears and the like for warfare, because it takes a lot of courage and training to be able to use them. But you could honestly just be given a bow and told ‘fire’. This spawned the crossbow which spawned the musket when gunpowder rolled around. No, the bow was what started off long-range warfare, which also includes carpet bombs and crossfire, which kill thousands of innocents all the time.

        • Leeroy Jenkins

          That is retarded. Humans would never have advanced without those things, because they would never have survived the Ice Age.

          Get it? No weapons = no humans.

          My vote goes to whatever torture device you can think of.

          • Anon

            Torture devices and weapons, whats the difference pray tell?

  • SoCalJeff

    The one and only ShamWow!

  • YogiBarrister

    the leaf blower

  • Mizu

    electric bicycles.

    I mean like wtf?

    Turning a lovely form of exercise into… goodness knows what ;__;

  • joeyjoejoeshabadoo

    nukes truly brought us into a hobbesian society

  • shadow

    JFrater
    Is this your list. I read the comments on why you believe television fits the worst human invention, however, from reading previous comments, I believe your life has been both positively and negatively influenced by watching television. This is not a bad thing. Television had a large influence on individuals growing up between 1954 and now(maybe even a few years earlier).
    From reading many of your lists(and others on this site and beyond), television has had a major effect on almost all people we deal with.
    I probably watched too much television as a child, but it was my only(and best – this is debatable since I also loved reading) escape at the time. It is still an escape now for everyone who watches. We all need some kind of escape, and this medium has proven to be accessible. Would reading be better? Probably. I still read 1-2 books a month, but the accessity of DVR(I skip through all commercials) has made this a major for5m of escape.

  • shadow

    Where did that 5 come from in the last line?

  • shadow: In a way I think the “escape” element of TV is one of its bad elements – people rely on it to escape a life that doesn’t please them. Surely it is better to fix the problems in life than hide from them in front of a glowing screen? :)

  • Kathryn

    Probably the gun/bombs. Weapons in general. But, they might possibly have saved a few lives as well, but mostly they just are responsible for killing (I am aware people kill people, not guns, etc but still, guns are bad)

    • If guns/gunpowder were not invented,human can still find other ways to kill.

  • Kathryn

    Oh, one more thing I thought of while hitting submit… the bible. Probably tops out guns… yeah, I have my reasons. I really feel it’s not a bad thing entirely in its self, but it’s caused an extreme amount of bad thing to happen by the people who take it too darn seriously. a few hundred (thousand?) years later and it still brings misery to people.

  • Nicole

    MONEY!!!!!

  • Anon

    Wrong. Without TV there would have been no ‘Monty Python’ or ‘Fawlty Towers’. No ‘Only Fools And Horses’. No ‘Last Of The Summer Wine’. No ‘Simpsons’. No ‘Futurama’. No ‘Dad’s Army’. No ‘Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrins’. No ‘Rising Damp’. No ‘One Foot In The Grave’. Most of us would never have experienced the wonders of natural history as presented by the likes of David Attenborough. The chances of seeing a wide range of wonderful films, above all once past general release, would have been reduced beyond count (unless you’re going to cheat and say videos as DVD have nothing to do with TV). Great sporting events and occasions live would be very rare and expensive outings, if even within geographical reach for most. Gor Strewth. Worran addict I am. And how it’s enriched my life … As they say, there’s a little button called the ‘Off’ switch. Surely one of Man’s best inventions?

    The real answer has to be the collapsible deckchair.

    Precision,

    “I’m struggling to think of a single invention that has not had at least one positive externality associated with its discovery.”

    If you’d lived in an earlier age, try one of those devices that was designed to kill with maximum suffering by slow torture whilst keeping the victim alive for as long as possible. You might, I suppose, make out a long-shot case for their having led to more humane execution and ultimately to the abandonment of the death sentence in many countries. Hmmmmmmm.

  • jazjsmom

    Though I agree totally that television is not always a positive thing, I think it also has many positives as well. How else would people have been able to have seen lunar landings, actually view our political candidates as real people instead of just a voice in the air? Sure, there is a lot of trash out there, but there is also a lot of good things that have influenced generations. But just like the above, I read constantly and love a good book probably most of all, but sometimes we just need an escape from the reality of the world and television can be that. I have to agree that guns would be at the top of my list. What is the usefulness in an instrument meant only for harming or killing? It is bad enough that some people have violent behavior and then add a gun to the situation and that makes a volatile situation even more volatile.

  • Oz

    The worst human invention of all time:

    Religion… more precisely, organized religion. (think all of the Abrahamic religions, etc.)

  • shadow

    17. jfrater

    “Surely it is better to fix the problems in life than hide from them in front of a glowing screen.”

    I agree. Most of everyone’s time is devoted to making enough to live and supporting one’s obligations. Hopefully, as little time as necessary is spent on this requirement. The rest of the time available can be used to do the things that are enjoyed. Do I think that sitting in front of a glowing screen is the most productive thing I could be doing? No. Is it convenient? Yes. Do Irelax and enjoy most of what I watch? Yes. Would I do something else that may be more productive to me and all other humanity, were I not watching the “boob tube”. I would like to think so, but probably not.
    Gotta catch the latest CSI now.

  • nyys

    Is it just that I haven’t read the comments careful enough, or has nobody mentioned about nuclear bombs?

    I agree that guns are bad, but they can help you in a situation where you can be killed. But nuclear bombs can destroy the world several times. Look at what North Korea is doing…

  • Precision

    Anon – I think you’re on to something there re: torture devices. I confess that I did not think overly long or hard on the subject and was quite prepared to be proven wrong when I posted my comment. I suppose I had anticipated most of the responses to this question to be along the lines of weapons or religions, and was thinking of these while writing.

    Regarding torture though – could it be said that these may have advanced our understanding of human biology by pushing boundaries that would otherwise be unethical? Unit 731 from WWII springs to mind.

  • c

    Cigarettes.
    Guns/bombs.
    Money/Capitalism.
    Cars.
    Pride.
    Lies/Propaganda.
    Emperialism.
    The “numa numa” song.

    … to name a few.

  • Cyn

    fire.
    well, the use of it for light, heat and cooking (later forging metals…etc etc etc) that allowed us to truly venture out of the cave and into the world.
    and look at what havoc we’ve created since.
    *sigh*
    there are days i do believe it’d been better if we’d never evolved past that cave…..

  • Anon

    Precision,

    As I was implying by my Hmmmmmm, it’s perfectly possible to find an obverse side to absolutely every coin. *Good* and *bad* if you want to be simplistic: probably positive or negative is better, and even then depending on the viewpoinht. A profound cynic might say nuclear weapons offer the beleaguered planet a chance to be rid of a very great number of us very speedily. Or looking at the same example from the opposite angle, the actual very limited use of atomic weapons could be said to have warned how terrible they indeed are, and have been responsible for their not having been used again since (or hopefully ever more). Getting more reasonable still, nuclear theory has led to what might be the most viable alternative to carbon dioxide pollution producing energy sources.

  • Woolhouse

    The step. That piece of exercise equipment that is a single step. IE a block. It costs a pretty penny, is something most everyone either has in their house (that being a step) or- if they just NEED to have it in front of their TV- something they can recreate with some paint cans and a 2×4.

  • Rap Music!

  • BooRadley

    Nuclear Weapons

    • bbb

      Nukes have prevented wars between big powers.

  • Anon

    Are we allowed more than one?

    The mobile phone. People wake me up on buses and trains with the bloody things. They go off during concerts, church services and the like. People get invited to our home for socialising and to enjoy a meal Anita spends hours preparing and disappear to the end of the room or out into the hall glued onto the wretched thing for half the night. Sometimes I go back to UK and find it difficult to contact my own daughters for all the texting and chatting that’s going on. Anita’s mum’s previously friendly little community has just been torn apart by one of those aerials mushrooming up in the middle of it overnight (a great subject for a film!).
    TV? Huh, It can’t hold a candle to that evil device!

  • Anon

    xXTurkinatorXx, (31.)

    “Rap Music!”

    Thanks for the reminder. That’ll do for my *bonus*! Mercifully, right now we don’t have any neighbours bashing it out at high vol. so it penetrates through the walls of our house. But for how long?

  • Taylor

    Abortion

  • puddingpuppet

    That’s simple. War.

  • Steph

    fast food and all weapons since guns were invented.
    both of those are responsible for a lot of lives lost.

  • DK

    The electric Pizza cutter…
    Seriously, it exists…It’s one of those round pizza cutters, but with a little battery operated motor…cuz apparently, Pizza is so hard to cut through that you need extra propulsion….

  • rapanui

    cell phones. period.

  • Beast

    Religion and Country music

  • >.

    managers.

  • scarlet_tears

    necessity is the mother of invention..

    taking this quote into consideration, then their are no inventions that has no use..

    but then again, some are just plain stupid.

    cigarettes – what’s the use? you’ll die ten years early if you’re a chain smoker..

    nuclear weapons – we all know we don’t want it to be use..

  • Spik5005

    http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/images/japanese_invention.jpg

    cmon what is that?

    Banana rack is kind of stupid too

  • jhm27

    probably cigarettes. Or any other man-made killers, but tobacco smoking is probably the worst.

  • infallibleangel

    The Automobile. Automobile. Automobile.

    If it had never been created then there wouldn’t be 10 million (I threw that number out off the top of my head) of the smog-inducing, driver-angering, people-fattening eyesores out there on the roads.

    They have polluted the the planet more than anything else in history… in many different ways. Not only by the endless streams of carbon dioxide/monoxide soot that streams out of the tails of each one… but also by indirectly contributing to oil spills and litter.

    There’s the death factor… both with drivers and pedestrians… there’s the fact that many towns and cities worldwide were built to accommodate for it, thus making it harder for people to walk to get anywhere (and therefore leading to unhealthy people)

    … and my personal favorite… that with the automobile comes the subsequent demand and greed for oil and gas has developed an industry so powerful that wars are fought over it, and is so rich that it is practically above and beyond any government existing in the world today.

    Essentially, Automobiles and its friend oil rule the world.

  • jasontimmer

    I disagree with those that say the gun is the worst. There have been many times that guns have saved lives, not only in providing food but defending against invaders.

    I would have to say the television is the worst. What slight benefit it has given in terms of education (usually biased) or any other life-saving news that was passed on, is vastly outweighed by the harm it has done.

    People might be quick to point out all the people that have been killed with guns but I don’t think they realize how beneficial a tool it has been.

  • l3lazec

    The Segway

    Not necessarily the worst invention, but probably the most pointless. I mean seriously, what the hell?

  • Gauntlet3D

    If I am able to expand this to discoveries. I would say oil. It is killing the earth. Cars are fine without the oil and gas. Guns kill people, no big deal. If they didn’t there would be more diseases due to a high population. The oil thing may end us as a species. The only other thing that could end us totally is the nuke.

  • PirateXxEsque

    There are far too many ways to look at this Mr frater. :/

    Your statement that TV is the worst human invention is based on the idea of how it has affected human health (that is to say, it inspires people to not go outside and exercise).
    In that same thought I could easily say that the myriad of technology availible to us through hospitals are the worst, because they are contributing to the overpopulation and continuation of the worst in the human gene pool.
    The TV has previously contributed alot to the conveyance of infomation (specifically, news, world events)to the large masses. I think it may have contributed to the internet in how it is presented to us.

    Those that say that the gun is the worst invention say so becuase of the human collateral damage.
    What about the animals that needlessly get killed? What of the people who have been saved because the police have access to these weapons?

  • Phillies

    Wow, we got up to 19 comments before someone mentioned religion! I didn’t think it would take that long; I’m proud of you guys!

    The worst invention is definitely the telephone. Especially around dinner. Or any other time of the day. JUST LEAVE ME ALONE, SHEESH

  • Penis

    Pink flamingos in the garden

  • OceanMan.

    i will say….power..

    everything bad is about it, nazis, white supremacy, 9/11, my religion vs your religion, …power..the need to feel realized only because you need to make a point , ah abba..power.

  • Mortivore

    POWERTHIRST! Check it out on youtube. Hilarious. XD

  • OceanMan.

    LMAO!! hahaha, Kenya, ……Kenya!! jajajaj

  • BTG

    God
    Democracy
    Texas
    Capitalism
    Texas

  • sdggrant

    Religion.

    Religion is like communism in that, in theory they both sound like good ideas, but human nature turns them into abominations.

  • Yun

    Television is no different from any other entertainment medium. Whether it’s a book, cinema, live theater, radio, live music… whatever… entertainment is only as good or bad as its content. Nearly every one of your complaints about television could easily be applied to books: Bias in non-fiction, escapism, a tool to keep kids occupied so parents don’t have to worry about them, sedentary entertainment. Pretty much the only exception is the complaint about imagination.

    ———-

    If I had to choose one thing I’d probably say Government. I’m not an anarchist, mind you, but that’s more of a practical issue (it won’t work) than moral one.

    There has never, in history, been a government that has not dedicated itself to accumulating more control over its subjects’ lives, nor has there ever been one which has relinquished power without at least the threat of violent revolution. Heck, it wasn’t until 1801 when there had even been a peaceful transfer of power between rival factions of the [i]same[/i] government (John Adams to Thomas Jefferson.)

    Government corrupts everything it touches. It is government which turned “Love your neighbor as yourself” into “Kill the infidel.” It is government which turned “Let’s help the poor” into “Give us 2/3’s of your money.”

    But, perhaps the worst aspect of government is the paradox that the most harmful creation in human history somehow manages to be among the most indispensable.

  • Abby

    God.

  • OceanMan.

    Man

  • Camico

    I’m gonna have to say Nuclear Bombs, the one invention that could wipe out all life on earth in a matter of hours. Cigarettes are pretty terrible too, you get nothing good out of them AT ALL.

  • Fernut

    Sex is the worst ever . . it hurts

  • The Dude

    religion, hands down.

  • Pyderz

    Religon.

  • 63jax

    Gay marriage, hate them, and now all of you gay defenders curse me.

  • jahblum

    Nuclear Weapons

  • jahblum

    Osama Bin Laden, didn’t the CIA create him

  • Donna

    Alcohol. (For the drinking, not medicating use). Not cool and not funny either. Yuck.

  • Bensonians

    BOMBS!

  • cb

    #56 Sdggrant. That’s one of the best sayings ever! I still can’t believe tv and automobiles are on here how many people who say they despise them on the list actually own them? And they’re bad because they stop social interaction cmon apart from the fact that phones are used to communicate and therefore be social aswell as organise to meet people etc there are far worse problems than this. I do have to agree religion is one of the worst inventions due to the mindless drones who follow it and fight for their god its insane and stupid. However I think I’ll go with torture devices seeing as though they inflict massive pain and prolong it what could be worse than that? Anti-social people? Instant death? Pollution?

  • cb

    #56 Sdggrant. That’s one of the best sayings ever! I still can’t believe tv and automobiles are on here how many people who say they despise them on the list actually own them? And they’re bad because they stop social interaction cmon apart from the fact that phones are used to communicate and therefore be social aswell as organise to meet people etc there are far worse problems than this. I do have to agree religion is one of the worst inventions due to the mindless drones who follow it and fight for their god its insane and stupid. However I think I’ll go with torture devices seeing as though they inflict massive pain and prolong it what could be worse than that? Anti-social people? Instant death? Pollution?

  • splash65

    “Clap On!
    Clap Off!
    Clap On, Clap Off. The Clapper!!

  • knight_forked

    I think almost everything that’s been invented could be justified for its invention. I believed that God and religion were the worst but then there are arguments against those as well. People need something to hold on to and hence the concept of God; and religions were right around the time they were invented, it could be argued if they really fit into today’s scientific world.

    I would say if porn is somebody’s invention then it lies right there at the edge of the worst inventions. The reason is that firstly it kills your imagination and secondly it subdues your zest to go out and be outspoken. I fail to remember if there’s any positive impact of it though. Well, all said, I still pray at the temple of Godess porn almost every day (TMI)…

    By the way worst invention would be something like “List of top 10 worst lists,” I hope I don’t ever see that here at LV…just kidding Jamie ;)

  • rolinrolin

    high heels…..
    not comfy, health damaging,makes most women walk slower, hazardous to other people (hear from someone who has been stepped on stupid heels has to say)……..
    who cares it look nice, it’s stupid, does it even look thaaat nice, stupid heels! i’m a gal btw

  • Flash

    Religion. The cause of more problems, persecution, and murder than any other idea, concept or device.

  • YOHEI

    I`d say The automobile It kills people & make them lazy

  • Ash

    Twilight
    Worst thing in the history of mankind.

  • im a muslim

    alcohol. it causes cirrhosis of liver, cancer of Bowel, oesophagus,head n neck,liver(hepatoma),oesophagitis, gastritis,pancreatitis,hepatitis,cardiomyophaty,hypertension,coronary Artherosclerosis, angina,heart attack, strokes,apoplexy, Fits,paralyses, peripheral etc. they are juz 1/3 of them. if u want 2 know more,go to http://www.ilovezakirnaik. com./ all rite guys bye.

  • carl

    tv’s slowly becoming useless nowadays.i mean almost all of the tv shows aired can be downloaded from the internet, thanks a lot to eztv!

    @ topic: i think the worst human invention is the cellphone. money was once the root of all evil. now, it’s cellphone.

    here’s the proof:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-7XwboOx98

  • Jaz_3

    tobacco
    guns
    drugs
    segway(the thing u need to lean to make it move)
    n
    wwe

  • im a muslim

    oh.i forgot to mention my objection to you. television is a very great invention!!!without it i could’nt watch hundreds of great korean dramas such as stairway to heaven, sad love story, romance,my girl, hotelier etc

  • theleafs

    rap”music”…..the most horrible sounds ever made by man

  • Gabby

    #61. Fernut – November 26th, 2008 at 2:05 am
    Sex is the worst ever . . it hurts

    / came in to say “Then you’re doing it wrong”

  • DiscHuker

    God and religion? geez people, look past your bias to see that the infrastructure of society would fall apart if it weren’t for these. we would lose many hospitals and schools, most charitable organizations and unleash billions of people who no longer have a moral code.

    surely there are things that don’t have as many positives to go along with the negative aspects.

    there is a common theme between just about every suggestion so far. human.

    if a gun can be used to provide food for a family (good) and kill somebody you disagree with (bad) then it seems that the invention is subject to the whims of the user.

    man, pride, anger, jealousy, pettiness, sin essentially is our problem.

    although to answer the question, i would say the little thing in public bathrooms that stops the toilet paper roll from moving freely thus giving you only one or two squares at a time.

    • Steve

      How this did not make the top 10 listverse comments list is beyond me.

  • Randall

    I’m torn between the hydrogen bomb and high fructose corn syrup.

  • Nicosia

    Oh, snap… Gabby- You took my line!

  • Nicosia

    “although to answer the question, i would say the little thing in public bathrooms that stops the toilet paper roll from moving freely thus giving you only one or two squares at a time.”

    YES! DiscHuker! Is toilet paper thievery really that big a problem?

  • LordCalvert

    our soon-to-be president, invented by communists and radicals to destroy this country

  • Sugen

    #1: guns don’t kill people do
    #8: i agree with you perfectly. I was about saying nuclear bombs but what about nuclear energy?

  • trojan_man

    Taxes!

  • Jackie

    Haha Randall! Have you seen those commercials now about how high fructose corn syrup supposedly really isn’t bad for you? hmm…I need to find it somewhere and get back to you…anyway the commercials don’t convince me, I still think it’s bad for you, especially when it’s unnecessarily added to things that don’t need it like juice.

  • Dr. Bob

    Bluetooth Headsets

    I cannot tell you how many times I have been quietly shopping in the supermarket while some rude person is walking down each and every aisle laughing and talking extra-loudly with their earpiece in (like your friend can’t hear you if you use your inside voice).

    I understand that using headsets are very convenient for hands-free phone use while driving, but maybe they should be sold with a tether that forces you to leave it in your vehicle. That way, you don’t have to be such a jerk.

    And for the people that walk around with one constantly in their ear…I hope you get ear cancer and drop dead! It’s like you’re always expecting a call, and nobody is sure if you’re talking to them or if you’re on the phone. It’s not a status symbol or a piece of jewelry. And if you spend so much time on the phone that it is so much of a bother for you to be putting it in and taking it out all the time, then I think there is something wrong with you!

    If anyone reading this is wearing a Bluetooth headset and is either talking loudly in public or not talking on the phone at all, I am not sorry. You are probably extremely annoying and/or creepy. Please try to better yourselves.

    Thank you.

  • rushfan

    Randall stole mine. :(

  • wachinga

    school XD

  • theleafs

    one more….RELIGION, has the ever been an invention that killed more people or was the reason to wage war; belief in God is one thing; organized belief and forcing it upon others is another, one with often horrific consequences.

  • ihsanjr

    Gunpowder is the worst invention. It destroyed feudalism, but it will destroy humanity. (Just kiddin, hurrah gunpowder, damn barbie dolls, hurrah atomic bombs, damn spongebob)

  • Kreachure

    This is actually a pretty good question…

    I’ll have to say REALITY TV!!!!

    Tila Tequila and The Hills alone are enough to lose hope in humanity.

    But that doesn’t mean I hate TV as a whole.

  • Kreachure

    Also, why is the image “WHAT IS THE BEST TV SHOW EVER?” “My Answer: Television”? Never heard of that one… :P

  • Bob

    lawl letz all say religion or god, guyz. . .hurhur. . .amirite?

    Honestly, though, it’s homosexuality.

  • Bob

    By the way, godless philosophies have been the cause of far more deaths than all religions put together, even if you count bloodthirsty religions like Islam that have violence as one of their main tenets.

  • Kreachure

    Ugh, I forgot to say that the only Reality show that I consider worth it is The Amazing Race. Okay I’ll stop with the multiposts now (although I’m eager to defend TV’s contributions to modern society… :( )

  • JUNQUEMAN

    WHY, THE ANSWER HAS TO BE—LISTS!

  • Jackie

    Bob @97: Can you give me an example of how “godless philosophies have been the cause of far more deaths than all religions put together” ?

  • bulldada

    You are all wrong.

    The worst invention by man is alligator clips.

  • Brickhouse

    I agree with TV to a point. I think if TV were to shut off at 11 or 12 at night and come back on at 5 or 6, that would encourage a lot of people to get more sleep. Like they used to when it was first invented. :)

    I would say the remote is worse than the TV. The more inventions humans create to make our lives easier are slowly making us all heavier and killing us off sooner… Watch Wall-E. I think they were spot-on to where we are headed with trash and conveniences.

  • Mike

    Organized fanatical religion and neoliberal capitalism are the first things that come to my mind when considering the worst inventions of mankind.

  • GTT

    Disc (81)- WOW, I was actually phrasing my post in my mind when I read yours and figured you had already eloquently written what I wanted to say. Kudos.

  • DiscHuker

    thanks gtt. which part? i am equally supportive of God/religion and free flowing toilet paper.

  • Anon

    Bob, (96),

    “Honestly, though, it’s homosexuality”

    Let’s have the name of its *inventor* then, Bob. Every invention has to have an inventor.

    For those who say nuclear weapons. Really? Any device which so scares shit out of humanity as to be the ONLY way of stopping a third and most lethal world conflict for the entire last 60+ years can’t be all bad. Oh yes it has been, sad to say, don’t let’s try to pretend otherwise.

  • Jackie

    Randall: check this ad out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbRxTOyGf0

    there’s a couple of them..it’s really bizarre because I’ve read everywhere else that it’s bad for you but these commercials try to convince otherwise

  • Fazrin

    Bob,ur comment will for sure hurt us(muslim).Well, i cannot blame you 100% as there are so many misconceptions about islam.study first every statement that u hear and u will realize that islam do not teach terrorism.

  • bucslim

    Hot Pockets!

  • DiscHuker

    bucslim: you mean boiling hot magma and pepperoni pockets

  • Anon

    Disc et al.,

    Its inventor as well as beneficiaries of the bog paper stop gadget might well claim that the worst invention is the fellow human being who keeps pulling and pulling and pulling the free-flow type. Result: the next person along discovers too late there is none left for their dire (or diorrhea) hour of need. Hands up anyone who’s NOT been in that situation? Recommendation. Use paper handkerchiefs and always carry a sufficiently large wadge in your pockets. (That’s for blokes and ladies who don’t use handbags.)

  • danmoo

    for everyone who says tobacco and is from the united states think again. Tobacco was one of the most important staple crops in this country in the 17th and 18th century. W/O it the colonies would not have survived. That was their biggest export out of the colonies allowing them to thrive and begin to incorporate other crops. Tobacco was not an awful invention, nor are cigarettes

  • Pyderz

    99. Bob

    “By the way, godless philosophies have been the cause of far more deaths than all religions put together, even if you count bloodthirsty religions like Islam that have violence as one of their main tenets.”

    What Godless Philosophies? Could you explain

  • Raptor

    Leaded petrol, and CFC’s to cool refrigirators

  • 42. scarlet_tear: necessity is the mother of invention..
    ****
    Oh, no! Necessity is the mother of strange bedfellows!

    As to the Atom bomb, and all that followed, even Einstein was devastated when he realized what he had helped to do. Had the first not been invented, none of the following been invented, we’d undoubted be living in a much more serene (at least mentally, phychologically) world.

  • bucslim

    KFC!

    The Colonel puts an addictive substance in his chicken that makes you crave it fortnightly, SMARTASS! OOO I hate the Colonel and his wee beady eyes!

  • Anon

    segue, (117),

    Ah, one of our very rare bit civilised points of disagreement then? (See my 108.) I can only add that having lived through a world war and a cold war, I know my preference without a moment’s hesitation. The cold had really frightening moments, but like the genuine threat of a major earthquake where we live now, it dod not prey endlessly on my mind, or those of all I knew, or blight our lives. With nuclear weapons I could have been called up for active service when on call (up to 45). Without them I’m as near certain as possible I would have been.

  • Grelf

    The cell phone.

  • the womans vibrator… :(

    ROFL

    seriously though…i think it sucks.

  • Blogball

    Lawn Jarts! http://snag.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/jarts.jpg
    Remember those things? Really fun game but someone should have seen the writing on the wall that kids (like me) would throw them up as high as possible not knowing where or who they will land on.

    OK not really the worst human invention but for some reason Lawn Jarts came to my mind.

  • jadester

    Oh I disagree with television being the worst. I have learned a lot of things from the simpsons and it has also taught me to be more open minded to other cultures and societies by watching and learning about them.
    My worst thing, although it was probably already said, is religion.
    Not god, but religion.

  • Fazrin

    I agree with u Buckslim.KFC suppliers cram birds into huge waste-filled factories,breed and drug them to grow so large that they can’t even walk and often break their wings and legs.So, ladies and gentlethinker let us boycott Kentucky Fried Cruelty(KFC)

  • Anon

    A pity we have no opening parameter to define what was intended to constitute an invention here. Presumably though it was intended to cover material gadgets and implements, not philosophies and religions, attitudes, natural resources or human behaviour, etc. Many of those non-material *inventions* add little but pointless aggro to this thread, as elsewhere in LV.

    Maybe the following point has already been made explicitly or implicitly, but the definition The Worst Human Invention doesn’t have to signify it has no beneficial side. E.g. despite saving lives in emergencies, improving business deals and the like, cell phones still qualify. Likewise the openingchoice of TV.

    Perhaps this needs splitting into two: The most terrible human ionvention AND The most irritating human invention!

  • Anon

    Tobacco isn’t an invention. The cigarette is. It has just killed one of my two best friends, despite his having given it up immediately the anti-cancer campaign started all that time ago. So don’t give me that codswallop about cigarettes not being an awful invention danmoo, despite my learning so much from those wonderful little informative picture cards they used to put in the packets.

  • Jon

    simple; the zike

  • Wolf

    I will agree with TV to an extent; at one time it was informative and educational. However with the advent of this “reality TV” bull shit all use for TV is gone and that is the reason we got rid of our cable.

  • DonJuan

    The Federal Reserve

  • ploni

    TV while it has many bad things, is the reason you can travel around the world and SPEAK ENGLISH to people. If you have ever been to a country that doesnt teach English in school and were able to survive speaking english, this is most likely because the people that COULD speak English watched a lot of TV

  • Miss Destiny

    Nuclear bombs. Why would we want to create something that could blow us all up?

  • Talanic

    Gonna be hard to get any kind of consensus here.

    Nukes are TERRIBLE when used…but what has their very presence done to the world? We’re a lot less willing to engage in major wars–look at the 1800s and compare to the 1950s and later; there have been tons of small wars (which are no less horrific) but no massive conflicts so far. Here’s hoping.

    Petroleum distillation? On one hand, it brought us to our modern age. On the other, it might wipe us out. Who knows? That throws it in with the same potential as such things as robotics, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology–each of which COULD rock, or they COULD annihilate us.

    Or religion. It’s one of the things that led to civilization rising at all. When Rome fell, the only reason that not all the works and ideas of Rome and Greece were lost was because of monks making copy after copy. Tons of people can only find contentment in religion. And yet, at the same time, it’s been abused to justify atrocities and manipulate people. You can probably say the same thing about any economic or governmental system.

    How about this as an idea: Tobacco.

  • Anon

    Talanic,

    (Sighs) There’s a pretty extensive tobacco thread above you already. It goes down as far as Post 126.

    (Sighs again) There’s also a fair consideration of the pros and cons of nuclear weapons. It reaches Post 119, and then crops up again in Post 131 without reference to previous discussion.

    Interactive discussion is actually far more interesting, believe it or not. And Talanic, regulars just HATE seeing something presented as brand new which has long been discussed in the thread. It may even be their *worst human invention*! Hahaha.

  • Q43

    Atomic bomb is by far the worst invention of mankind.
    it is enough to say that the creator of the bomb Robert Oppenheimer after seeing first nuclear test said : “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” .
    Anything that has power to take so many lives should not be in people’s hands.

  • Mr. Plow

    Godless philosophies that have led directly to wholesale slaughter?

    Nazism and communism to name a couple (and let’s not forget the fans of eugenics that were popular in the 18/1900s)…killing over belief is not solely a religious thing.

    I know blaming religion is a REALLY popular, but lets be fair. Mankind has shown it can kill for many reasons.

    Worst invention, any philosophies or governmental forms that take away from the individual rights of people…or to be more partisan, anything that takes away from free markets or liberties.

    inb4 capitalist pig or religious fundie

  • Rob

    Yep…cigarettes have to be right up there. They smell, are bad for your health, highly addictive and completely pointless.

  • Jazoo

    Religion.

  • bucslim

    #124 Fazrin – you’re confusing me with the animal rights lunatic fringe. I enjoy chicken, chopped up, dusted with flour and salt, deep fried and slathered in sauce, or roasted, or the filling in a Philly sandwich, or only the wings with bbq sauce or cold from the fridge the next day.

    So, to quote Maddux, for every animal you refuse to eat, I’m going to eat three, negating your fondness for the salvation of the animal kingdom put on this planet to be consumed by us.

    Teach that chicken to build a hospital or drive a car, and I’m on your side.

  • Cullinan

    The macarena,

  • theSKIN

    People saying that religion killed more people than anything else, how ignorant can you be. Who ever taught you this was wrong. War and disease have kill way more people then religious persecution. There have been far more persecuted people because of their race, nationality’s, ideas, and tribal ancestry. Look at Africa since the imperialism of the land, its people have been subjected to killings, slavery, and torture. Even now, they are killing each other just because of the tribal differences. WW2 Nazi’s killed millions of people because of their heritage, Japan slaughter millions of people because their race/nationality. Mention one war on religion I’ll raise raise you 10 wars started over other reasons. Don’t be so blind sided by your vendetta towards religion, that you believe one thing you’ve read or heard.

  • Randall

    Jackie:

    Goddamn high fructose corn syrup peddlers, trying to force their clear semi-liquid Koolaid on us… forcing us to buy more and more and more, keeping The High Fructose Council and the High Fructose High Lord of Sweetness in perpetual business… damn them all to hell.

    That, or like I said, the hydrogen bomb. Not a nice invention. Scary, very scary. But has hurt fewer people than High Fructose Corn Syrup, I betchya. Hmmm. Tough choice.

    Actually, you know, if you put high fructose corn syrup in ANYTHING, Americans’ll buy it. Did you know that? It’s true.

    Ah well. This truly is a silly Your View.

    Television the worst invention? (!) PSSSHAWWW!!! Think of the world without TV… (as Homer Simpson said–I paraphrase cuz I can’t remember the exact quote–“friend, parent, secret lover…”) No televised boxing! No Monday Night Football! No Diana Rigg in her skin-tight leather outfits (drool). No Marianne in her lil’ short shorts and cut off top (double drool). None of the sheer delight of waiting for those odd moments when Joyce Dewitt would wear something tight or revealing, and you’re yelling at the TV for that dumbass Jack Tripper to get the hell out of your way! No Star Trek (original only!) with the Spock and the Kirk and “Dammit I’m a doctor, not a concierge!” (“I’m not a madam! I’m a CONCIERGE!”—and how would I have heard that when the damn movie came out when I was only THREE, but for TV? I ask you!) No “Circus of the Stars” or “Battle of the Network Stars!” No “Love Boat” and no… well wait, I’m making the argument for it here, aren’t I? Well… no Star Trek! That was a damn good show! So was Seinfeld! Cripes! No Twilight Zone, no Naked City, no The Defenders, no Wild Wild West… am I making my point? No, I didn’t think so.

    I do like Ghost Hunters and How It’s Made though… the quality of my life would be lessened without them.

    I also think Cheez Whiz is pretty sucky, and should be considered as another terrible invention. Wonderbread too. Yick.

  • ringo710

    JB is a fucking moron. anyone who thinks that inventions like the television are making people “lazier” should go live in an amish town. the purpose of all invention is to ease the toil of man, and if you look at it from a cavemans point of veiw, all humans are lazy. and as for the making people stupider part, its only dipshits like you who think like that. in fact, why do you turn in your computer and buy a nice stationary kit, so you can mail people stupidity.

  • mlb

    Automatic-flush toilets. They inevitable flush at the most inopportune time, and are notorious for splashing one’s nether regions with whatever vile substance is in the bowl.

  • hope

    can anyone who posted homosexuality please explain why you think it is wrong? outside of religion, I have yet to find a single intellegent answer to that question. I keep hearing it destroys families but noone can say why!

    The worst inventions all can be found on an infomercial staring Billy Mays….he’s a great salesman but all the products he promotes are useless!

  • ringo710

    and to theSKIN, ever hear of manifest destiny? its what europenas belived. it means that god ordained them with holy right to conqure africa and america. hitler specifically killed the jews and atheists becouse of his roman catholic veiws, whitch he said many times[also, jewish is not a race, dumbass.]. the crusades were in the complete name of christianity. the salem witch trials, saddam hussein s slaugher of shiites, etc. etc.

    in short, you are a fucking idiot.

  • Lynn in Oregon

    The Cartoon Network has destroyed society!

    Life was better before children had access to cartoons 24 hours a day.

    In “the old days”, Saturday morning cartoons were a meaningful part of our lives. We got up early, fixed a bowl of cereal (our first experience at “cooking”), snuggled up in our favorite chair or with a favorite pillow and settled in for 5 or 6 hours of pure kidertainment. Followed by “GASP” going outside and playing… nowdays cartoons are aways on, never giving kids a chance to “PUT DOWN THE FOOD AND STEP AWAY FROM THE TV”

    Saturday mornings were something to look forward to all week(teaching patience)

    Saturday mornings were a privilege and could be taken away
    (teaching actions have consequences)

    Saturday mornings were a good thing.

    sigh…Stupid Cartoon Network…

  • Mr. Plow

    Holy crap…Hitler…a Catholic? Raised maybe. But observant? Hell no.

    Hitler’s numerous crimes were not committed out of his zeal for the Catholic church. Check it out…http://www.lawandreligion.com/nurinst1.shtml

    Fool.

    And “Jewish” can refer to both a religion or a ethnicity.

    And Saddam’s persecution of the Shiites was much more about their revolt…not their religion. Saddam was pretty secular…Islamic only when it politically suited him.

    Give me a religious conflict, and i’ll give you secular reasons for a ‘religious’ war.

    Settle your 16yo butt down ringo, no one is trying to convert you.

  • OceanMan.

    ringo get your facts straigh, Hitler was Catholic,but he`s motives werent influence by it,to say that is just plain ignorant, read Alfred Rosenberg(one of hitler`s chieff ideologist) “The Myth of the 20th Century” in wich he blast the catholic church pretty damn hard, he`s hatred of the jews wasnt religion motivated, study first.

    the manifest destiny was an american manifest, not European, and it was NOT influenced by God, but rather by power,nationalisim etc..

    get your facts straight buddy.

    And religion is always and excuse, not the reason, ideology gone extreme is the fault, communism(Stanlin), religious fundamentalism (kkk)..ideology, not religion.

  • b-lucke

    Meth !!!!

  • ericdraven26

    war
    intelligence
    religion

  • guy

    the air conditioner! it allows people to stay inside even on hot days so they do not need to go take part in their community and stuff. less people meet i guess. idk

  • ericdraven26

    on intelligence, think about back before we could create, we had no ozone holes, or many extinct/endangered species
    look at it now

    i rest my case.

  • guy

    God invented humans- the most harmful invention ever

  • ROK

    Organized religion is the worst “invention” of mankind. Ever.

  • 119. Anon: segue, (117), Ah, one of our very rare bit civilised points of disagreement then?
    ****
    Yes, it is. I remember so vividly my grammar school days; once a month the civil defense sirens would sound, and you would crawl under your desk (if at school, a table if at home) curl into a ball, and clasp your fingers together behind your neck. When one next siren sounded we’d lineup and march to our underground lunchroom, where we’d wait for the next “all clear” siren.
    I had an ulcer by nine, sure I’d be dead one of those times the sirens sounded. I’d seen the civil defense films, I knew crawling under the desk was a waste of time.
    During the Cold War, my dad was Supervisor of a construction crew which was putting up perimeter fencing around minuteman silos in the Northwest. In all of the little towns around the sites everyone, children included, wore dogtags so that, in case of nuclear attack (they’d be a first strike location), the bodies could be identified. I was 12. Imagine what kind of influence that had on my psyche.

  • cb

    Dischuker: you have a good point about funding and religion but I don’t know of any hospitals funded by the church and every religous school I know of costs a fortune to go to and brainwashes children or atleast attempts to about religion I would know I started in a catholic pre school and finished all my schooling years at a catholic school. That aside if religous people’s ethics are only due to a childhood like reward system, that being good you get rewarded (heaven), bad you get punished (hell) then what people are they anyway? they merely act good or bad on a reward basis not because they have any real moral fibre but because a book told them to. I think or atleast hope it goes a bit deeper than that and their actions and morals are more concrete than that for there sake and everyone else’s too. As for bob #98,#99 firstly how is homosexuality an invention? And even if it was how is that bad unless you were raped and are holding a grudge I suppose and as for godless philosophy being a bigger killer than religion? Where did you pull that from I’m sure even the religous people will back me on saying that’s a lie. In fact it was the philosophical teachers who were killed and imprisoned by religous fanaticals and I can list quite a few.

  • Zakšek

    CLOTHING
    GUNS
    RELIGION
    TIME
    CELL PHONES
    MCDONALC
    KAVIAR
    TELEVISION

    If I would have to chose just one, it would be RELIGION !

  • Paulb

    The Xbox 360, the Wii and PS3 are much better

  • Miss Laura

    In my opinion, the Casket. I believe people should contribute to the environment instead of being locked in a box unable to decay as every other thing does. Burial grounds take up tons of space as well. Not entirely sure if this was an invention or more as a rite of passage, but either way someone along the line more or less brought it to be.

  • deep friers. it makes people fat and fat people fatter.

  • Mr. Plow

    cb

    There are numerous Catholic hopsitals…feel free to google ones in your area.

    As for your schooling, well, I think the fact that you were ‘brainwashed’ from pre school to graduation is a great example of someone coming from a religious backround, and still making decisions for themselves.

    So how then again are schools brainwashing the kiddies? I think we can both agree that when we are adults, we make our own decisions, and someones adult faith is certianly one of them.

    You view that religon=wars shows you really do not have a firm grasp of historical fact nor a realistic concept of why wars/conflicts are fought. Most conclicts are over resources, cultural influence, or just plain old power lust.

    Very rarely is relgion in itself a motive to go to war.

    But, I think your rather simplistic interpretation (“a book that promises rewards”) take on religion, and let’s be honest, you are talking about Christianity, shows you to be someone is who is really more concerned with maligining a denomination you disapprove of than anything else.

  • Valencio

    The DVD rewinder is THE king of stupid inventions

  • Kealey

    Text messaging, its created a barrier for real communication, its dumbed down our youth, and it’s anti social. I am an avid texter. Urgghh.

  • JohnSomats

    McDonalds 15 cent cheeseburgers.

  • egbert

    Ringo710:

    First, if you are going to write something anywhere (public forum or private note) go back to school or use a dictionary and look up the word. Spelling mistakes, poor syntax, etc. just make you sound plain ol’ dumb!

    Second, if you’re going to pontificate (look it up) about Roman Catholicism, Hitler, and other things try to get your facts straight. If you have only a vague idea of the actual historical facts and context then google the subject or look it up in a school textbook before making a fool of yourself in public. Otherwise you just strike all observers as ignorant.

    Needless to say, your arguments have fallen flat and doubtless have turned others off to your way of thinking.

    On the other hand, if you are – as I suspect – just some angry kid spouting off then all your spittle-flying hate phrases will neither rouse us nor satisfy you. And frankly I truly feel sorry for you.

  • cb

    Mr. Plow

    The closest catholic hospital to me is nearly 6 hours away still a valid point though. In my post I wrote “brainwashes children or at least attempts to about religion”. It’s quite easy how they brainwash children, I had to have studies of religion as a compulsory lesson in my HSC, I was given a bible I had to read and do exercises in. I was made to participate in a re-enactment of the crucification of Jesus, made to go to church weekly and do the rosary amongst other things. I have many friends who were brainwashed into religion. One of them said if it wasn’t for him being tutored in physics he would still believe what the school fed him and many other smart friends of mine still do. Still religious brainwashing is slightly off topic. As for me saying religion = wars that’s very much out of context all I said was religion was a bigger killer than godless philosophies and how mindless drones fight for their god that’s hardly stating that religion = wars. (except these posts are a good example of some listverse wars hehe).

    All in all I still believe torture (whether that include the rosary is up to you) is still the worst invention but religion is up there for it’s brainwashing, slowing down of civilization (Galileo, killing and imprisonment of ancient philosophers, men & dinosaur business etc), Sacrifices, Jihads, conflict (note conflict not war), Eating only certain things ie haram, kosher,being a vego etc and the taking away of people’s rights.

  • Navik

    dude quit saying nukes, if the stupid jap bastards didn’t have to blindside us in the first place nobody would know their power is except for the testers, and cigarettes, you have a choice, the worst invention is whatever makes the largest number of people miserable, yea religion is pretty stupid too, look how many wars it has created, therefore requiring upgrades in weapons to kill your ‘inferior’ religious opponent, religion probly

  • Navik

    dude and mr. plow, i just heard on the news the other day that every war being fought right now is religious, and look how many in the past, so it is a huge motive

  • Theodoric of York

    CB, I hardly see where religion, the rosary, or your unhappiness at a Catholic school have anything to do with inventions. If you have a beef with religion, Catholicism, etc. that is your business. But let’s focus on the question here: the worst invention.

    Inventions by the very definition are intended to improve something. If the invention has worked then hopefully it has improved upon its purpose. So to me the questions here are:

    a) What invention was truly a horrible invention;
    b) What invention was completely and utterly useless.

    My choice for a) is nuclear weapons. My choice for b) is poison gas in WW1 (devastating for both the intended victim as well as the user).

  • fThrud

    The internal combustion engine.

    Steam, Wind and Hydro power were already in use when petroleum based technologies were developed. If the internal combustion engine had not been invented, mankind would have focused on developing those clean and renewable energy sources much sooner.

  • Theodoric of York

    Narvik, it was not religion that caused wars. It is the greed, selfishness, and lack of moral center that caused wars. Plenty of unscrupulous individuals have hidden behind the mantle of a religious cloak. But that does not inherently prove that that religion is bad nor that religions in general are the cause of the problems. It simply shows that human nature is generally corrupt.

  • OceanMan.

    nice job Theodoric.

  • cb

    Theodoric of York:

    “I hardly see where religion, the rosary, or your unhappiness at a Catholic school have anything to do with inventions”

    Religion is an invention hence the relevance in this forum that being “Your View: What is the worst human invention”

    Invention is simply something that was invented.
    Invented by definition is the following:

    1. To produce or contrive (something previously unknown) by the use of ingenuity or imagination.
    2. To make up; fabricate: invent a likely excuse.

    Hope this helps clear up why I suggested religion and then named several reasons why it is one of the worst inventions.

  • Mr. Plow

    171 York, agreed.

    Navik, whatever troll.

    cb, you still are no longer a practicing Catholic, so why are you NOT brainwashed and all those you graduated with ARE? Either you are supremely brilliant or maybe the brainwashing is not that effective.

    And are you really that surprised that a religious school endorses a religion?

    Also i’ve never heard of eating kosher violating anyone’s individual rights. Religion is a choice, just like your choice to leave, there are no taking of liberties, one simply chooses a lifestyle in which they know they will have certain rules.

    AS for religion being such a killer, peruse this link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_and_disasters_by_death_toll

    Is religion really the biggest killer…or conflict causer? It is a myth that religion is the prime cause of conflict…the historical record simply does not bear that out, read for yourself.

    I agree on the torture, but still maintain that liberty killing philosophies and governments are the worst invention humanity has created.

  • Cedestra

    Without TV we would have no Listverse.
    Telemarketing.

  • Bigwig Rabbit

    Reader comments.

  • Cyn

    Bigwig Rabbit –
    you wascaly wabbit! as much as i bitch and moan about commentors..at times…it is what makes this site so entertaining. otherwise it’d just be lists..which is great but the internet is about interaction NOT just reading.
    so pooh pooh on your comment bashing commentors!
    for shame you wascaly wabbit!
    ;)

  • cb

    Mr Plow

    Have you ever heard a brainwashed person say they’re brainwashed? All those people that follow cults, mass suicides, suicide bombers that believe they will go to heaven and get heaps of virgins etc are they not brainwashed?

    The conclusion that you came to stating that either I am supremely brilliant or the brainwashing in not that effective is fairly limited. Could it be perhaps that I was further educated than those through science or philosophy. Perhaps it was that I was not as ignorant as others the possibilities are far more than the my brilliance or the ineffectiveness of their brainwashing.\

    Thank you for the link even if it is misguided as you keep stating that I believe religion is “such a killer”. It’s just more of a killer than a godless philosphy is all I said. However the human sacrifice statistics were interesting.

  • mike

    Annoying forced 4chan internet memes. God dammit man, it was funny for about… Two minutes! No more!

  • Theodoric of York

    CB, Let’s objectively look at the numbers, shall we? In terms of “religious wars” we can easily lump in the Jihad by Muslims from 632 to at least the suige of Vienna in 1638; on the Christian side the Crusades in retaliation from the 11th century on; the Dutch Revolt (1560s to 1648); the 30 Years’ War (1618-1648) but really almost nothing afterwards (unless you include the Taiping rebellion 1850-1864 in China). The Napoleanic Wars were fought for a secular ideal. The wars of the 19th century (Crimean War, wars of Italian and German reunification; American Civil War) were all for nationalism in one sense or another. The British, French and Russian imperial wars were simply expansionist. Thus we are left with the 20th century. Those wars (WW1, WW2, colonial struggles in Africa and Asia, proxy fights of the Cold War, etc.) were all purely secular. Unless you consider Nazi-ism, Communism and Western liberal democracy religions (I don’t and I have never heard anyone who does). The death tally from the 20th century wars – easily more than 100 million (20 million WW1; 60 million WW2; 40 million Chinese civil wars; etc.) were all secular. Casualties in the Crusades were sometimes as low as a few dozen in battles and never more than a few 10s of 1000s. There were not that many combatants. Even the worst excesses of the Muslim-Christian wars (eg Vienna, Constantinople, etc.) were 100,000s. At most the tally from the Thirty Years’ War was 1 million (largely thru starvation and disease).

    Now, tally up how you get religion to blame for those numbers or where you find a larger tally of deaths directly attributable to ANY religion?

  • cb

    I almost feel like I am talking to a brick wall. Where in any of my posts did I say religion starts wars and is the biggest killer etc? I didn’t and you are straying from the subject. However your post does show religion does kill hundreds of thousands and I thank you for showing yet another reason why religion is one of the worst human inventions.

  • Mr. Plow

    “more of a killer than a godless philosphy ”

    Well cb, I think those particular stats prove just the opposite. (Even if you add in the sacrifice stats, as I would lop those in the religion camp.)

    Your statement that religion is more of a killer than a godless philosophy is objectively wrong. It should be pretty obvious for you, as I provided a link with some very basic stats showing just how many wars/conflicts/deaths are NOT in fact based in religion.

    As for the brainwashing stuff. You grew up in a religious school, thought about it, and decided it was not for you. Do you know for a fact that the rest of your class mates, or any religious person for that matter, have not sat down and had the “do I believe or not” talk with themselves?

    As a man who has been “further educated” in science or philosophy, how do you know that those with faith have not made a conscience decision to practice that faith?

    The truth is you don’t know.

    Your non belief does not make you any better or worse than those who believe.

  • simuun

    Everything we know to exist is an invention. Literally. And notice its always the atheists that bring up religion? Why are you so scared to admit that others views are as possible as any of yours? Seriously, everytime an atheist or anyone who doesn’t believe in religion has to comment on it the first chance they get, and it seems the comments stem from your insecurities about the unknown. Those who believe in religion know about as much of what happens after death then those who don’t believe in religion, yet if you have any beliefs you will get called out on it. I can’t remember the last time i came in these comments and heard anyone preaching their religion, however i can always find someone calling it out. ok, we get it, you don’t believe in anything, now get over it and move on, cuz if you felt so strongly about it you wouldn’t have to keep commenting about it every time you have an opinion about anything. like i said, we get it already.

  • Elihu

    Saying television is the worst invention ever is pretty ignorant. Have cases arisen where it has been abused? Yes, just like any other mass media. However, it remains an incredibly complex and infinitely valuable artform. At its highest, television has helped expand the nation’s imagination and created eternal chronicles of the human condition.

    The kind of person who is “dumbed down” by television never needed any help getting dumber, it was going to happen one way or another for him, anyway. If he decides to let TV nanny his children, it is his fault and his fault alone. In the years before television, that person would have let the bad neighborhood children parent his child. The invention of television was inconsequential to it.

  • deepthinker

    Rock Band. I’m totally addicted to it, I’m having withdrawals right now… Curse you, Rock Band, for taking over my life!! Also, Crocs, truck nuts, techno music. I love TV too much to agree with you, jfrater.
    Also, BTG, what is your beef with Texas? I’m a Texan!

  • Mr. Plow

    cb,

    Settle down tiger, I think myself and York are trying to show that objectively, using stats, that secular/godless philosophies have killed many more people than all the religions combined.

    “all I said was religion was a bigger killer than godless philosophies”

    Your quote.

    And you have another good one…
    “However your post does show religion does kill hundreds of thousands ”

    By that logic, I could state the ‘science’ has killed 100s of millions.

    Sorry you are being ‘persecuted’ by all these brick wall like fundies. But, if you are going to state religion kills more than godless philosophies…than I don’t think it’s too much to ask for you to back it up a bit, no?

    As a man of science, I would think you would be up for the discourse.

  • cb

    Mr Plow,

    So all wars that are not based on religion are based on godless philosophy? If that’s what you’re arguing we both have very different takes on what godless philosophy is.

    “Do you know for a fact that the rest of your class mates, or any religious person for that matter, have not sat down and had the “do I believe or not” talk with themselves?”

    Do you know? Does anyone? I concluded that either they must not have as if they really did they would have came to the scientifically accepted conclusion using empirical thought that god does not exist, Or perhaps they have and instead of using their knowledge they hid behind the comforting thought of heaven and the like drilled into them.

    I don’t believe that I am better or worse than those that believe I just feel sorry for those that do and all the consequences and ways they must live their life in accordance to a fable.

  • Mr. Plow

    “Do you know? Does anyone?”

    No, but I am not the one throwing around the term ‘brainwashed’ am I?

    “I concluded that either they must not have as if they really did they would have came to the scientifically accepted conclusion…they hid behind the comforting thought of heaven and the like drilled into them.”

    So I agree with you or I am somehow a simpleton? Or a ‘weak’ person who relies on God as a crutch?

    “I just feel sorry for those that do and all the consequences and ways they must live their life in accordance to a fable.”

    Your intolerance is astounding.

    You have proven nothing today in this thread, other than your intolerance for people who you do not agree with.

    Charlatan.

  • Mr. Plow

    Or to use your words you have not used one shred of ’empirical thought’ to address any of the of the data I have presented you with.

    “I don’t believe that I am better or worse than those that believe”

    We both know that is a lie, don’t we?

  • cb

    Mr. Plow,

    Thank you for your debate it was enlightening and I enjoyed seeing things from the other perspective, however may I just ask one question if you did have the do i or don’t I speech how did you come to the conclusion that you do believe?

    Seeing as I am so intolerant it may help to broaden my views.

  • Mr. Plow

    My own faith or non-faith is not the point of contention here nor is it really relevant, seeing as I am not trying to convert you to anything or defending religion…deflect all you want.

    I simply was calling you out for not having your facts straight. I don’t see how my faith/non faith would change this discussion?

    What may be more interesting is, why do you want to know?

    The fact of the matter is, empirically, you could not defend your positions.

    It’s not my gig to broaden your views about religion/wars/inventions…it’s yours.

  • dchuskerls

    i see a lot of people putting down war. without war: (circa 1940-ish) UN “hitler, please stop killing the jews”…hitler “no”, so either we go to war, or the holocaust continues. that also requires guns. i agree that nukes are bad, but there more efficient than conventional arms, but the radiation really hurts…
    i have to say cigarettes and illegal drugs. harmful to all who use them

  • mexmark

    cell phones, whos with me?

  • rapanui

    Just to be contrary…Evolution is the worst invention.

  • Raph

    THE INTERNET!!!
    But seriously, I think murder was the worst thing created by man.

  • Anon

    mexmark, (193),

    I’ve been with you since my Post 33, and if you read down through the thread you’ll find I’m not alone. Good reasons have also been stated.

    I didn’t mention it originally, but I’ll back up the comment somewhere above about hearing someone apparently talking to you, turning round, and finding they are bleating away loudly into one of those wretched gadgets. In the early days of mobile phones the comnpanies even used to base adverts on smart young users making asses out of others (usually older folks) like that, or similarly. Ughhhh!

    By the way, has anyone noticed that cute kind of self-conscious little dance some people do in public, especially yuppies, when pouring words into them? I call it the Mobile Strut, or the Mobile Two-Step.

  • Monkey222

    I would have to say that the worst human invention ever would be humans. yep everything was fine when Adam and Eve were in their lovely garden then Adam realized that the hole in the tree he had been using could be substituted by Eve he fucked us all not just her. Also I am not a Christian if anyones wondering.

  • astraya

    Kealey 163 and others: A real life story defending cell phones and text messaging. A couple of years ago I was staying at a youth hostel on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia. Also staying there was a group of hearing impaired teenagers, about to go out for a day at one of the major theme parks. For someone hearing impaired, texting on a cell-phone must be the greatest thing to assist them to live in the real world.

    Generally, it would be possible to argue good and bad points for and against any invention. This emerged a couple of months ago then the topic was “what is the best human invention”. Almost all the best inventions have a downside; almost all of the worst inventions have a genuine use.

    I can’t nominate anything that hasn’t already been discussed to death already.

  • edgar

    simmun (183)

    i am an atheist and have nothing held against religion at all. please do not lump just because majority tends to behave a..certain way. personally i am almost a pious atheist. i can live with the effects of religion (like the establishment of government); i just do not follow the belief.

    i believe that the worst human inventions are nuclear weaponry and cigarettes. i’m sure my reasoning can be explained by all the others who have said this before me.

  • The Village in which I live is extremely hilly, and we have only one cell tower. Needless to say, cell reception is non-existent in many parts of the residential parts of town, though the Village proper is pretty well covered.
    At the bottom of the hill on which I live is one clear reception area. Any time of day or night, you can go by there and find cars parked with out-of-towners chatting away on their cell phones!

  • Kris

    Religion, jazz, Domino’s pizza

  • greg

    Every invention has its good and its bad, all inventions are just as evil and as good as any other.

  • ViewARandomList…

    the IRS

  • cool grl

    I think the worst invention would be 1)War 2)twilight 3)illegal drugs 4)cigarrates

  • Mortivore

    Ok, for everyone making cigarettes out to be sent from the devil, need I remind you that, like religion, they require the individual to make the choice to do it. There’s a Surgeon General’s warning on all packs in the US, and most countries require manufacturers to place warning labels on the packs. Smokers know full well that tobacco is bad for them, and they choose to smoke it anyway. Even those in countries whose government doesn’t require manufacturers to label them can tell them difference between smokers and nonsmokers, and can see the side effects of those that have smoked for many years.

    And I’m as much an atheist as anoybody, but CB, I can’t really say relgion is super horrible to the extreme. It has it’s ups and downs, and I may think it completely illogical, but it isn’t too terrible. Most “religious” wars have indeed been fought in the name of relgion only, and it not be the actual motive. Hitler may have indeed claimed to be a Roman Catholic, but what he did cannot possibly reflect on an entire organization of people, for not all Roman Catholics inherit the deep hatred of Jews that he had. He made that decision on his own. Him being a Roman Catholic was simply a characteristic of his. To say that religion caused World War II is as ridiculous as saying that facial hair caused it, for was Hitler not known for that little (for lack of a better term) caterpillar above is mouth?

    Religion didn’t cause the war, more often than not, but was merely used as an excuse.

    Although I do think that relgion is pretty mindless. No offence, peeps. ^-^

  • Mortivore

    Sorry for the double post, but forgive me the typos you’ll spot all over my previous post. It’s two o’clock on Thanksgiving morning, and I’m exhausted. >.

  • Avocados

    Avocados.

  • k1w1taxi

    danmoo (114)
    Tobacco was one of the most important staple crops in this country in the 17th and 18th century. W/O it the colonies would not have survived.

    Sounds like a pretty good case against tobacco right there :D
    But seriously that does not justify all the deaths and medical costs since the invention of cigarettes.

    As for those who say you have a choice – ever hear of second hand smoke?

    The truly bad inventions are
    Law Degrees
    Stock Options

    Cheers
    Lee

  • Paulb

    I dunno if you meant to put this on purpose, but below the TV is say “what is the best Tv Show ever” but i think its a typo

  • Ironwood

    For those of you who think guns are the worst invention of all, please consider this…

    The Roman Short Sword, over the centuries, has killed more human beings than any form of blunderbuss, matchlock, flintlock, cartridge rifle and/or machine gun. You can add all deaths also from land mines, artillery shells, aerial bombs, and BOTH nukes used in WW II and the Roman Short Sword still holds the record. Sounds crazy, but it’s true (check Wikipedia). The reason is simple. It was the primary weapon for over a thousand years in warfare, and used by every side who could lay their hands on one.

    Also, one should note that the great organized religions of the world were killing people in countless numbers long before the west borrowed gunpowder from the Chinese. Only they did it in far more agonizing, humiliating, and slower ways. Crusades? Spanish Inquisition, anyone? How about a good old-fashioned witch hunt, or the killing of Jews for any reason from “passing the Great Plague” to just walking down the street?

    Don’t knock gunpowder. Without that, we wouldn’t have a space program and the hope of eventually getting off this violent little blue ball out on the fringes of the galaxy.

    On the other hand, this may explain UFOs. They may be here to contain us. I mean, my God, can you imagine humanity loose in a civilized galactic community? It’d be like releasing smallpox to the Native Americans. I can only imagine, but if they can warp space and time to zip around as they do, they probably have weapons that make hydrogen bombs look like spitwads. We need to clean up our own act before we go knocking on their doors.

    Ironwood

  • Saffa

    Longball (121)

    So you have no problem with a man’s vibrator?

    Disgusting :)

  • MadMonkey

    Television.

    And LOL @ morons saying “guns”. To think they’re anything more than a tool is silly…

  • Maya X

    Hmmm…well guns and alcohol and cigarettes are obvious choices, but I’m going to set those aside, primarily for that reason: They’ve been covered already.

    Worst? Kwanzaa.

    Nobody knows what the hell it truly means, and I am a proud black woman saying that! Its only purpose is to further separate black people from the rest of society.

  • sanasunshine.

    ash: i completely agree.
    twilight, for sure.

  • Kreachure

    Um, the image is still wrong!!

    It should be “What is the worst human invention”, not “WHAT’S THE BEST TV SHOW”!! You should fix it, no?

    I don’t know what else to say here…

  • debutrans

    i think listverse is the worst human invention
    lol
    just kidding
    i think mist must be money

  • Either this is a generational misunderstanding, or I’ve gone gaga.
    What is wrong with twilight? It’s one of the most beautiful times of day. Some of my most beautiful photos have been taken at twilight.
    Or is this some “club” drug?

  • DiscHuker

    segue: twilight is a new teeny-bopper movie based on a very successful book about modern day teenage vampires.

    cb: don’t you see how your very position disallows for anyone to disagree with you. that is not very intellectually honest. by your definition, the person that believes the opposite of you is brainwashed, unintelligent, lacking education and common judgment. and all this is not based on any argument they have given but this is your pre-supposition. there is no way that anyone can have a rational discussion with you about this unless they already agree with you. otherwise you will not listen.

    a position has to be falsifiable in the face of contradicting evidence or else you are turning into the dreaded fundamental that you hate so much who believes blindly.

  • Sander

    Nuclear weapons.

  • 218. DiscHuker: segue: twilight is a new teeny-bopper movie…
    ****
    II knew it was a generational misunderstanding, but this is absurd! Talk about my being off-base!
    Apologies to all the twilight fans (if any). I’d just never heard of it. Ever. In any context.

  • kjsh

    the banana protective case isn’t bad as claimed in message n°5, when you want a banana for lunch, it won’t be covered with brown spots

  • Panic

    Television? Jesus Christ, of course that’s not the worst.

    And I saw somebody say that the condom was. Are you serious? That should top the fucking list of best inventions.

    The worst invention by far has got to be Nascar Racing. Obviously.

  • Courtney

    I think the atom bomb would qualify as one of the worst inventions, if not THE worst. Its one use caused more suffering and damage than could have been anticipated, and its effects are still being seen today. And no one can say there is something positive about mass human suffering.

    I would also agree with everyone who mentioned guns. Hooray, we can kill things easier…whatever.

    I could also argue that religion has killed a lot of people (eg. The Crusades), but you can’t say that it’s a bad thing overall. I’m not religious myself, but whatever floats your boat :)

  • Namowal

    The electric chair comes to mind.

  • thunderchicken

    War.

  • Anon

    Apologies if anyone’s already mentioned the automatic car alarm. I was just reminded by having my peace in the garden shattered by one (a mercifully rare event!). We read that several thousand per day sound off in greater Santiago alone. As a consequence, no one takes a blind bit of notice of them except to curse. An out of sight owner has no idea it’s his. No one hears if one goes off in the stix.

    We had the operation to have ours removed terminally about ten years ago after it embarrassed us in a funeral car park!

  • GTT

    The “religion” horse has been beaten to death. Let it rest in peace.

    Worst invention by far: ILLEGAL DRUGS. Unlike all the examples above, this one has absolutely NO benefits (not even a teeny tiny one).

  • frozen_midwest

    Anything available only from late-night/early morning ‘informercials’ (i.e. Ronco pocket fisherman, Ginzu knives, etc.)

  • 227. GTT: Worst invention by far: ILLEGAL DRUGS.
    ****
    Most illegal drugs start off as legal drugs. They are stolen, sold, ground into powder, cut with other substances, re-sold.
    But the important thing to remember is that they start out as *legal* drugs.
    Because of a severely painful, and extremely rare genetic disease I take a couple of opiate derived drugs which have a very high street value. I’ve had nurses in hospitals, who’ve not bothered to read my chart, have made absurd accusations which I have later had to report to the head of nursing.
    My pharmacist takes extra precautions when he fills my scripts, and they are kept at home in a lock box.
    It’s a frightening thing to know that what you have to take to make your life bearable, could easily be the thing that someone decides is worth killing you for. They’re legal in my hands, they’re illegal in anyone else’s hands.

  • DiscHuker

    ok, for the religion has killed more people than anything else argument…
    the crusades are always used as the ultimate example of this atrocity. the most liberal number i could find for death toll over the 200 years of the conflict was 5 million.

    to put this in perspective concerning this particular argument, i.e. religious beliefs causing death vs “godless philosphies” causing death, in the last 35 years, within the united states alone, 43 million have died through abortion.

    it cannot be argued, in any rational sense, that abortion is a religous idealogy so you would have to attribute this number to the “godless philosophy” side of the ledger.

    at the very least, the balance is close. these wide-sweeping, matter of fact statements need to be rethought.

  • Mom424

    Interesting reading folks. I’m going with something a little different. The fence. Not the fence that keeps cattle from roaming but the type of fence that is designed to keep people out. The type of barrier that insulates and separates the halves from the halve-nots. The type of barrier that makes artificial and arbitrary borders, borders that create differences when there really are none.

  • nishit

    plastics!

  • Blue

    SEX TOYS!!!

  • sheldon roy

    DiscHuker- More than the crusades have been cause by religeon. Most wars have, WW2 for example, Hitler trained to be a catholic preist. and way too many for me to type about.

    Also abortion is not murder a person is not a person untill they are out. (in my opinion)

    And i would say the worst invention was money, or banks. without them no one would be poor or starving and there would be no slaves.

    Also i’m not fond of those doors that open one half at a time.

  • Ranger

    227. GTT – November 27th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
    “Worst invention by far: ILLEGAL DRUGS. Unlike all the examples above, this one has absolutely NO benefits (not even a teeny tiny one).
    *****

    Okay, so I’d just have to ask why ILLEGAL? So, Illegal means it’s against the law in this or that country.
    So the government makes the law
    The government dictates what drugs are legal, and illegal.
    So let’s say you live in the United States. So, because the united states government tells you this drug is bad for you, you take their word for it and think that its THE WORST invention ever created? I mean of course there are horrible drugs out there i.e. Meth, Cocaine, Heroine, ect. But seriously, because someone says its wrong for you to take this or that, you believe them to a point where it is the worst invention ever created?

    My answer to the worst human invention ever made:Currency.

  • hope

    Really? noone cares to respond to my inquiry about why homosexuality is wrong other than religious veiws. Either I was correct in my comment or people are more fixated on bombs, guns, and tv!

  • ZedroZ

    Chris De Burgh…
    truely awful!

  • truth

    Superiority complexes, egotism. Although these may not be classfied as inventions, the person who came up with the idea that he or she is superior to someone else (classic example racism) is the person who invented the absolute most destructive psychological mindset that could possibly be the sole cause of all devastation in this world. A ridiculous amount of wars are “religious” wars in which one religion, or group of people who believe in a particular religion, believe themselves superior to another and view them as rivals. To make themselves feel better, and to reestablish their dominance they feel the the need to crush the other because they believe they are better. Slavery. Slavery basically says “I am superior to you, and therefore you have to be my servant and do exactly what i say and do what i want, when i want, with no questions asked.” Why? because I am better than you. WWII. Hitler believes that the Jews are inferior/the cause of bad in the world. Therefore he feels the need to extinguish them because he thinks that the Jews are inferior. Oh and also just to throw that out there, i think another extremely bad “invention” is justice. Who is to say who deserves what in this world? And if someone is to deal out justice, who are you to dictate what happens to any given person? An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. I also find people who deal out justice on this earth or feel the need to determine what happens to any person AND who also believe in God/afterlife/judgement after death/divine justice, completely retarded and complete fcking idiots (excuse my language). They are being complete hypocrites because they’re saying “Oh we have to judge you and tell you whats going to happen to you and what you deserve even though after you die you’re going to get judged by God again.” They’re being hypocrites by saying that God will judge you when you die, but we have to judge you too. This is also a superiority complex thing because the person who is dealing out justice believes that they should have the power to dictate what happens to people and at the same time they are in a sense assuming the role of God. But at the same time they say that you must obey God. Using a transitive property they’re basically saying “you have to obey me.” Why? Because God says so. Which brings up another issue. Religion. Religion i think is an iffy subject because I believe religion has a positive effect on society because it gives faith and hope to people who are despairing, raises their spirits, and gives people a reason to live. If someone believed that there was no God, and then they got some horrible disease that is terminal, they would probably just lay down and die. However, someone who does believe in God may pray for their life, in hopes that they just might live. And who knows? There have been accounts of “miracle cures” in which the person miraculously recovers from some disease. Again this is only just one instance. However, you cannot ignore the negative effects. Religious wars, etc. I also believe that war, in general, is stupid, dumb, waste of life, and has no positive effects whatsoever. Now a lot of people are going to argue with me because they might bring up “Well if we didn’t take part in WWII then there might not be any Jews left on this planet.” What i’m saying is that, the war (more like obliteration) of the Jews in the first place was stupid and dumb. Obviously if someone decides to be a complete and total douchebag (excuse my language) and start a war in the first place, then the rules don’t matter anymore. War is war, all bets are off, whoever lives will live. Its sad, but thats what happens in war. I know this is an extremely long post, and may not be considered inventions, but I believe that these are the worst human “inventions”

  • Mr. Plow

    @sheldon
    “More than the crusades have been cause by religeon. Most wars have, WW2 for example, Hitler trained to be a catholic preist. and way too many for me to type about.”

    Any evidence to back up those claims? If there are so many religious wars, “too many” for you to type about, surely, you can easily name at least a few more?

    Hitler was NEVER a trained priest, and if you read up a bit, will find he was not a practicing Catholic after his childhood. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_religious_beliefs

    You are a fool if you think WWII was started over religious reasons.

    @Truth,
    “A ridiculous amount of wars are “religious” wars”

    Again, as I asked Sheldon, give me some religious wars other than the Crusades. For every 1 you can give me, i’ll find 5 that were not.

    It’s simply a myth that religion causes a “ridiculous” amount of wars. You need to actually read some history.

  • notherguitar

    Come on people the worst invention is AIDS

  • ZenPoet

    Self Righteous Violence. Not religion, for though I’m as against the god delusion as much as Dawkins, religion has helped mankind grow. But as far I’m concerned, nothing has been a worse invention then the Idea of Harming another person and having it be a good thing. If we are talking actual physical things however… Factory Trawlers. They are the commercial fishing boats that are sweeping the oceans clean of ALL life. These are the machines that are going to in time destroy us due to a lack of a food chain and no more oxygen. So between the two, you have what i would consider the worst inventions of mankind. Good luck to us all.

  • Anon

    Since the abstract won’t go away,

    Greed, anybody?

    I think one might lump together large numbers of other suggestion here under that heading, even 241’s Factory Trawlers, and everything else that’s wrecking the planet.

  • 238. truth :…I also find people who deal out justice on this earth or feel the need to determine what happens to any person AND who also believe in God/afterlife/judgement after death/divine justice, completely retarded and complete fcking idiots (excuse my language). They are being complete hypocrites because they’re saying “Oh we have to judge you and tell you whats going to happen to you and what you deserve even though after you die you’re going to get judged by God again.”…
    ****
    So you’re opposed to the criminal justice system?
    We should just let all the murders, rapists, child molesters, bombers, anarchists, batterers, what-have-yous roam free in society because “God” will judge them later on?

  • OldManJack

    The concept of Social Darwinism.

    Not only is it largely responsible for the American rejection of biological evolution, but the actions that it hoped to justify were and are an abomination and still remain as an undercurrent in modern western society largely because of its effective use as a legitimizing force.

    Sure, Herbert Spencer was correct to draw attention that social forces are subject to a kind of natural selection, but not in stating that social humogeny was the best form of society. And to be sure Thomas Malthus was correct is stating that the individual should be the basic unit of study in social dynamics and national studies, but not in deciding that he should never move to help his fellow man unless he also benefited. And Francis Galton had every right to said that welfare and social services like charity hospitals and insane asylums were contrary to the overall wellbeing of society because they allowed undesirables to survive and were thus morally reprehensible(really, that’s the argument, no exaggeration) but it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t all but demoniacally inspired verse. No wonder Nietzsche had choice words for the three. Yes, that Nietzsche, the man obsessed with fighting Nihilist philosophy and social stagnation (irony). That Nietzsche.

    And thus the stage was set for newfound interest in eugenics and racial hygine. Ah yes, why, its our duty to keep society and humanity bright and clean through the forced sterilization of individuals with less than desirable ancestral traits, such as having an alcoholic father, a gay cousin, or being from rural west Virginia*. Really none of the last sentence was an exaggeration either. So we have every right to marginalize minorities and immigrants, whether they be black, Irish, polish, Scottish, German, Italian, Czech, Spanish, Mexican, Chinese, east Asian, central Asian, Filipino, Caribbean, native American, native African, or basically funny looking, sounding, believing, or acting people, as well as the poor, infirm, abused, homeless, alcoholic, or destitute, not because we want to, but because its right and proper and moral don’t-you-know. Its the will of nature. And if those people can’t survive on their own and can’t make their own way, then they don’t deserve to live. They had as much innate chance as everyone else, including us normal, superior, un-marginalized folk (irony). And because it was our society that gave us warships, guns, and horses, then were justified in taking land and enslaving native populations. We can’t exactly do the something immoral so long as we’re working for the betterment of our society. Its what’s intended. (see Belgian Congo after Leopold II, Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty and Panamanian independence, and African colonization in general)

    Now we move to Tennessee and forward by perhaps twenty years, not long at all by the standards of social change and argument. What a moderately educated, not entirely worldly state government and local clergy saw in Mr. Scopes evolution is a blend of biological evolution and social Darwinism in all its current (reread the above paragraph if you like) glory. Saying we humans evolved from chimps is one thing, but the advocation of everything short of genocide? (which would have been a scandalous waste of resources to a true gung-ho social Darwinist). I mean, its actually advocating the removal of god from morality and morality from duty and society. That’s something else entirely. What was feared was that children would be brought up with the inkling that no action or inaction, however horrible, could be truly immoral if it benefited either their person or society (which really is a scary thought). No thank you Mr. Scopes. We really don’t need your theory today.

    Thank god that most of the truly insane social nonsense is currently recognizable today as…truly insane social nonsense, but the same moral justification is still kicking, although detached from the more obvious lets-go-stomp-on-the-mud-huts-for-social-progress doctrine. Note that I said obvious doctrine. The subtle stuff is still all there. No action is within reproach so long as it is done for the wellbeing of my society. I could just be lazy and cite American foreign policy as a whole, but I’ll be clever (and lazy) instead and say, US foreign policy concerning South America, notably the 1983 Chilean and the 1998 Venezuelan coup attempts.

    * There were a series of faked scientific studies just around the turn of the century that sought to prove that crime was hereditary and followed a direct and literal genetic ancestry stemming from a single west Virginian Irish immigrant woman. Now given that your average person would only be alive for fifty years, that would mean that mass crime first came to American around perhaps 1860 at the earliest? I know it doesn’t make sense, but people believed it for long enough to act upon it.

  • dave4248

    Religion

  • JayArr

    I’m thinking that “Language” is the worst human invention of all time. What ever happened to a good old grunt? Maybe a wave and a smile, followed up by a tossed stone or sharp pointy stick? Them’s was the good old days, lemme tell you! Ungkk snort, hrrmff!

    :D ;)

  • doriskj

    Leaf Blower
    Speed Bumps

  • Anon

    OldManJack, (244),

    “US foreign policy concerning South America, notably the 1983 Chilean and the 1998 Venezuelan coup attempts.”

    Excuse me, this is not challenging or referring to the rest of your interesting post, but my wife happens to be Chilean and we live Chile. I’ve known the country and followed its affairs since 1971, and have lived here permanently since 1997. I’m therefore more than a bit perplexed by your comment (Venezuela is none of my business). What significant happened in 1983?

    What I do know is that Eduardo Frei Montalva was conducting one of the world’s most successful model agrarian reforms during the late 60s. Salvador Allende was (just) voted in on the ticket of accelerating that process at maximum pace and adding a number of other social reforms, including nationalisation and forcible worker take-overs. This precipated social division approaching undeclared civil war, economic chaos with extreme shortages, much injustice, including political corruption, and lack of order. Allende was unable to control the situation but refused to stand down. As a result there was a SUCCESSFUL military coup in 1973, which led to a totalitarian goverment soon to be headed by the murderously brutal Pinochet. However, he made a great success of reviving the economy, and only just missed being re-elected by free vote when Chile returned to democracy in the late 80s.

    As for the part played by the U.S., I would identify two main elements. Firstly the destabilisation of the Allende government. Whatever is claimed, I suspect this was marginal, and had no affect on the real outcome. That is a personal opinion, but backed by my own observations and is agreed by many of our Chilean friends. Secondly the later arms embargo against Pinochet. This almost cost Chile a probable lost war against Argentina over uninhabited islands in the Beagle Channel, and could easily have resulted in the deaths of my wife’s brothers. However, I also suspect that embarrassment over Pinochet’s shameless brutality may have caused the U.S. to threaten him secretly with *free world* economic isolation if he didn’t call the plebiscite for free democratic elections. By that time *bulwarks against communism* had become redundant. Again, I have no direct evidence, but cannot find a single reason why he should have taken that initiative without pressure.

    Political affairs tend to be highly complex when one looks inside them, and seldom make good, clean illustrations.

  • jadester

    I just wanted to point out that the topic of religion is making “wars” on this message board now. It’s not responsible for all of them, sure, but enough of them.

  • GTT

    Ranger (235) – It´s not becuase the big bad government tells me… Those drugs you mentioned, coke, crack, meth, etc, have a whole list of horrible side effects: brain damage, coma and death being only some of them. All of which probably makes a good argument for their “WORST INVENTION EVER” status (not to mention their illegality).

    Segue: I should have tried to be clearer in my post… These are the drugs I was talking about. And I´m so sorry to hear about your health issues! Be careful with those meds!!

  • Person666

    Nukes. ‘nuf said

  • Mr. Plow

    jadester,

    What constitutes ‘enough?’

    Religion is RARELY a reason to fight, and has nearly zero to do with tactics, strategy, training, ect.

    You’d do rather better to look at economics, geography and individual ambition.

    The common held belief that religion is a major cause of war is simply a myth. I know it’s really cool/easy to bash religion, but one of the great things about LV is it is not just an echo chamber…stand and deliver my friend.

    I think you will find that history simply does not show that religion is a prime force behind war making.

  • OldManJack

    Anon 248.

    Now with a response like that, I don’t mind being wrong. Perhaps it was overly ambitious of me to try and find clear political examples of what I’ve previously said was an undercurrent (i.e. subtle factor) in modern social decision making.

    Caracas, Venezuela, 1998. Very complicated so I’ll just cut and paste from a STRATFOR doc summary I ran across. I might also add that it has been an often used tactic of the US to foster crisis situations in foreign countries in order to bring about regime change, Iran for one. I would be very, very surprised if our involvement in the situation only involved intimate knowledge.

    Venezuela: Rumored U.S. Involvement Could Hurt Bush Administration
    14 April 2002

    Summary

    Human intelligence sources in Venezuela and Washington told
    STRATFOR April 14 that the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. State Department may have been involved separately in the events that took place in Caracas between April 5 and April 13. If the information is correct, the reinstatement of President Hugo Chavez less than 48 hours after he was toppled by a civilian-military coup could have disastrous implications for the Bush administration’s policy in Latin America.

    Analysis

    Several human sources told STRATFOR on April 14 that the U.S.
    State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency may have had a hand in the tumultuous events that occurred between April 5 and April 13 in Caracas, culminating in President Hugo Chavez’s brief ouster and his return to power.

    Although these sources may have had their own motivations for
    making the allegation, it is possible — if the Chavez regime
    produces convincing evidence of U.S. government involvement in the failed coup — that it could poison Washington’s relations with governments throughout Latin America. Efforts to win regional support for increased U.S. military support to Colombia, and to other Andean ridge countries battling the twin threats of international drug trafficking and nominally Marxist insurgencies, would be set back significantly in Latin America and Washington. The Bush administration’s efforts to pursue more free trade agreements in the region also would be undermined.

    Chavez could strengthen his own political base in Venezuela if he can quickly prove U.S. involvement in attempts to topple his 3-year-old regime. This also would give a tremendous boost to Chavez’s leadership status and credibility with populist and nationalist groups across Latin America that view the United States as a threat and that oppose U.S.-style capitalist democracy.

    The U.S. government has a long history of interfering with Latin American regimes viewed as unfriendly or dangerous to U.S. national security interests in the region. Although the Bush administration tried very hard in the past week to distance itself from the chaos in Venezuela, many governments in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia viewed Washington’s cautious silence on Venezuela with considerable skepticism.

    However, if STRATFOR’s sources are correct, the skepticism may have been justified.

    Our sources in Venezuela and the United States report that the CIA had knowledge of, and possibly even supported, the
    ultra-conservative civilians and military officials who tried
    unsuccessfully to hijack interim President Pedro Carmona
    Estanga’s administration. Sources in Venezuela identified this group as including members of the extremely conservative Catholic Opus Dei society and military officers loyal to retired Gen. Ruben Rojas, who also is a son-in-law of former President Rafael Caldera. Caldera, who governed from 1969 to 1973 and from 1994 to 1998, founded the Christian Democratic Copei party.

    STRATFOR’s sources say this ultra-conservative group planned to launch a coup against the Chavez regime on Feb. 27, but the action was aborted at the last minute as a result of strong pressure from the Bush administration, which warned publicly that it would not support or recognize any undemocratic efforts to oust Chavez.

    Separately, STRATFOR’s sources report, the State Department was quietly supporting the moderate center-right civilian-military coalition that sought Chavez’s resignation by confronting his increasingly authoritarian regime with unarmed, peaceful people power. The April 11 protest by nearly 350,000 Venezuelans was the largest march against any government in Venezuela’s history, and even without violence the momentum likely would have continued building in subsequent days. U.S. policymakers who supported the civic groups seeking Chavez’s departure believed their numbers eventually would reach a sufficiently large critical mass to force a change in Chavez’s policies or even trigger a regime
    change.

    However, the violence that killed 15 people and injured 350 — including 157 who suffered gunshot wounds inflicted by pro-Chavez government security forces and civilian militia members — united the previously leaderless and disarticulated center-right opposition and gave moderates in the armed forces (FAN) what they perceived as a legitimate reason to oust Chavez immediately. Sources in this center-right group tell STRATFOR that the videotapes of pro-Chavez gunmen firing indiscriminately into the front ranks of marching protesters were “more than enough” to legally justify a regime change.

    The conservative civilian-military group timed its coup-within-a -coup perfectly, using Carmona’s swearing-in
    ceremony as the platform from which to hijack what was supposed to be a moderate center-right transition government — a government that would reach out to the moderate left that is led by former Interior and Justice Minister Luis Miquilena.
    STRATFOR’s sources inside this group report that 23 members of the president’s Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) block in the
    National Assembly had committed late April 11, after the
    violence, to vote for Chavez’s removal from power.

    Additionally, given that Vice President Diosdado Cabello was
    responsible for organizing and coordinating the Bolivarian
    Circles from Miraflores presidential palace, it was felt that he and other senior Chavez regime officials could have been removed legally from the government with the help of Miquilena’s votes in the National Assembly and his strong influence over the Supreme Court.

    However, Carmona Estanga destroyed that possibility and
    irreparably fractured the center-right coalition that named him to the presidency when he announced the dissolution of the National Assembly, fired the entire Supreme Court and sacked the attorney general, comptroller general and the public defender, who were appointed by Chavez.

    The dissolution of the National Assembly was repudiated
    unanimously by every political and civic organization in the
    country. The powerful Venezuelan Workers Confederation (CTV)
    promptly withdrew its support from Carmona without making any
    announcements in that regard, STRATFOR sources said, and the
    tenuous anti-Chavez coalition within the FAN collapsed almost
    immediately.

    Moreover, tensions between the moderate and mainly army faction led by Gen. Efrain Vasquez Velasco and the ultra-conservatives flared rapidly as the right-wingers, through the new interim defense minister, sought to break up Vasquez Velasco’s base of support within the army by transferring some his key associates to other commands.

    The picture painted by STRATFOR’s sources in Venezuela and the United States is of two parallel U.S. operations that were executed separately by the State Department and CIA. While the State Department sought discreetly and quasi-officially to support the anti-Chavez moderates in an effort to build a viable political center, the CIA was at least aware of the ultra-conservative plot to hijack Carmona’s short-lived presidency.

    If the sources are correct, the Bush administration’s carefully laid plans soon may backfire. [End]

    Apologies for the bad formating on the excerpt. Not sure if I got all the returns out.

  • jadester

    Hi Mr. Plow, as far as I am concerned, the crusades were enough to make religion not worth it. One really bad one is enough. (and there are plenty more… not to mention murder and prosecution based on ones religion and for what?) No one is saying its cool to bash religion, but yes it is easy because theres plenty wrong with it.
    I believe what I believe, not trying to be cool.(wtf?) Just trying include my opinion with the two hundred odd others on here. And look, now we’re fighting over it. And if I was another religion, we would probably fight over that. It’s pointless.
    I would check out the recent list on here regarding inequalities concerning women that are almost all tied in with religion and try to tell me that religion should not be questioned or in your words bashed?

  • 250. GTT:…And I´m so sorry to hear about your health issues! Be careful with those meds!!
    ****
    Thank you. I’ve been dealing with this for so many years now that caution is second nature.
    I’m sorry I misunderstood your post, but as even you admit, it wasn’t as clear as it could have been. I tend to over-react on the subject; I think you can understand why.

  • Anon

    OldManJack,

    Thanks for the appreciation, and also the run-down on Venezuela. Needless to say, everyone here in Chile is glued to his progress, and we were the theatre for the King of Spain’s famous “Shut your face” outburst (why didn’t our president, the chairperson, take control?). No one is too worried. Brazil and Argentina are not going to let Venezuela take control of the subcontinent, any more than Germany and France would let Holland do likewise in Europe! Bolivia is his main ally. Bolivia is land-locked, so unless he gets totally supportive regimes in Columbia, Ecuador and Peru, he has no land corridor there. The minimal access by sea transport or air corridor would require total logistic co-operation by Peru or Chile. No hope. His main weapon is the crude. But the US has been backing out of its dependence on Venezuelan crude, and could now, admittedly with some inconvenience, manage without. Chavez, on the other hand, has no immediate alternative commercial outlet (I doubt China would risk alienating its vital US and western customer base). His home economy is already deeply troubled. Leaving him to stew in his own juice seems to be the intelligent course. He looks more like Mussolini that Hitler. He acts more like Mussolini than Hitler. He is more like Mussolini that Hitler! What was Mussolini without Hitler?

    By the way, my comment did not deny US interference in the overthrow of Allende. I only questioned its effectiveness. That action certainly helped to fuel anti-Americanism as well, which is very strong here right now, including in some expatriate Americans (anti-policy, that is). However, I think US involvement in the weakening and replacement of Pinochet was interesting. Should that be condemned as unwarrantable interference in another country’s internal affairs as well? Is the removal of a right-wing villain permissable in the name of democracy, but that of a left-wing despot no more than US imperialism? Hmmmm.

  • Mr. Plow

    jadester,

    You are really getting off point here aren’t you? I asked you for a list of ‘religious’ wars, you give me that the crusades were enough. You then went on to address points I did not bring up.

    When did the debate urn to gender inequalities? Nice little straw man you got going there, unfortunately it has nothing to do with what I was asking you about.

    Look, I simply asked you to back up your claim. You did not or could not and responded “there are plenty more…” Then go on to bring up murder and persecution which we were not talking about…again, your little straw man thing going.

    Once again, show me that religion is a prime motivator in sending countries to war.

    I think your “plenty wrong with it” take on religion is not allowing you to read history for what it is.

    It’s funny how you “include my opinion with the two hundred odd others on here” and perceive my question as a “fight.” I am not fighting, are you? Take a deep breath there sport.

    If you post an opinion online, then expect disagreement. No one is fighting here.

  • kims

    a video tape

  • Emar

    Motorized toothbrush is pointless to me.

  • thrasher

    viagra. people with erectile dysfunction shouldn’t be given a chance to mate. i don’t know much about genetics, but in order to progress homo sapiens on an evolutionary timescale then inferior DNA should be removed from the gene pool

  • DiscHuker

    thrasher: that sounds like something hitler would say.

  • jasontimmer

    GTT- there’s plenty of illegal drugs that have benefits. Marijuana has plenty of accepted medical benefits. Even when you get to the nasty, hardcore ones, like cocaine, meth, heroin, etc., all were used at one time or another for their benefits- alertness aid, analgesia, etc. I would also argue that any person diagnosed with a terminal illness and little time left to live should be legally allowed to use any drug they want. In this way, they improve quality of life.

    Finally, my life completely turned around (for the better) after a series of LSD experiences. They got me to go back to college, get a job, be a better father, etc.

    I’m guessing (I may be wrong) that you haven’t used too many illegal drugs. Most people who make such statements are just regurgitating what has been fed to them.

  • jasontimmer

    Emar- the point of a motorized toothbrush is to clean teeth. Sorry, thought you knew.

  • Brutally_Honest

    I could say money… but the free trade is the opposite of war.
    Religion…but early man needed it more than we do,
    Nuclear Weapons…ended WWII…Also Nuclear Power
    I’d have to say…

    Colleges.

    Think about it…

    You have to go to college; surrounded by sex, drugs, booze, crappy food; and stay focused on mathematics and science?
    Invest tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars into a little piece of paper that assigns you the only position you will be capable of unless you want to go back and spend hundreds of thousands more:
    Learn things completely unnecessary to your future. (History of Music for a Biology Degree?)
    Entrance/tuition is completely biased and unfair… if you are on welfare/low income/minority/a flippin illegal immigrant/ the government pays for your college…
    It’s the one thing that the white middle class absolutely needs for “success” and absolutely can barely afford.
    And after college you get to go into a profession and eject from your brain all of the useless but very expensive knowledge you are forced to pay for and learn.

    But the positive things about college ARE the negative things…
    Sex, booze, drugs, the degree in the end…and *eventual* the money in the end IF the economy doesn’t collapse rendering your little piece of paper meaningless.

    talk about a double edged sword.

  • Tomo

    I wish no one had invented porn. Then I wouldn’t be so addicted…

  • Leo

    #251
    Nukes are probably the biggest reason that the world hasn’t entered WWIII yet.
    I think the worst invention is that thing that finds out the calorie amount of fast food items. It doesn’t stop anyone from eating it, but just makes them feel worse about it afterwards.
    More stress=Comfort in food=FAT

  • GTT

    JASONTIMMER (262): You´re absolutely right, I´ve never used illegal drugs nor have I ever felt the need to. As for your comment about the past uses of these drugs, I would have to argue that the fact that they are no longer in use means that the negative side effects far outweigh any possible benefits they might have.

    And as for your positive LSD usage, I think even you have to admit that that is an extremely rare case. The vast majority of drug users do not en up having such life-affirming epiphanies.

  • Smily

    Well, it doesn't have a patent, but someone I know came up with the two-way staircase. I mean, what's the difference?

    • Invisible Apple

      Someone should invent Up-only Stairs. Simply for the huge advances in quantum physics that would require.

  • tt56

    I would have to go with the nuke it is the only thing humans have made that could totally destroy us. TV isn’t that bad it can contribute to society, not MTV and stuff but like the history channel and national geographic are educational most of the time

  • bigski

    Beer.But I do my part trying to eradicate it from the face of the earth.

  • Anon

    bigski, (269),

    You don’t seem to be having much effect. Try harder. You and Homer Simpson.

  • jasontimmer

    GTT # 267-
    You just contradicted yourself, now you’re saying there are possible benefits to them. With modern, legal drugs, usually the pros outweigh the cons, but really, it’s just a continuum for both legal and illegal drugs. What about those that have application in the medical field but are also abused, like morphine?

    I’ll admit my LSD experiences were not typical, but I also know of lots of people who have benefitted greatly from it. At the same time, I know some people who have lost their mind from it.

    No offense, but I never give much credit to an argument regarding drugs when made by a person who has never used them. It’s kinda like when I bring sushi to work for my dinner, and some people say, “oh! that’s disgusting.” I ask them if they ever tried it, and it’s always, “no way, I’d never eat that.” So how can they know what they’re talking about?

    My point is, illegal drugs do sometimes have benefits, but they need to be used in very specific ways, and for very specific reasons. Legal and illegal drugs both have the potential for misuse. If you’d ever like to learn more about that, I would highly check out erowid.org

  • Andrew

    Morals and temptation

  • Anon

    Would it be too even-handed simply to observe that religious belief has never impeded people from murderous actions, and secular, atheistic concepts per se have never been incompatible with civilised humanitarian behaviour? And most decidedly vice versa?

    Those who butcher are all tarred with the same brush. I doubt the victims could care less which, or which lot is *worse*.

  • lily

    I seriously feel the atomic bomb is the worst invention of all time. I mean what good has come from it.

  • thrasher

    275. lily

    good is clearly biased. inventions aren’t made to do “good”. they’re made to accomplish something or ease living. the atom bomb was created to do a massive amount of destruction. and it met up to its expectations. it is arguably the greatest invention ever.

  • David

    Rabbit ear antennae for the TV. They break, they fall off, they get caught in stuff, they only adjust in two of the three spatial dimensions. When they break off, coat hangers do just as well.

  • sonofagun

    That pillow they put in the casket….why?

  • MartinL

    I may have missed it, but I don’t think anyone hit on the invention that MAKES television and the telephone the wretched shitmire each represents, and is the real source of cultural imbecility, certianly in the US:

    Advertising.

    Advertising is true cultural pollution in every medium. It steadily, relentlessly brainwashes young and old into being halfwitted, message-driven consumers of mass-produced garbage, deplorable food items, ugly clothing, huge resource-wasting vehicles, and cynical, destructive political parties. People pretend advetising is an art form, an industry, a scvience. Fuck that. It’s a cancer. And I say that as someone who worked as an art director and editor for two small newspapers, hence someone whose paycheck came from advertising revenue. Newspapers, magazines, television and radio shows, often even movies, are nothing but vehicles for advertising. Notice how much less program content you’re seeing every season with every TV show you watch? That’s because the sponsor(s) and the network executives continually exert pressure to cram more commercials into the timeslot. Pretty soon you’ll get fifty-five minutes of commercials and five minutes of the latest episode of CSI. Sometime ask someone in the advertising biz to prove that his chosen craft has value; you will not for one second hear anything that isn’t bullshit divorced from all reality.

    Advertising. Nuke that shit. Thanks for listening.

    (TODAY’S MARTINL WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY …)

    Stop it! STOP IT!!!!

  • tjp

    as much as i hate nuclear weapons, they’ve probably saved more lives through deterrence than they’ve killed….. so far, anyway

    i’d say racism

    that or 1p/2p coins. i’ve got fucking tons of them! i can’t rid of them!

  • Mark

    Abortion.
    Guns.
    Television. (I can’t barely stand any of it… very little good on.)
    Cars. (No. I’m all for transportation, but they have ruined the environment.)

  • aa

    lying

  • aa

    Lying because I can’t trust people as much.

  • Mr.Crow

    I have to agree with post 20. Money is responsible for more horrors than almost anything else. It is quickly catching up to religion as the number one cause of death and war. Money has become the fixation about which our entire world resolves. I doubt the people who created it could ever imagine what it would do to us.
    Money is the root of all evil. That makes it the worst human invention.

  • Mr.Crow

    Money is why people advertise, extort, kill, swindle, scam, cheat, lie, and steal. It only brings out the worst in all of us.

  • Mr.Crow

    Television is crappy because people make it for money and not for good television. Money is the root of all these problems. It is the initial cause and therefore the most responsible and therefore the worst.

  • aussie pride

    pride – my gf dont let me paint her face white anymore, ahhh thank you ;)

  • jasontimmer

    Mr. Crow- money started with bartering, which started with something earlier, and so on and so forth. What is the real root of the problem? Isn’t it greed? Greed wasn’t really invented, it’s just a trait. I think most (or all) of the inventions mentioned here are just an expression of human traits we loathe.

  • rodrigo

    more humans!!

  • Tippy

    you all seem to be forgetting doggles (goggles for your dog. for when he pokes his head out the car window)

  • Tippy

    244. OldManJack oh my god!!! u wrote an essay!!!!

  • Nietzsche

    Government. Ever since Plato’s Republic and Laws committed themselves to its defense, government has proved itself to be the great divider of a gregarious society. It created a necessity of money, and then processed it through aristocratic means so that there would always be a people below the working class rather than a complete Society. Hence, the upper classes have become lethargic and crude, providing only a great refutation of the masses with their master strokes. Government funds our protection? From what? From itself. Guns, money, tyranny, economy, commercialism…this is where humanity went wrong.
    But hey, that’s just my two cents.

  • Ben

    Restaurant Drive-Thru’s

    The epitome of laziness

  • Cj

    The Devil/Evil.
    A lazy human invention to stop us from ever having to look at the real problems with society.
    Eg. If Hitler was just evil. Then we never have to take a long hard look at humanity and say “How did that happen?”
    What Do WE have to do to stop it from happening again.
    Well if it’s just the devil then we don’t have to do anything except say a few prayers do we?
    Evil is a very dangerous concept as it prevents Evolution.

  • joebecca

    I think these opinion polls are getting sadder and sadder, with the few of you who seem to think that YOUR opinion is the ONLY opinion (oh, you KNOW who you are), and then taking 20+ comments up to prove your point….GET A LIFE !!!!

    and the worst invention is the Chia Pet. Everyone knows that.

  • Jim

    Fire. Everything after that was downhill. Also, guns don’t kill people. People with guns, knives, sticks, stones or their bare hands kill people.

  • Quiana

    Well said Joebecca!

  • JayArr

    Smily(271) Actually, there is good use for the two-way stair cases. It really helps keep the foot traffic moving – we effectively had one in our middle school when I was a kid… the rail in the middle split traffic to up and down lanes – kids caught going up the down (or down the up) lane got detention. Needless to say, kids made it to class much quicker (at least those who cared to be on time) when traffic jams were reduced. :-)

  • Dracula

    Plastic Dracula Teeth

  • General Tits Von Chodehoffen

    golf

  • General Tits Von Chodehoffen

    or that new movie twilight

  • Dom

    SoCalJeff: That is the best answer I have ever heard.

    Internet forums are the worst invention. Some people use them solely to piss off others anonymously.

  • Seanithan

    The television? Really?

    The WORST thing invented by humans in this world is the television?

    Wow.

  • This is a very tuff one. Maybe the nuke but I would say there is a lot because as a race we havent had to great of charecter. Nuke, gun, gas chamber, anything causing harm to our brethren in this race is a bad invention to me. but if you could count war as an invention then I would say it’s the worst invention in the world.

  • If any one would reply i would love to debate this topic.

  • Daniel

    Money. Causes greed and is the root of all evil.

  • Money you have a good one there because it causes war and murder but without currency we could not function as a society.

  • Any one else want to debate this topic any answer is welcome.

  • DiscHuker

    firestar: all of the things you suggest definately serve a purpose and many times that purpose is the greater good. therefore, they wouldn’t qualify for this particular topic.

  • tk

    The Invention series with the worst inventions is here

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnbPHND4Etk

  • badabing

    Wow, it’s funny how a lot of you are naming the most important inventions and discoveries as the worst. I disagree.
    Religion: Imagine no pyramids, cathedrals, art, phylosophy, and literature.
    Money: trade, economy, ambition, there has to be a reward, or we would still be rubbing two sticks together to eat!!!
    Television: without it we wouldn’t have the internet, the space program, global conscience, and education. Seriously who didn’t learn their abc’s watching sesame street.
    Nukes: Horrible, but really how many wars have been avoided through the threat. As far as i know, since they were invented only two have been used.
    I guess my point is that invention means human progress and that’s worth all the trouble.

  • psychosurfer

    This is an easy one:
    Christmas Carols

  • humblesalve

    Religion.

    Nothing has killed or corrupted more than religion.

  • TheRaven

    Mcdonalds. I know it’s not exactly an invention, but I can not think of one way that this fast food giant has helped society.

  • Jim

    Most inventions have their pros and cons. They all serve their purpose of use. Interesting discussion, tho somewhat senseless. This thread seems to have mostly just enabled smartasses to vent off about certain topics that bother them.

    I guess I would say the Nuclear bomb.. seeing as how my hypothetical life would not really be effected in any way (which id say is the most accurate standard for measuring an appliance’s utility) had it never been implemented during any historical conflicts.

  • cancan

    Although you could find a pro or con argument on any of these items, I think the ones that have hurt us the most are Religion and Weapons, they seem to be the frequent reason of our demise.

  • Disc Hunter how does a Nuke, a gun, or gas chamber do anything for the greater good of humanity.

  • TheRaven great one! I agree. lol!!!

  • Humbleslave I also agree because know that I think about it religion can be counted as an invention.

  • DiscHuker

    firestar: let’s see…

    nuke – stopped a nation that was going to continue a world wide campaign

    gun – stops bad guys all the time

    gas chamber – used for capital punishment for the state to get rid of those it deems to violent to live

    let’s see, ended a world war, ends temporary crime, ends the live of dangerous people. i’d say those are up sides.

  • Mr. Plow

    316 Jim
    295 Joebecca

    Well, the list is titles “Your View” and you are posting in a comment thread…

    Are either of you surprised that there is debate going on or disagreement? If you don’t want read about people expressing their opinions, perhaps there is another website you could visit.

    The best thing about LV is it one truly one of the few public forums where there are discussions happening without devolving into a bunch of trolling.

    Why disparage a bunch of people who are having a discussion? The discussions and the LV posters are what makes this forum so special, and interesting.

    If you see a comment about a topic you are not interested in, it’s easy enough to scroll down.

  • paul

    vaccines, because they lead to stronger viruses, and also lead to human overpopulation which just ruins everything else.

  • AntiDiscHuker

    If I had to make a guess by your philosophy (myopia) and grammar, DiscHuker, I’d say you’re probably some troglodytic American living in one of the flyover states, who treats his weapons like children, children like weapons and would piss on a gay man’s grave given the chance.

    Nuclear Weapons- There’s no evidence that the dropping of The Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the only way to end the war. Enough said on that.

    Guns- Used to stop the bad guys? Are you serious? What do you think the bad guys are using?

    Gas Chamber- Setting aside the fact that capital punishment is a pretty terrible invention by itself, the gas chamber was used to end the lives of a myriad number of innocent people during the holocaust. If anyone is still using them to execute the condemned, then
    they’re likely using nerve gases or poison that are probably unpleasant AT THE LEAST. Inert gases are the only way to “ethically” kill someone, since they feel no pain and slip into unconsciousness quickly.

    That said, your obviously a Christian Fundie. Atheism is not without morality. See the humanists, the naturalists, and any other atheist philosophies and take note that all have morality involved. Ironically, organized religion incites hatred and hypocrisy like no other. It is truly mind boggling.

    And not to defend Islam, but your statement that a main philosophy of the Muslims is violence is a stupid, ignorant statement. I doubt you’ve even touched a Qur’an in your life though, so I’ll say that there are some parts that advocate the killing of someone for violations of code. But wait! Surprise! Your precious Bible and your beloved Yahweh advocate murder for working on Sabbath, improper worship, mutilation of women when they defend their husbands and plenty of other “Christian like” things. Not to mention the ridiculous misogyny shown, allowed and advocated in the Bible.

    The above won’t change your mind.
    I’m a prophet too.

  • astraya

    DiscHuker 321: “nuke – stopped a nation that was going to continue a world wide campaign”
    I agree with “stopped a nation” (it did, clearly), but I respctfully disagree with the rest of your sentence. Japan never had a “world wide campaign” (if only because they would have run into the Germans at some point), so couldn’t have been “going to continue” it. Whatever campaign they (clearly) had was (equally clearly) going badly by the middle of 1945. They were losing at that point. The only questions were how badly they would lose and how long it would take.

  • zigra

    @Paul: can you please give an example of a vaccine that leads to a stronger virus? I’ll give you that antibiotics have contributed to the rise of superbugs, but I don’t know of a vaccine that has resulted in a more virulent virus. Your second point stands (even though I disagree that horrible diseases like smallpox are the best way to control human population levels).

  • Precision

    After pondering this topic a little while I have revised my earlier opinion (#8) based on Anon’s point (#21).

    I now consider torture devices (specifically those that are medieval in origin) as being in my opinion the worst human inventions ever. I cannot think of any associated positive externality associated with their invention that is significant enough to justify the existence of such monstrosities.

    I considered that such devices may have been employed as a last resort to gather information that may have lead to the saving of a great number of lives. However, I believe their most common use was as a method of inflicting incredible amounts of pain before death.

    I also considered that the invention of torture devices may have lead to greater understanding of the human body and more humane methods of capital punishment, but in this case (assuming that this is true) I do not believe the end justifies the means.

    So there you have it, that is “my view”. To help support my opinion I offer the following list:

    https://listverse.com/history/top-10-gruesome-methods-of-execution/

    “Gruesome” being the operative word.

  • DiscHuker

    astraya: maybe “world wide” was a little dramatic but they definately were doing more than just defending their homeland. just ask the folks at pearl harbor.

  • Diskhunter I was thinking in the case that the the hole world would be better of without them. Like without war we would not need guns or nukes to stop them. And I was thinking gas chambers as in Hitler-mass-death type gas chambers.

  • Also I agree with astraya when you said “world wide” I was thinking you got the Nazi’s and Japanese mixed up.

  • Also using a nuke to solve a war is cowardly and crule it’s more lile terrorism then a strait out fight. Think of not only all of the inocent lives that were taken (especially the ones who didn’t want the war who lived in japan)but of the also think of the damage the fallout does to the ecosytem/other countries around that one.

  • DiscHuker

    firestar: you should look into one of the greatest inventions ever, a dictionary.

    so, do you think that if there were no guns and nukes that wars would just stop? was there no war before gun powder and modern weaponry?

    in the realm or war, which was declared by both countries, there is no such thing as an innocent life. i see what you are saying in that many people who were not direct combatants were killed. however, when the country you live in is at open war with another country, you have to expect violence is a possibility. if a person is not ready to accept this reality, then that person needs to leave that country and seek safer enviornments.

  • Jim

    Mr Plow (322)

    Dude wat crawled up your ass? Why are u getting preachy and drastic? Go to another site.. really? Ive contributed to many of the DISCUSSION topics on this site.. so dont presume to think that just because I acknowledge that there is no correct answer that I dont appreciate the concept of a hypothetical discussion.

  • Precision

    It is ironic to think that the invention of a weapon may lead to the end of wars of the scale of WW1 and WW2. The concept of ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ is really the main benefit from the existence of nuclear weapons. Of course, this is only a good thing if those in command of said nuclear weapons are of rational mind.

    The nuclear weapons program also led to many breakthroughs in the field of nuclear physics, and lead to the development of nuclear power generation which may replace fossil fuel as the main source of energy on earth.

  • astraya

    DiscHuker 328: Full agreement that Japan had grand expansionary plans. No problem there.
    I am currently sitting in South Korea, so I’ve got plenty of people to ask here. I haven’t been able to talk to someone of sufficient years to remember first-hand, but the younger generation is certainly maintaining the rage.

  • DiscHuker

    astraya: yikes. sitting in south korea, i’m sure that you have all sorts of things to worry about. pretty unstable part of the world. keep your head on a swivel.

  • Mr. Plow

    “This thread seems to have mostly just enabled smartasses to vent off ”

    Case in point Jim.

    Again, I say why disparage a bunch of people who are having a discussion? If you see a comment about a topic you are not interested in, it’s easy enough to scroll down.

    Settle down there champ.

  • Anamika

    God!

  • rjin

    1. Guns – They make killing so much easier.
    2. Plastic – They make killing the earth so much easier

    I suggest you put a chart or a survey type data above :D

  • Englandexpects

    nation states

  • TheOddball

    McDonald’s

    It has made us the fattest nation in the world.
    I think there is a state where 1 in 3 are obese.
    Sad, sad, sad
    Cheap does not mean good quality, oh no.

  • Angry Cow

    After reading most of these comments, I have to say the internet.

  • Cyn

    Angry Cow –
    now, now! angry cow. ;)
    granted the internet does have more than its fair share of idiots and LV does get some too…still i’d say more often than most sites that invite public commenting…LV does also tend to attract the ‘higher end’ range in IQ’s and hell, even writing skill.
    we do have a rather fine community of regular (& registered) ;) commentors here…least i think so.
    but then i lubs this site and most of its folks too.
    *group hug*
    :)
    oh & ..
    HAPPY HOLIDAZE!

  • J

    The Clock.

    Think about it. We have done many great and terrible things since we have been able to measure time accurately. Think of the scientific breakthroughs, think of the productivity, think of the stress.

  • me

    listverse.com

  • tjp

    Money can’t be the root of all evil. Evil clearly existed before money. It might be truer to say that evil is the cause of money (it isn’t, though). Besides this, it can’t be said that money is the sole root of evil, as evil (like anything) has many roots. If you want an example of an alternative root for evil try human nature (yeah, that old chestnut). Also, money itself must have several roots, which if money is a/the root of evil, they must also be considered as causes of evil.

    Basically, theres worse things in the world than simply money.

  • Cyn

    @ comment – 345. me

    your comment = FAIL!
    LV is one of the better things humanity has invented. :)

  • astraya

    “Money is the root of all evil” is a (mis)quotation from St Paul, who said, in full, “The love of money is the root of all evil”.

  • ClassyKoehler

    It seems that most of these suggestions are made without thinking too hard. Do beliefs words, or actions count as inventions? An idea invented by the human mind? In that case racism, genocide, bigotry, scapegoating, greed, organized religion, totalitarianism, emperialism, etc. However many of these are involuntary, and created by a presented situation, or maybe the human necessities of feeling superior or content. Or are those just evil inventions of the human mind as well.

    I would have to say, any machine made with malicious intent is bad. Anything that was made specifically to purposfully cause harm. Torture machines, nuclear weapons, toxin, mustard gas, etc.

    Things like guns can be helpful, and although I personally disagree, fun. Money, although nowadays rendered a more evil necessity, was once a useful invention for keeping things in check, and recognizing ability. Capitalism is not necessarily evil, it can be said that no matter what the circumstances, communism included, that there will always be those who are unsucessful in any society. It is true however that because the amount of advertising in the capitalist market, it has been less and less a good thing. Television, is certainly not the worst invention, however there is an extensive load of crap piled onto each network, there are often quality programs worthy of spending some time watching: Frasier, The Colbert Report, The Simpsons, South Park, Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld, NOVA, Public Programming isn’t even all that bad. Although the news may be biased on some occasions, it is best to watch those programs on both sides of the spectrum.

    Basically, I personally believe that torture weapons, nuclear weapons, and toxins are the worst inventions.

  • DiscHunter when we were at war with Germany, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, etc never did a majority of our country leave to feel more protected some where else. So take this and put in the Japanese point of view they feel safer in there on homeland just like we do. They never left because they never thought that a country would drop a nuke on them. and besides they wouldn’t know what city itwould hit. Basicly people feel safer in there on homland with their own family in there own house.Also when i said gun i ment weopens in general.

  • Firewindweaver

    The Global Warming Myth.

    In the Words of Penn and Teller “Global Warming is complete Bullsh*t!” look it up on youtube.

    Utube User jal337 videos “P&T Bullsh*t Environmental Hysteria”

    Humans are only responsible for 2-3% of the earths carbon emissions.

    We are in a interglacial period. The dinosaurs existed in a “Greenhouse earth” Look at earth history… it has shifted between snowball earth, glaciers, and greenhouse earth climates. Long Before man existed.

    But Global Warming was INVENTED to keep the American public focused on retarded things, and not focusing on the what the government is really up to…

    They worst case/apocalyptic scenario proposed from “global warming” has been the melting of the glaciers and subsequent desalination of the oceans and the stopping of the oceanic current.
    IF WORST CASE SCENARIO:
    The desalination could be reprimanded by connecting the saltiest bodies of water to the ocean via a canal (panama canal?) and by dumping millions of tons of natural salt into the into the oceans.

    But no, even that won’t happen. Carbon Emissions are a crock. If the planet is getting warmer, it isn’t from the greenhouse gas emissions; which actually PROTECT us from the full heat of the sun killing us. It would be the intensity of volcanic activity, a minute rise in the temperatures of the sun would raise temperatures on earth, oh and that thing called fricking El Nino.

  • Firewindweaver good one! I used to believe in global warming but then I stopped in thought for a moment.

  • Ren

    jfrater: It is kind of ironic that you think TV is the worst invention, but the last “your view” was on the best TV show.
    I think the worst invention is any weapon that does not have a purpose other than killing people.

  • rapanui

    SpellCheck is the wosrt invention.

  • rafterman

    The spear, because its killed a hell of a lot more people in history than the gun has. And thats why all you anti gun people said gun right? Because its so deadly and has killed so many people? A gun is just the lazy mans spear. To everyone who said,”mmmm guns. Guns are bad.mmmk”, you are a moron by your own logic.

  • Anon

    351,

    “Humans are only responsible for 2-3% of the earths carbon emissions.”

    Regardless of the accuracy of your statistic, you want play percentages? 2-3% isn’t much on a global scale? O.K. just start thinking of an extra 2-3% being added to the planet’s sea water mass. Ever heard that common little phrase, The straw that broke the camel’s back?

    As well as the vast majority of the planet’s major and most respected scientists, even Republican politician Arnie Schwarzenegger doesn’t share your point of view on climate change (Global Warming is now an outmoded term like Flat Earth, by the way). So let’s hope for all our sakes your aggressively arrogant and assured knowledge without a shadow of doubt proves correct. And that those deeply worried experts who have spent a lifetime studying the disciplines involved are wrong.

  • jefff

    The Spice Girls

  • Mr.Crow

    288- The switch from bartering to money was a huge one. With the barter system, you had to give something up to get in return. Things worked pretty well. Money allowed people to hoard wealth, they now had one thing that could get them everything so they just got as much as they could however they could. Obviously greed is the problem but isn’t that the problem with any invention that is destroyed by human tendencies. The TV is not itself bad,but because it has crap shows, lying news, and greedy adverts it sucks. I’m saying the the invention brings out the worst in us. Nothing is bad in and of itself, it is how badly we use it that determines its evil. We use money in extremely evil ways and do extremely evil things to get it.

  • James

    Christianity.

  • justme

    ping pong balls that break to easy => i hate when that happens :)

  • Nice Justme! Good one. Lol!!

  • lightningclash

    How about hate? If that doesn’t qualify, religion. Same thing if you ask me.

  • bigski

    # 324 is in serious need of an antidepressent or something. # 332 very clever opening comment. #353 that`s what`s known as irony.Worst human invention is impossible to pick,eveyone will disagree on every possible pick. The telly is an honorable pick ,one I don`t agree with but it does waste a lot of my time. Deadly weapons – anything made by man to kill man maybe that`s it.

  • Perplexed

    The implant chip for humans. The potential for abuse of this is enormous.

  • rob15285

    Religion!!!!!

  • joebecca

    322- Mr. Plow

    Exactly, its about people’s VIEWS (i.e. opinions) and there is nothing wrong with that at all. What i think is stupid is the people who only think they’re opinion is the right one, and saying other peoples are “wrong”. in the court of opinion there is no right or wrong. I’m not trying to debate anyone. i have my opinion of what i think is the worst invention and if other people don’t like it, frankly i don’t give a rats ass… And for you to come on here and tell people what they should read and not read because YOU don’t like what they said, well you’re one of those people anyway. you have what? 50 comments on this thread. Good luck proving your point to the world via this little thread. i’m sure it makes you feel powerful and RIGHT to debate debate debate. Maybe you should read my original comment again.

  • Anon

    True. An opinion indeed cannot be *right* or *wrong*. It can be lots of other things though. Intelligent. Stupid. Thoughtful. Idiotic. Pointless. Irrelevant. Inventive. Repulsive. Stimulating. Insulting … Damn, my Thesaurus is missing the rest of the pages …

  • jim

    @ comment 337:

    I wouldn’t insult a group of people collectively knowing that I would continue to consort with them.
    The smart asses are the multitude of abusive comments I read i.e. “I hate gays. curse them all) -and various other remarks that arent really honoring the purpose of the your view segment – You misinterpreted my statement but I should have been more clear about who i was referring to.

  • Mr. Plow

    joebecca,

    Having an opinion that is different than others is basically saying ‘I think I am right and you are wrong.’ There is nothing wrong with two people that do not see eye-to-eye so long as there is mutual respect between the two.

    What is childish, is for someone like you to make a comment like “get a life” (see #295). As if people in a comment thread having a back and forth are all stuck in our basements with nothing better to do.

    So I have left a few comments in this thread (I rarely comment on anything on LV,) what is the big deal? Is that not what this forum is for? Have I been disrespectful?

    If someone makes a point that is demonstrably false, then what is the problem with challenging them?

    GOD FORBID people have a debate, right? What kind of a jerk challenges someone a different opinion. I mean what is next, people learning from other opinions?

    You say “I’m not trying to debate anyone.” Fine. Then stay out of the discussion. You see a couple of posters going back and forth and are not interested in the topic, then skip it.

    Don’t stand off to the side and make snide comments about those of us who are having a debate or a difference of opinion…why do you care what we are debating anyway?

    We are all allowed to have an opinion and a chance to challenge the ideas of others…that, you know, is kinda the idea of a forum, especially one that is called “Your view.”

    You want to debate, then jump in and expect to intellectually defend yourself. If not, then kindly butt out of the conversation and let the big kids talk.

    FYI, again, worst invention, governments and philosophies that destroy liberty.

  • Mr. Plow

    367 Jim,

    Fair enough, my friend. See you around LV!

  • Reyairia

    The nuclear bomb.
    You never hear about it, but I just wish what really happened to the poor residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was just them dying in a second.
    I think a list was just recently made about nuclear war movies on this website. Unfortunately, the one on the Japanese bombing is fairly accurate of what happened that day.

  • jesse

    you’re all morons, did any of you actually think before posting? you’re all freakin hippies

  • badabing

    Seriously, the worst invention is spray on hair. Your bald and you hate being bald but really is that the answer!!

  • Val

    I believe Religion to be the worst human invention. It has certainly been the most devastating.

  • A “freakin hippie”

    371
    I fail to be insulted.

    Sex, drugs, and rock and roll…what more do you need?

  • jesse

    374 – give me a break!

  • Xthye

    RickRoll

  • Freshies

    Religion, it starts wars and holds people back from creative ideas, such as space exploration ect. Why research something when the your religion tells you this is how it is, and if you question this you are going to hell.

  • Mr. Plow

    377…you have absolutely nothing to prove your statement. Your simplistic view on religion assumes that no one has any free will.

    Obviously there was a lot of research done regardless of what religions had to teach…after all, we DO have space exploration and art.

    The church in Europe was one of the biggest backers of western music…monk’s chants that were notated formed some of the beginnings of the modern system of annotation and harmony.

    Coltrane was a deeply religious/spiritual man who was raised christian, flirted with Islam, Hinduism, and studied many other spiritual faiths…and created some of the most beautiful, boundary breaking, and creative jazz ever recorded.

    Copernicus and Kepler are two early scientists who believed in the divine…not to mention Einstein’s belief in a higher power (although, not a “personal God”.)

  • Zen

    #377. Religion is nothing but the ancient philosophy and Science.
    Read Jainism in detail to learn @ universe , atoms and so many things

  • Xthye

    its not about religion, its about what the believer think about his religion towards other religion.

  • Teddy

    Sasha Fierce.

  • claudiu

    a would say…electricity. what would u do with a tv, if u don’t have electricity?

  • Mr. Plow

    380…

    You are exactly right.

  • Ric

    The List Universe

  • Angelina

    Ric, you are an asshat.

  • 385. Angelina:…asshat
    ****
    LOL! LOL! LOL!
    Thank you, Angelina, for the funniest mental image of the week.

  • Angelina

    I’m sorry but I saw his post and it pissed me off! I know we are not supposed to name-call but I feel it was warranted.

    You are very welcome, segue. :)

  • woohoo

    solar powered flashlight LOL

  • joebecca

    LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!

  • David

    Children.

  • Denzell

    cigarette and drugs. more harm than benefit.

    Anyway, I totally disagree with the TV as worst invention. It’s the TV that inspired me to use my imagination for I am not fond of books.

  • Denzell

    and dude, you must have placed the wrong title under the picture of the TV. This is about the worst invention, not the best TV show.

  • Denzell

    bitchy girly-girls who do nuthin all day but flaunt their dumb pink objects.

  • Denzell

    and by the bitchy girly-girl subculture as another worst invention, I’d also say fashion. People have the right to wear whatever they want without being judged. Do not follow stupid fads, like having to buy a dress worth thousands only for it to be out of style tomorrow.

  • CLARK KENT FLY

    Man’s worst invention is politics and money..

    money is just one of man’s creation but it seems to have overpowered everything, as if man is controlled by money instead of the other way around

  • chemical_echo

    The atomic bomb.

    Because of the bomb, we constantly have to live in fear of other countries that may or may not have them. It can start wars and it can end wars, with devastating consequences.

    There was never a need to build one other than to say “look at us, we can destroy you with the push of a button.”

  • Teddy

    asshats?

  • Angelina

    LOL at Teddy!

  • bigski

    Never heard of an asshat.As headwear maybe no so cool. Maybe that`s the worst invention.

  • 399. bigski: Never heard of an asshat…
    ****
    I think asshat just might join retart in the LV special lexicon.
    Retart was a misspelling, I grant you, and asshat was a pejorative, though a made-up one, but both have the advantage of being unique to LV.

  • Joe

    Text messaging, and its ensuing lingo.

  • Steve

    The worst invention is……
    The comment section on a website. This one is doing ok but if you ever read some you will see the most hateful, ignorant things imaginable.

  • ilbrelic

    World Of warcraft hands down,did you know over 30 people commited suicide to that game and for some reason alot of them were asian

  • 401. Joe: Text messaging, and its ensuing lingo.
    ****
    Joe, you are a gentleman and a scholar. I have been raving about this same thing for as long as it has been around, and it is becoming worse. Quite soon, with a certain segment of the population, we will be living in the world of Clockwork Orange, totally unable to decipher the speech of the younger generation.
    Strange. First our schools fail in teaching them the basics, then texting comes along to make up an entirely new set of basics, based on nothing more than making words as short as they can possibly be. All rules go out the proverbial window.
    Well, every generation has had it’s way of marking itself as different from the ones which went before. The good news is that, in almost all cases, this too shall pass.

  • Kristen

    People say that but I think that tv has brought people together in a way. How many people watched the moon landing? Hey sure there could have a radio recording but nobody would have really cared much. Think of the wonderful, and yea terrible, things we as just average people would never have gotten to see with the tv.

    Personally I have to go with cars. Just automobiles in general. And the concept of marriage. Those are worse.

  • Xthye

    i feel that the most useless thing in the world are principal xD

  • crazy boxer

    transverse fwd. And all inline engines.

  • Lalala

    Vatican is the worst thing ever.
    And the United States.

  • sigo Ja

    French Canadians

  • 406. Xthye: i feel that the most useless thing in the world are principal xD
    ****
    I have no idea what this means. It doesn’t make a coherent sentence; it changes tense in the middle of the sentence. I can’t tell if the poster means principals, or principles.
    I could go on, pointing out the obvious nonsense of using “feel” when “think” is what is meant, but I won’t. I just want to know what the sentence means!

  • kking

    I’d say modern liberalism, because it’s ideals all lead to one world government, removing the freedoms and individuality of all citizens.

  • 411. kking:…one world government…
    ****
    pardon?

  • ppri

    Gamers

  • alice

    my boyfriend.

  • SeligPop

    My penis… It’s so small…

  • fluppy00

    Anyone who says that the creation of the nuclear bomb was a bad thing does not completely understand the situation it was created for. Nuclear weapons should no longer exist yes but its creation saved millions of lives including my own. My grandfather fought in the pacific and if the bomb was not dropped, would have invaded japan where hundreds of thousands of Americans would have died and quite possibly millions of Japanese. so I agree they should not exist now but to say that their invention was the worst in human history is incorrect.

  • sheldon roy

    that is the same view I have on relegion, it used to be nessesary we didnt know anything about science, now we do and it needs to go away.

  • Vert

    ATTENTION: THIS IS AN EMERGENCY BROADCAST, [insert natural disaster] WILL STRIKE [insert geographic location]. ALL CITIZENS EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!

    The PSA’s and Emergency Broadcasting, one more way to alert millions to potential threats. I’d say that’s a pretty good reason for television to exist. I know many people that watch TV at home and only listen to the radio while in transit.

  • c-bear

    REALITY TELEVISION.

  • luckydog

    Guns, Nucleur Weapons, Chemical burning engines, Medicines, etc….No matter what the invention, it was meant to be discovered. Its how we use it that make it “Bad”.

  • Angry onliner

    Now i think i changed my mind a bit. I’m thinking gas chambers… or reality television (with ya all the way c-bear)

  • Teddy

    Cans of beer that run out.

  • Xthye

    410: 406. Xthye: i feel that the most useless thing in the world are principal xD
    ****
    I have no idea what this means. It doesn’t make a coherent sentence; it changes tense in the middle of the sentence. I can’t tell if the poster means principals, or principles.
    I could go on, pointing out the obvious nonsense of using “feel” when “think” is what is meant, but I won’t. I just want to know what the sentence means!

    the one sitting in school office

  • 423. Xthye: the one sitting in school office
    ****
    Okay. Got it.
    Thanks for the explanation.

  • Davey

    Atheism.. A bunch of goobers standing around shouting that they don’t believe in a concept that by the stridency of their shouting proves that such a concept exists.

  • ..

    School.. there now -.-

  • KJ

    1- Liberals
    2- Alarm Clocks
    3- Silicone BI’s

  • johnrc

    the nation state

  • Anon

    Davey, (425),

    “Atheism.. A bunch of goobers standing around shouting that they don’t believe in a concept that by the stridency of their shouting proves that such a concept exists.”

    Religion. A bunch of goobers standing around shouting that they believe in a concept that by the stridency of their shouting proves they are trying to convince themselves desperately that such a concept exists.

    Touché.

  • Anon

    I would hope it isn’t necessary, but in case so, a rider to my comment 429. It was NOT intended as a cynical attack on the sincere beliefs of good friends here in LV, or indeed those of others and relatives elsewhere. The principle was merely to demonstrate how an utterly asinine statement is capable of being turned about-face and used against its author. Q.E.D.

  • 431. Identified Person: It *was* utterly asinine. I could explain why, but the explanation would just swoosh right over your pointy little head, so why bother?

  • iloveyouuuu

    Christina Marie Staber.

  • Anon

    segue,

    Thanks, but please don’t waste your precious time getting into a mature intellectual *woz – woznt – woz – woznt – woz – woznt* crunch on my behalf. The point is made in B & W and our valued section of the LV community understands well enough the concept of respecting sincere differing opinions.

    Apropos, do trollz have pointy little heads to help them crawl out of holes in the woodwork? … And back under rocks?
    I suppose I should ask Cyn, our resident expert on the natural history and ecology of trollz.

    Apropos. I think the last time I wore jeans must have been at least a couple of decades ago. I’ve got great legs still (or so Anita tells me), but you wouldn’t catch me dead in a miniskirt either! Hahaha.

  • Cyn

    Anon –
    in regards..trollz.
    well, i’m no expert but i do know ’em when i see ’em. and i like to squish ’em like the cockroaches that they’re related to. :)

  • HOTDOG

    shame, for reasons that are obvious

  • HOTDOG

    identified person has a little weiner

  • Anon

    Cyn,

    Oh, dear!

    Poor archy. Lonely mehitabel.

    “o wotthehell wotthehell”

  • Cyn

    don’t make me get out the big roach stomping boots!
    ;)

  • Anon

    segue and Cyn,

    It occurs to me that in this text-numbing day and age, perhaps we ought to give the minutest scrap of credit to one who didn’t put:

    assy9.

    Yes?

    Cyn, (439),

    It ain’t quite that desperate … yet.

    Hey, maybe we could publish a *joint ground-breaking paper on trollz. I do the morphological description bit, you record the field observations. We might try to get it in The Scientific American, but I guess The Nordic Journal of Natural History would be more appropriate.

    *I realise that word is open to misinerpretation, as much on LV as elsewhere, and trust it won’t get me into moderation.

  • Smily

    I would say that guns are not the worst invention. If guns weren’t invented, we probably wouldn’t have progressed past the medieval ages. We just would have killed each other with swords and our bare hands. The outdoor treadmill is pretty bad though. In general though, I think the things with the least value are the worst. And not monetary value, I mean value as in there is no need for anyone to have it (art excluded).

  • Wamus

    MSNBC crew – the most corrupt news shows ever – nightly news invented daily.

  • 440. Anon:…Hey, maybe we could publish a *joint ground-breaking paper on trollz…
    ****
    Count me in!

  • Cyn

    Anon –
    sounds way too much like work. ;)
    much rather just stomp on trollz..er…roaches and hear that oh so satisfying crunch as they squish. then the fun part…the slide in the squishy smoosh left behind.
    oh yeah!
    :)

  • Cyn

    *tidies up*
    :)

  • Anon

    Cyn,

    But do they stink though. (Holds nose and departs left on special slip-proof soles.)

    segue,

    We can count Cyn in on a purely consultorial basis, which involves no work but just as much prestige! Technical pest limitation info on trollz controllz maybe?

  • Cyn

    Anon –
    ain’t nothing technical about trollz or spammers…they’re just pests like roaches. to be eliminated as such.
    ~~
    which i’ll do as soon as i can as part being an admin. for those of you who think you’re getting away w/ something. including you kids in class not doing your schoolwork!
    :)

  • Anon

    Cyn,

    Our LV luck to have you so professionally devoted to t & s extermination. More power to them big roach-stompin boots, gal!

  • Anon, I’m with you chum. I’ll even donate a pair of gardening boots, Wellies, to Cyn, for better t & s stompimg.

  • Anon

    segue & Cyn,

    Seems like we might have a t & s technical problem to sort out after all. The original 431 has been squidged, with the result that segue, the replacement 431, now appears to be squidging herself. Or so it looks to anyone not in the know! Hahaha.

    Cyn,

    Might it be possible to simply stomp out the post number along with the offending roach? Then people would be able to put two and two together? Or can’t that be done? If not, how about a standard indication under the relevant number?, such as:

    431.

    Comment officially stomped out (or more formal words to that effect)

  • bigski

    Put their nickname there also. Like post 199 sent by SOME ASSHOLE was deleted cause he said something real stupid.

  • Anon

    bigski, (450),

    That’s a great idea in principle, but it has one huge flaw in practice.

    t & s often usurp the names of we legitimate posters. So sadly someone might come along also calling themselves *bigski* and post a load of obscene drivel which Cyn will *roach-crush*. Clearly you would not then relish the note, *199. bigski. Comment deleted because disgustingly repulsive*!

  • dusha

    CAPITALISM..is by all means the WORST human invention/ creation ever concocted by egoistic beings.
    The rise of capitalism and the nation-state have only managed to oppress the marginalized classes and use them as tools for their own benefit.
    The proletariet are constantly working in order for the capitalists to make more profits, which in turns keeps the working class in a continuous struggle. The capitalists also feed the working class with a sense of false consciousness which leads them to believe that everything is okay in life, when its not. Unless, the masses rise up and over throw the capitalists we will continue to live in a state of hegemony.

  • dusha

    Also, just to make another quick comment. I’d like to mention that the majority of individuals post on here have been in one way or another created or perpetuated by the capitalists. Therefore, they are the forerunners of unruly inventions.

  • mansonego

    normative ethics, alkaloid derivatives, laugh tracks, the “what is the sense of life?” question, phthalates, noise inducing commodities, good vs evil, processed sugar, sales figures, opposite opinions, the deep fryer, teen culture… oh, but mainly cheese.

  • Steph Frederick

    I didn’t read all the comments, so I apologize beforehand if the idea I contribute was already posted earlier. I can’t honestly think of a single invention that is truly evil in every sense…but the majority of our race has systematically ruined most intentionally good inventions out there, such as: TV, telephones (land and cell), nuclear power, firearms, tobacco, alcohol, even the most mundane, like clothing. Are there annual ‘slut of the year’ contests being held in high schools across the country that I don’t know about? And into the future, the same will happen. Great inventions will hit the mainstream, where they’ll be ruined and exploited until we all hate it and curse it’s very existence.

  • bubbles
  • Anon

    bubbles, (456),

    The fourth entry in you recommendation:

    “He believed that bereaved people would love nothing more than seeing their departed hermetically encased within a block of transparent glass, and thus “maintained for an indefinite period in a perfect and lifelike condition”. If an entire glass-encased relative might take up too much parlour-space, Karkowski suggested just having their head done.”

    I believe something akin to the idea as per that last sentence has been extremely well followed-up in ‘Futurama’, notably for the likes of Richard Nixon!

  • prettyclouds33

    The lightbulb.

  • Aphiblazer

    I believe the worst human invention is hate.

    Animals might be aggressive but usually only for survival. We, however, are aggressive just because we can be.

  • 458. prettyclouds33: The lightbulb.
    ****
    Without the lightbulb, how are you going to see what’s in the back of the refrigerator?

  • Jill..NOT Jillian!

    President Bush…
    and U2…

  • Raisa

    I’m sorry, but the bad effects of the television pale in comparison to the effects of nuclear weaponry. If watched in moderation, TV can be a source of entertainment. Although some people have dumbed themselves down or suffered health problems from watching too much TV, there are appropriate ways to use a television. I, for instance, own a television which I use to watch movies. I doubt anyone would argue that watching the occasional movie is a bad thing. Even reality TV or “made for TV” movies are not nearly as bad as nuclear weaponry.

    More people died in Hiroshima in a split second and in the aftermath from radiation poisoning than have ever died from TV-related health problems or accidents. Even the “dumbing down” of society is nothing in comparison to nuclear weaponry– being dumb is awful, but nuclear weaponry has not only the capability to kill millions but destroy our environment and our earth as well.

    Furthermore, TV has some pleasant uses, as I’ve already said, while nuclear weaponry has absolutely NO good uses. TV can provide entertainment and news [however watered down]. Nuclear weaponry can only kill. It is an invention designed for destruction.

  • Raisa

    P.S. I would like to hear someone explain to me how TV is a worse invention than the nuclear bomb.

  • Raisa: easy – the nuclear bomb has been used twice and will most likely not be used again. On the otherhand, TV has contributed to an international dumbing down of society. :)

  • Raisa

    We can’t predict that the nuclear bomb will never be used again. It may not be used in war again, but the number of nuclear bombs a country can produce has now become a symbol of its power. Countries with large amounts of nuclear bombs are greatly feared and have the capability of “bullying” smaller nations into complacency. This often replaces real diplomacy.

  • hardcored00d

    Spam lol

  • The Burr Man

    philips and slot screw drivers…Robertson is were its at…A Canadian invention.

  • cheesy

    religion = route of all evil ment to bring peace but brings only war and hate

  • Mr. Plow

    Cheesy,

    Prove it.

  • otin flewer

    religion.
    (it sometimes appears to be an excuse or reason for almost everything that happens wrong. it gave us this rigid society where some people find it hard to find a place for themselves. . . )

  • samfishers

    humans.. sorry if i should pessimist.. but sorry if you think so.

    My point is, that humans created everything around us.. and there is not much good thing, or no good thing at all that we made to help the planet. Everything we made, or did, was for ourselves, our own ego, for laziness and so on..

  • Tomo

    I’ve heard of asswipe, but asshat? Never. It made me laugh so hard I forgot what my worst invention comment was going to be! I feel like such a retart!

  • justme

    “homosexuality” and “gay marriage” are not inventions, r-tards. and can you tell me what exactly makes them the worst things in the world. i can’t believe your ignorance.

  • Cyn

    and here at LV it’s ‘retarts’. we have our own lingo now ya know.
    asshats
    retarts
    i’m sure there’ll be more as time goes on..
    :)

  • 472. Tomo : In my former world, that of the film biz, asswipe was pronounced as if it were spelled az-sweep-ay! And it referred to an object, as well as a person, the object being a cloth drenched in icewater for those long days on location in the hot desert sun.
    We’d call out to a P.A., “Joe, cal you bring me an azsweepay please?”

  • Anon

    segue,

    Down here that’s exactly how it’s spelled and exactly as we’d pronounce it.

    Ziploc is prounounced See plock.

    Mr Muscle, curiously, is Mister Musculo, not Señor Musel!

    Attempts to pronounce the names of some British and Irish soccer players and teams are as hilarious as the BBC’s commentators’ equivalent ventures into Turkish football last time I heard. O’Shea becomes a contracted Osshey, Gallagher an extended Gay-lag-hair, for example. Fulham becomes Fool Ham (I daren’t comment further, that’s kiwiboi’s team!).

    Long live don Quick Soat!

  • Oh, my lord, Anon! I’d be on the floor, quivering helplessly with laughter. Probably not the kind of reaction that would endear me to the locals, but I do get such a kick out of malapropisms and general mispronouncements (that’s not even a word, but you get my drift), that I just can’t help myself.

  • Anon

    segue,

    Me too. Probably not very p.c. (itself no longer very p.c.?), but I take my lead from those who have done it to me.
    Doasyouweredoneby.

    During my salad days in Chile (Oh, God. So long ago!), I referred to the Argentinian provine of Jujuy as Jew Jewey.
    This had my friends here creased up and well out of control. It is, of course, pronounced in one’s best owlish fashion as Whoohwee.

  • Glad to know I’m not the only one who is felled by simple misslips of the tongue!
    As to p.c. or not p.c.? That is the question. I have refused to play the p.c. game from it’s onset. It’s simply silly.

  • dirkgently

    I’ll admit I only read the first couple hundred comments but was astounded to find no one mentioned mine. If this was never invented every other invention would cease to be a problem.

    Medicine!

    If your time is up, your time is up, why artificially prolong it.

    Let the hatefest begin…

  • 480. dirkgently: Medicine is not only about prolonging life when your time is up, it’s also about making your life worth living when one thing is wrong; one thing that causes major pain – pain you can’t even imagine in your worst nightmare – but is unconnected to a disease that would kill you, or even shorten your life. It’s a rare genetic condition that simply attacks certain sets of cells.
    That’s me. That’s my life. If not for pain medicine I’d have to kill myself. I’m not being histrionic. It’s the simple truth. The pain is so intense, so all encompassing, that living with it is inconceivable.
    Medicine is not the worst human invention. Medicine is one of the best.

  • Anon

    segue, (479),

    Can you please introduce me to this luscious-sounding Miss Lips?

    Hear, hear ree pee see.

    No one will stop me calling a spade a spade!

    And as far as I’m concerned golliwogs are endearing little dolls that would have made eating Robinsons marmalade, bramble jelly and jams worthwhile if they weren’t already worthwhile.

    (Thinks, will this get me into moderation …?)

    (Thinks again, will mentioning moderation get me into moderation …?)

  • Cyn

    Anon –
    uh. no.
    but being silly might.
    ;)

  • Anon

    dirkgently, (480),

    We’ll forgive you, for you surely know not what you say as it effects our beloved segue. Provided you don’t insist, that is.

    By the way, my life (probably) happens to be extended by medicine. At 72 I’m not only rather enjoying it, but also productively working up a botanical study of a rare group of plants that are quite unknown to any other professional in my ‘business’. That doesn’t make me irreplaceable, of course, but I do consider it justifies my continued presence. Has it occurred to you that experience can be valuable, and that long life for artists and scientists, not to exclude others, benefits the community at large?

    “If your time is up, your time is up, why artificially prolong it.”

    Ah, I see. You mean leave a child that’s drowning in a river to drown. It’s time is up.

    Leave a road accident victim to bleed slowly to death, their time is up.

    Leave people to die in house fires. Their time is up.

    I’m sorry to have to tell you that dogs are often known to have more compassion than that.

    In fact it sounds as though what you really mean to classify as the worst ‘invention’ is, in fact, compassion.

  • Anon

    Cyn,(483),

    You weren’t supposed to see 482, Big Sister.

    … unless it went into moderation. Hahaha.

    You’ll never, never stop me being silly, I tell you.

    There’s no fool like an old fool.

  • samfishers

    481. Pain is good my friend. I am not a masochiste, but I am sying that pain is not a a bad thing at all.. try to slit your wrist very deep. after the “pain“ You should feel very good, a soothing felling I mean.

  • Cyn

    485. Anon –
    i see many things i’m not supposed to see and understand even more.
    ;)
    as for silly old fools ..beats the hell outa being boring, eh?
    :)

  • Anon

    dirkgently,

    Let’s continue on a broader canvas. Obviously we should include surgery too, since that also prolongs active life artificially.

    Hate mail would seem to be quite unneccessary. You only have to ‘swallow’ the consequences of your ‘wish’ (no spoonful of sugar for you!). I.e. no medicine from the word go. That means none of us would be here here now, and there would be no such thing as the internet. Perhaps not even electricity.

    I’m no medic. If I were I could answer much more adequately. However, I have grown up through the first use of antibiotics and a great number of other medicines. I am also aware of history and the effects of disease and epidemics. Innoculations and vaccinations and other similar preventative measures are medicines too. So are the compounds which assure sufficient healthy domestic stock survives for us to eat them or their products.

    So. Welcome back unchallenged: Black Death, infantile paralysis, tuberculosis, a good fistful of lethal influenzas, diptheria, malaria, pneumonia, yellow fever, massive child death from minor ailments. … Well, why go on?

    Result: huge epidemics such as we saw in the Middle Ages. The larger our conurbations, the more frequent and effective. Deformed and crippled people everywhere, many slowly and agonisingly dying. Women returning to their status of ‘birth machines’ as the only way to keep up the population numbers. All of us living constantly with death from chilhood on, burying various of our brothers and sisters at early ages, unless of course we were among them. Losing a sister or two in childbirth. Things might not be so bad in the open country, where close contact is much reduced. But not as good as you might think. Medicine was invented in the country from natural products and has always been heavily used there and continues to be in many parts of the world. In fact every isolated society we have discovered uses medicines, and often so effectively that they form the basis of our own. Nowadays one of the prime targets of specialised botany is the discovery, identifying and cataloguing of traditional herbal useages before they becomes extionguished.

    Obviously enough, much of the base for our civilisation and progress would no longer exist. Pestilence rules O.K. One of the Riders would already be permanently among us.

    It’s hard to say how much that would have stunted our collective progress, but there can’t be the slightest doubt we’d now be at least a couple of centuries behind. It could even be a great deal more.

  • Anon

    Cyn, (487),

    Dead right, luv.

    I much prefer me when I’m being silly to when I’m being serious.

    Maybe seriousness is the worst human invention? If we were just arsing around all the time, how could there be any problems in the world?

  • Skot

    I would say education/school because it has taught humans the knowledge to create all of the other creations that are abhorrent to this world such as the Nuclear Weapon, the gun, the electric chair, etc. Of course it could also be considered the greatest as well, it all depends on your point of view. In some cases the nuclear weapon could be considered a good invention because it essentially saved hundreds of thousands of American and Japaneses lives by forcing the war to end quickly.

    On a lighter note I would have to say that the worst invention would have to be this “As-seen-on-TV” invention called Easy Curves that I saw on TV yesterday. It is a long rod that women push to strengthen the muscles in their chest to increase their breast size! I nearly peed myself laughing.

  • Fidel

    In response to #61. Fernut and #82. Gabby

    #61. Fernut
    “Sex is the worst ever . . it hurts”

    #82 Gabby
    / came in to say “Then you’re doing it wrong”

    Gabby, did you ever think that maybe poor Fernut is the “catcher” rather than the “pitcher” in the relationship? I would think that that would hurt no matter how you did it!

    (No offense meant to those of the homosexual persuasion)

  • SlyRoxy

    In my opinion Religion…

  • justme

    oh yes, because before television even one was a genius!

  • Kilabot

    Worst human invention…. from a man’s point of view…i think vibrator…not freakin fair…

  • gracie

    In my opinion, its a tie between crocs and swiss cake rolls.

  • Ganja God

    I would have to say the world’s worst invention has to be television. It makes people lazy!

  • pyrothraxe

    i agree with 19, the bible is pretty savage
    and its only been about 2000 years rly of christianity
    and the worst ever thing invented was flat out religion
    it has caused more war then any other thing in the world
    everyone says guns and stuff are bad but they are only used bad due to religious differences, or in wars that are based on religious differences
    btw i only read to comment 20, then i was like “NO WAY, im not reading all that”

  • pyrothraxe

    in reponse to 378
    those thing were researched by people who didnt believe in religion
    and religion is stupid anyway
    well thats unfair
    i can see the reason behind a lot of religions
    the one i dont like is christianity
    because
    it isnt its own religion
    everything in modern day christianity is based on stuff from other earlier religions
    and the bible is just retarded
    adam and eve
    had cain and abel
    cain kills abel, then gets exiled to the land of nod
    where he meets lots of girls and procreates MEANING
    that this whole civilisation along with everything in the world is a jealous murderers wet dream
    well according to the bible anyway

  • jesse

    oh god you people are retarded

  • Alex_jk

    The xbox 360, breaks easy, microsoft are moneygrabbers and it’s spawned a race of ignorant, stupid and just damn right dickheads known as the xbox fanboy

  • Absolutturkey

    You are all wrong.
    Nuclear Bombs, noo.
    Guns, noo.
    High Fructose Corn Syrup, close, but still no.
    The worst human invention is obviously the sinister Pet Rock!

  • rainycity

    ahahhaha the guy above me is so funny NOT kill ya self for tryin to be funny

  • shadow

    480. dirkgently
    It appears he or she has commented and then this forum. Great response by Anon and segue. Vaccines have also contributed greatly to the mortality of many people(Smallpox wiped out the Aztec nation).

  • shadow

    Meant then LEFT this forum – sorry.

  • GoodEye

    War! Ugh! Yeeeah.
    What is it good fo’? Absolutely…
    NOTHIN’!

    Not that war hasn’t accomplished some important things in history. It’s just a terrible way to go about it, and we as a society are screwed until we can find a better way to solve our problems.

  • Charlie

    I would have to say guns. Bows, swords and knives are much better :-)

  • .

    Religious Fundamentalism. Christian, Atheist, Muslim, or otherwise. No problem with religion, just the the over zealous members of any religon. I myself am a Christian, in the sense that I believe in God, and that Jesus died for the sins of all mankind. That’s just me I could honestly care less about the beliefs of others, as long they try to drag me into following their personal agenda.

  • .

    Don’t try to drag me into following their personal agenda. sorry major typo.

  • sassan

    I agree with MartinL (#279). ADVERTISEMENT is the most devastating of this era.
    It not only sells ridiculous products like motorized toothbrush(#259), solar powered flashlight(#388),…it bombards the people with crimson lies (with ‘scientific’ approval stamp, no doubt), producing brainwashed hysteric consumers. I believe the number of these modern ‘scientific’ lies is not less than what religions and clerics spread during the history.

  • 509. sassan: Your point is well founded, but would carry more weight if you could complete a sentence.

  • Mr. Plow

    498. pyrothraxe

    “Religion is stupid” is not an argument. You clearly are a fool with exactly zero grasp of any historical concept of religion. Your near incoherent rant and lack of punctuation do more than demonstrate your lack of education or understanding.

    If you are a troll, you’re very obvious, if you are serious, I could do a point by point rebuttal, but why cast pearls before swine?

    But, just to point out one easy one, most religions, Christianity included, build on earlier philosophies or religious beliefs.

    Look, fool, I know you in all our teenage glory and angst are mad at mommie and daddie for making you go to Sunday school, and I know you need something to rebel against while you are listening to your MCR discs…you’re mad at your parents not me…

    But before you reply, please if you will do the courtesy to the rest of the LVers of learning how to construct a sentence, use a period, and post some actual effing points that have not already been posted earlier, by much more intelligent and eloquent posters than yourself.

    You have said nothing new and offered up nothing but total fail. And you write like a child.

  • Teddy

    Anything with i in front of it. Very deep.

  • Lekhter

    I say it is money.

  • Lekhter

    And i guess you can put religion up there too.

  • Sads

    Try stopping watching TV for 2 weeks and like any others drugs (diet coke, chips, sugar things,…) you will completely feel different and more free.
    Every time I see a tv program it’s always dumber and dumber. Do yourself a favour : switch it off.
    It’s only 2 weeks ! 14 days … Why not trying to discover something new very easily ?

  • LYD

    I don’t think whether it’s invention or not but i think religion is the one.

  • TrustNoOne

    TV is the Devil!!!

    Never watched TV in 28 years, except when i go over people’s houses and they have it on. Must be made for people with extremely low IQ’s.

  • TrustNoOne

    TV and the atomic bomb are the worst ever!

  • jeff

    this is a no brainer
    religion is the worst invention in the history of mankind, it has accounted for more deaths in the name of god than all other causes combined.

  • Mr. Plow

    Jeff you are a clown. Read a history book with an objective mind, and if you are intellectually honest, you will find you are completely wrong.

    Your right though, except for
    bubonic plagues
    influenza outbreaks
    secular killers like: Mao, El Amin, Stalin, Hitler, and Pol Pot
    WWI and II
    The conquests of: Alexander/Napoleon/Gengis Kahn/Atilla the Hun/China’s dynasty wars/Cyrus of Persia/Hannibal/Roman conquest/Kubli Kahn
    Heart disease, Cancer, AIDS, Stress

    And that is just a short list. Obviously, religion has caused more deaths that all of the above combined.

    Do some effin’ research you fool.
    http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/welcome.htm

    Some ‘no brainer’ you’ve identified. You are flat out demonstrably wrong.

    Pathetic.

  • Person666

    But some of those aren’t really inventions. Besides, even if it didn’t cause as many deaths, religion certainly repressed people, as well as setting the stage for yet another excuse for war. Christianity in particular even affected our callender, causing it to revolve around the approximate birthday of one man, even if people try and use that BCE and CE bullshit.

  • smithstar4

    The Electric Chair

  • Miles

    I can’t believe no one has said the cotton gin. The enslavement of African Americans in the New World would have ceased as the demand for tobacco dropped, but then Eli Whitney had to %&#* it all up and invent a machine that did the job of removing the cotton seeds 10x faster. All the cotton plantations had to get tons and tons of slaves to keep up with the speed of the cotton gin!

  • jeff

    this is a direct response to the not-so-educated, close minded MR PLOW
    here is the response he wrote to me:
    Author: Mr. Plow
    Comment:
    Jeff you are a clown. Read a history book with an objective mind, and if you are intellectually honest, you will find you are completely wrong.

    Your right though, except for
    bubonic plagues
    influenza outbreaks
    secular killers like: Mao, El Amin, Stalin, Hitler, and Pol Pot
    WWI and II
    The conquests of: Alexander/Napoleon/Gengis Kahn/Atilla the Hun/China’s dynasty wars/Cyrus of Persia/Hannibal/Roman conquest/Kubli Kahn
    Heart disease, Cancer, AIDS, Stress

    And that is just a short list. Obviously, religion has caused more deaths that all of the above combined.

    Do some effin’ research you fool.
    http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/welcome.htm

    Some ‘no brainer’ you’ve identified. You are flat out demonstrably wrong.
    Pathetic.

    MR PLOW, please read this, and take note that I actually did graduate from Temple University, a major, and well respected school, with a BA in History, did you??

    who’s the clown, i was a history major, and rec’d a BA from Temple University.

    Author: Mr. Plow
    Comment:
    Jeff you are a clown. Read a history book with an objective mind, and if you are intellectually honest, you will find you are completely wrong.

    Your right though, except for
    bubonic plagues
    influenza outbreaks
    secular killers like: Mao, El Amin, Stalin, Hitler, and Pol Pot
    WWI and II
    The conquests of: Alexander/Napoleon/Gengis Kahn/Atilla the Hun/China’s dynasty wars/Cyrus of Persia/Hannibal/Roman conquest/Kubli Kahn
    Heart disease, Cancer, AIDS, Stress

    And that is just a short list. Obviously, religion has caused more deaths that all of the above combined.

    Do some effin’ research you fool.
    http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/welcome.htm

    Some ‘no brainer’ you’ve identified. You are flat out demonstrably wrong.

    Pathetic.

    See all comments on this post here:

    to rebut your comments, the secular killers you mentioned, Pol Pot, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, they were all ideological murderers. The easiest example to point out is Hitler. His megelomania was base entirely on race/religious beliefs. Hence, his quest to eliminate the jewish menace. all the conquerors did their deeds based on their personal belief that the were entitled, by their divine rights to rule the world. hence, mr plow, that would directly relate to religious beliefs. mr plow, did you attend an accredited college? or are you a religious right winged freak?? i’m going to go with the latter. and i’m pretty sure that you also agree with our departing president, and actually believe that the bible was written by the hand of god. talk about naive and foolish. the bible, along with all other “books of god” were written by skewed people, with their own agenda, much like your own. try looking outside your religious box, and think on your own, instead of listening to your religious leaders. fyi, jesus was born, and died a jew, never forget that!!!

  • jeff

    oh yes, crusades (more specifically Childrens Crusades) all the terrorist attacks based on islam, infidals
    rwanda, spanish inquisitions, witch hunts, the dark ages (caused by the strength of the church dispelling science), the death and destruction of the american indians based on the belief that westerners were civilized (directly related to religious beliefs) and that the indians were savages, Taiping Rebellion in China, bosnia/serbia, armenia, darfur/sudan
    shall i continue? Mr Plow (schmuck)

  • MahMah

    the snuggie

  • Snake

    Most people who’ve studied it say putting lead into things like gasoline was the worst idea ever, and has contributed to more deaths and destruction with almost no positive, or at least no equal positive outcome.
    But if you want an invention as in a device, and not say a formula or method, then I’d have to say nuclear bombs.

  • Anon

    Snap!

  • SuperHero3

    I would say we as humans are the worst invention. What exactly have we contributed to the planet to make it a better place? All we have done is zap its resources and given the world an old-fashion beat down. Ofcourse who knows what the future holds. Maybe one day we will know what our purpose on this planet is. Also since we didn’t invent ourselves I guess I will have to think of something else.

    – Guns, nah. If its not a gun, it will be a knife or a sword or some other blunt intstrument. If somebody wants someone dead they will find a way. A gun just makes it quicker and easier work.

    – Atomic weapons. The ability to pretty much destroy ourselves with one weapon. Yeah thats a pretty bad invention. But the possibilites of atomic energy are not fully known yet. Soon it may be able to provide us with the fuel to travel the cosmos.

    The worst invention in my mind is clearly…cigarettes. There is not one single positive aspect of the cigarette. All it does is harm not only the person using the awful addictive device but also create a great deal of harm to anyone within the area of its poision cloud.

  • Protoghost

    The DVD rewinder.

  • albumen

    Religion

  • Legend and Lore

    I agree with SuperHero3, I work with a bunch of smokers, and wretched. they smell like sh** all of the time, they have to go out every two hours for a smoking break, they’re in debt. I could go on all day talking about the terrible effects of smoking.

  • Mr. Plow

    Jeff,

    Jeff me boy, only a desperate charlatan starts dropping names of schools. Quite the eintellectual aren’t you?

    How do I know you went there? And besides that, your supposed degree has obviously not helped your understanding of pretty rudimentary historical precedent.

    Your little diatribe offers up nothing but a stack of straw men.

    Hitler megalomania based on his religion? FFS! He had long since abandoned any religious belief by the time he served in WWI. I challenge you to find one respected historian that would contend Hitler’s Third Reich was a result of his religious belief. Fool. Obviously that mythical ‘degree’ has done you no good whatsoever.

    “the secular killers you mentioned, Pol Pot, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, they were all ideological murderers”

    So by your definition then…they are not religious. What is the point you are trying to make there Temple boy? Did you just help affirm my previous post? It’s well known that in their collective views religion was seen as an idea that was to be eliminated. (Funny they all are tied in with marxist\socialist theory too.)

    As for religion being a motivation in conquest, Cortez, Cyrus, the Romans, ect…were all after the same thing…expansion of empire, wealth, and influence over their neighbors. It’s a move as old as history itself. Learn to read into things…don’t let your bias dictate your research.

    Your straw men insinuating that I am some religious nut, Bushie, or a right wing freak…where the hell did you get that? How typical of the ‘intellectual elite,’ nothing but wild accusations based off of one post of mine.

    I disagree with you, therefore I am a religious nut job? How intellectually honest of you. Truly you are the standard bearer of Temple’s academic elites.

    Your little tirade shows nothing more than your biased approach to having a discussion. Seriously, you sound like a little 9th grader arguing over your position paper on abortion. Weak…and lame.

    Either discuss like a big boy or pack up and go home. ‘waaahh but i went to temple…i am smart, my degree says so. (commence stomping and kicking and crying.)’

    And yes, I did graduate from a university, not that it matters in a place like LV. And full disclosure, I voted for Ron Paul. I’m far from the fundamentalist you claim me to be. Only the weak minded throw around accusations like that…surely a Temple man is above that, right?

    You seem to be the one reflexively hurling insults when someone challenges your misinformed musings online. Sounds like a fundie to me…oh you smarty pants Temple boy.

    Either act like a grown up or take your butthurt self elsewhere.

    Oh yeah, all the ‘religious’ incidents\killings you mention would not be a drop in the bucket compared to my list of death.

    Once again, you are flat out wrong.

    Your hatred and intolerance of religion is very obvious. And your inability to keep your opinions out of your post shows what a charlatan you really are.

    What is Temples student policy…I mean after all, a pillar of Temple’s community of learners like you surely would not violate it’s sacred ideas…

    Oh yeah, here it is.
    “Temple University is a community of scholars in which freedom of inquiry and freedom of expression are valued. Important aspects of attending the University as a student are having respect for the rights of others in the community, conducting oneself in a manner that is compatible with the University’s mission…” And students should always be “…exhibiting appropriate maturity and self control…”

    Tell me jeffie, where does “are you a religious right winged freak??” Fit in to your vaunted universities values that were so clearly instilled in you?

    How about, “actually believe that the bible was written by the hand of god. talk about naive and foolish. the bible, along with all other “books of god” were written by skewed people, with their own agenda, much like your own. try looking outside your religious box, and think on your own, instead of listening to your religious leaders.”

    Sounds a lot like religious intolerance Jeffie, no? Would that kind of obvious hostility be tolerated within the pristine academic confines of Temple? What if I was a Muslim? Would that not be getting close to hate speech? It is sure not the “freedom of expression” I read about at the much respected Temple’s website.

    And, “jesus was born, and died a jew, never forget that!” Well, at least you have one historical fact correct. Gold star for you Jeffie!

    I’ll be sure to forward a copy of your obviously well thought out, nuanced, and tolerant post to your precious Temple history department…I am sure they would love to see the great work their students are contributing to the academic community!

    Is Prof. Jacobs still there? I think Prof. Isenberg is still department chair right?

    After all we both know that at Temple,
    “Historians know that any two people can look at an historical event and come up with two completely different interpretations of what happened. They know that behind that seemingly simple chronological list of events is a host of different interpretations, opinions, and results. The study of history, it turns out, is not so simple after all.”

    That is unless you are Jeff! Everything is simple for Jeffie, surly we are all aware of his academic brilliance, and numerous publications and widely influential research. Yup, Temple grads crank out the history biatches!

    Ummm…what are your contributions to history academia jeff?

    BTW, yeah, my college is accredited. Thanks for inquiry!

    Keep up the great work jeffie. And if you need any more clarification on my position, check out my previous posts. Lurk Moar!

  • jeff

    mr plow, again, you are expressing the curved opinions of a right wing conservative. if hitler had no religious beliefs, then why did he point to the jews as the final solution? you are not a religious nut because you disagree with me, you are a religious nut because you point to the bible for your facts. the spanish inquisitions were not based on religious beliefs? the crusades, jihads? the right to expansion was based on belief in divine rights, twit. hence, the japanese considered their emporer a living god, not a living idea, but a living god, that my dear right wing lunatic, is a religious belief. religious tolerance is something i believe in, however, most major religions do not allow that. ie, the catholic church, if you don’t follow our beliefs, you go to hell. the muslims of today, and yesteryear, if you don’t believe our beliefs, we must kill you. i have experienced religious intolerance first hound plowboy, i lived in israel for a year, and in the west bank. is there a reason the muslims pointed their speakers towards the settlements so they could blast their prayers several times a day?
    that, my feeble minded knome, is called religion. prior to mankind, religion never existed. it is an idea. ever hear the expression, “religion is the opiate of the masses”? could not have been a truer thought uttered. if religion works for you, great, but don’t force it on me. that’s the real problem, mr INTELLECTUAL, the religions that have existed thusfar, force their ideas on others. romans killed jews and christians for their beliefs. asian societies punish and torture those who don’t agree with the government ideas of religion. you say that hitler was ideological??? if so, then why did he finger the jews specifically? b/c they were so good lookin? i think not. sir, you are an idiot. please forward my thoughts to the temple university history department. i’m sure they would be glad to see that one of their graduates thinks outside the box, and applies the education that was taught. btw, what school did you to? byu? texas christian? enjoy the rest of your dilusional life, and continue to think that religion is a wonderful, harmless thing

  • danblack

    Ok, i’m gonna set the record straight. human beings are the most destructive force on the planet next to mother nature herself. since the beginning of so called ‘civilized man’ RELIGION and MONEY have been the main tools of the few intellectuals to socially manipulate the ignorant masses. More deaths have been caused by war in the 20th century than all previously recorded history combined! all in the name of money and religion; for money and religion are POWER.

    some day the religious folks of the world will wake up to how blatently illogical religion is, maybe at the same time people will wake up to how we’re all slaves to the all mighty dollar..thats your REAL god and religion.

    type into google/video “Zeitgeist” and “Zeitgeist: Addendum”

    in those 2 flicks you will find all the proof you need to discredit and disprove all religion and all money…but dont take my word for it, or the vids words, do your OWN RESEARCH!

  • Sargo

    The internet

  • Mr. Plow

    Jeff,

    Once again, you offer up nothing but a big steaming pile of fail. This time you are even more desperate sounding.

    Since I have a few minutes, I am going to take you on point by point.

    “you are expressing the curved opinions of a right wing conservative”

    Apparently you think that my belief that religion is not as big of a killer as you say it is somehow makes me right wing. Quit projecting little man. I know you desperately want to paint me as a fundie…but you are really grasping for straws here Jeffie…I even went as far as to tell you where I come from politically, which you conviently ignored. If you cannot even discern this simple fact from a post online, how could you possibly be trusted to discern the intentions and ideologies that have driven episodes of mass killing hundreds and even thousands of years ago.

    “if hitler had no religious beliefs, then why did he point to the jews as the final solution?”

    Jews were a common scape goat in many places in Europe/Middle East/Russia and were a great way to rally and unify Germany from under the country crushing and economicly crippling effects of the Treaty of Versaille. Given the ethnic tensions in many countries in Europe a crack down on the Jews would be easy to pull off…and to add, many countries were willing to tolerate it, perhaps not approve, but they were not going to risk military intervention.

    You also add the fact that most of Hitlers religious statements were made prior to 1934, when he was still running for office. And even a simpleton such as yourself knows that politicians will tell people what the want to hear.

    Even well known atheist author of the bestseller The God Delusion takes on the issue of Hitler’s faith, and even HE does not find religious motivations behind the Final Solution. (See page 276.)

    You are trying to make a case that even Dawkins, one of the most militant critics of religion does not even make.

    Add to that the well established notion that Hitler and the Reich were in fact anti-religious, specifically anti-Christian, and long wanted to usurp both the Catholic and Protestant churches in favor of a Germanic racial church. Is Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion well regarded enough for a Temple man? If so, use your degree and actually study some history for yourself, http://www.lawandreligion.com/nurinst1.shtml

    Also, I have not even begun to address Hitler’s beliefs on eugenics and his inherently racist world view.

    To quote Martin Bormann, Hitlers close personal confidant and head of the Parteikanzlei “When we [National Socialists] speak of belief in God, we do not mean, like the naive Christians and their spiritual exploiters, a man-like being sitting around somewhere in the universe.”

    I also suggest Bormann’s, Hitler’s Table Talk 1941–1944, if you want more insight into that dickhead’s motivations.

    In addition to all of the above there is Alfred Rosenberg’s 30 point plan to establish a
    National Reich Church included such point as
    -The National Church demands immediate cessation of the publishing and dissemination of the Bible.
    -The National Church will clear away from its alters all Crucifixes, Bibles and pictures of Saints.
    -The National Church is determined to exterminate foreign Christian faiths imported into Germany in the ill-omened year 800.

    Need I go on Jeff? I could, there is no absence of evidence to show Hitler’s Reich was fundamentally anti religion\Christian.

    “you are not a religious nut because you disagree with me, you are a religious nut because you point to the bible for your facts.”

    Again, you fail. I have not mentioned the Bible once in my post to you. STRAW MAN. Look it up you fool. You obviously have little experience in an academic debate. And your bias is apparent.

    “the spanish inquisitions were not based on religious beliefs? the crusades, jihads? the right to expansion was based on belief in divine rights, twit. hence, the japanese considered their emporer a living god, not a living idea, but a living god”

    Once again, you examples of religion being responsible for more deaths come up short.

    Historical research has determined roughly 58,000-133,000 lived lost in all 10 Crusades. The Spanish Inquisition is liberally estimated to have killed 31,912 between 1480-1808. Witches are often cited as victims of religious persecution (and they were) and best estimates are over 30,000-100,000 were put to death. Roughly 246,000 killed in the most popularly cited examples of religious slaughter. (see http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/MURDER.HTM and http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB2.1A.GIF)

    Hitler killing Jews alone eclipses even the most lethal instances of religious killing. Even if you add the Imperial Japanese army (which I would disagree is motivated by religion but for discussion’s sake you can have it) the total would still not come anywhere close to overtaking the secular bodycount.

    “religious tolerance is something i believe in”

    Clearly you are lying, as one post I made caused you to go off the deep end. Liar.

    “however, most major religions do not allow that.”

    Based on what? Your exhaustive study of world religions? Tell me, what parts of Confucianism specifically say tolerance is not allowed? And as you say ‘most’ major religions do not allow tolerance, I ask you, what major ones DO allow for tolerance? (and please cite your source.)

    “…the catholic church, if you don’t follow our beliefs, you go to hell. the muslims of today, and yesteryear, if you don’t believe our beliefs, we must kill you.”

    Your sweeping and simplistic generalization proves nothing. Is this what passes for academic critique for you?
    Seriously, did you even graduate? Here is a protip for you, you don’t get to just make a statement like that without providing supporting information…what are you basing your premise on? There are freshmen in high school that have constructed more coherent arguments.

    “i have experienced religious intolerance first hound plowboy, i lived in israel for a year, and in the west bank.”

    This is completely irrelevant. Your personal experiences do not in any way, shape, or form alter historical events and stats. I’ve been to Texas, does that somehow entitle me to make broad sweeping generalizations about immigration policy simply because I have seen illegal immigrants?

    By the way, it’s ‘first hand’ not ‘first hound.’ Just another one of the numerous spelling and punctuation errors which only further demonstrate that you are a simpleton.

    “that, my feeble minded knome, is called religion.”

    How ironic, you are trying to insult my supposed ‘feeble’ mind, and you manage to misspell a word in the same sentence. It’s spelled, gnome. I mean, come on, you make this way too easy.

    I don’t expect perfect grammar and I can tolerate the occasional misspelled word now and again, after all it’s just LV. But you can’t expect me to seriously respect you opinion or your supposed BA from Temple when you cannot even take the time to spell elementary school level vocabulary words.

    *This is also where you start to veer away from the topic at hand (for those keeping score, it’s religion killing more people than any other institution.) Again, you refuse to stay on topic, choosing to devolve into a jumbled, ill-informed, metaphysical equivalent of a steaming pile of dog crap.

    “prior to mankind, religion never existed. it is an idea.”

    Wait a sec, lemme see if I am with you here, as you see I did not attend Temple, and have trouble keeping up with your stunning intellect…before humans, religion never existed…do I have that right?

    Holy s_it! Stop the presses! Jeff has made an amazing discovery here.

    OF COURSE there was no religion before the emergence of humanity.

    Your amazing discovery notwithstanding, you still fall on your face by referring to religion as nothing but ideas.

    Science is nothing more than ideas and theories, can I start denying it’s existence or more, discredit it?

    According to Princeton, religion, by definition is “an institution to express belief in a divine power.” (wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)

    ““religion is the opiate of the masses”? could not have been a truer thought uttered”

    Are you seriously going to drop a quote from Marx? A man who’s philosophy has helped to kill more people than any one idea or institution? Communistic governments have been estimated to have killed over 100,000,000 people in the last 100 years (http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/SocialConstruction/GenocideAndMassMurder.html)

    Are you that stupid? Apparently you are.

    In trying to convince me that religion has killed more in the name of god than any other group, you quote the founder of a philosophy that has quite literally killed more people than any other human institution in the history of time?

    Seriously, you have beclowned yourself so completely I am beginning to doubt you are even out of high school by this point.

    Your complete lack of understanding is stunning.

    “if religion works for you, great, but don’t force it on me.”

    Really, what religion have I attempted to ‘force’ on you in these 3 posts?

    “that’s the real problem, mr INTELLECTUAL, the religions that have existed thusfar, force their ideas on others. ”

    Yeah, cuz it has been SOOOOOO successful the last 200 years in the increasingly secular US and Europe. Both are demonstrably less religious than at any time in history. If religion is being forced as you contend, they are doing a horrible job. Tell me who are the Wiccans forcing themselves on? How about the Zoastrians? I know I can’t go to the airport without being bothered by those annoying Tenris constantly trying to convert me.

    No ideas in the US are forced on you. You are not forced to believe or practice any faith. You can’t seriously be arguing that somehow US citizens are ‘forced’ into a religious faith? If you are, give me some examples.

    “romans killed jews and christians for their beliefs.”

    Politically, Jews and Christians (capital letters on those chump, they are proper nouns Temple wanna be) were a political threat. That is why they were persecuted. If the Romans were acting on religious motives, why do we read of no religious persecution of the Huns, Gauls, Visagoths, or even the Muslims? Surely, if the Romans were motivated by religious fervor and not empire expansion and wealth, we would see similar hatred of other religions other than Christianity and Judaism.

    “asian societies punish and torture those who don’t agree with the government ideas of religion.”

    Care to elaborate? Are you talking about China? Nebulous statements do not a point prove…supposed college boy.

    “you say that hitler was ideological??? if so, then why did he finger the jews specifically?”

    Already explained earlier. Did you forget you already asked that earlier in the confused, weak, and shallow mind of yours? Pull yourself away from you Jackass DVDs and concentrate me-boy!

    “b/c they were so good lookin?”

    Woooah…an attempt at a joke!!! Why not? Everything you have written in this post has been a joke anyway.

    “i think not. sir, you are an idiot.”

    I think the idiocy you should be worried about is your own, as you have demonstrated your historical knowledge is no better than that of a child’s. Hell, even Wikipedia has been more reliable than you have proved to be.

    “please forward my thoughts to the temple university history department. i’m sure they would be glad to see that one of their graduates thinks outside the box, and applies the education that was taught.”

    Outside the box? Oh my simple Jeffie, you have shown you are quite predictable in your responses, and have raised no ideas than have not been already ripped apart by 8th grade history classes all over the country.

    Methinks Temple is not exactly proud of you. Seeing that you have not responded to any of the data or facts, and have accomplished nothing but throwing a little etantrum. You call names, make accusations that are unfounded, and change the subject…if you really did go to Temple, they seriously failed you, and you should demand your mommy and daddie’s money back. It’s okay little guy, college is not for everyone. Learning is hard isn’t it Jeffie?

    “btw, what school did you to? byu? texas christian?”

    The answer, like your supposed ‘argument’ here on LV is irrelevant. Your continuing reliance on Temple’s reputation to somehow validate your ‘argument’ is embarrassing. It’s like some puny little kid having his mom fighting his fights for him at school and the playground. I bet you were bullied quite a bit when you were a kid, weren’t you? It’s okay, I was not prom king either.

    How about it? You going to have mommie and daddie write your next post, being that you have been shown as the pathetic charlatan that you are?

    “enjoy the rest of your dilusional life, and continue to think that religion is a wonderful, harmless thing”

    Once again, the final straw man in the proverbial field of straw men that you have constructed.

    Not once have I advocated for religion. I simply challenged your idiotic point that religion has killed more than anything else. You sniveling little baby Jeffie, YOU have been the one that keeps veering off topic to bash religion.

    Jeff, unless you have some decent info to back up your next post, I suggest you sneak away that the coward we both know you are. If you really are a grad, your education level is pathetic. If you really are a history major, your knowledge base is lacking, and you have shown you don’t understand even basic historical events and facts.

    More so, you have a complete lack of any logical thought.

    Finally, your intolerance for religion is obvious, and you are most assuredly one of those fundamentalists that you decry.

    You are in WAY over your head fool. I am actually embarrassed for you. If you can’t put together a logical, coherent thought, at least learn how to capitalize the beginning of sentences…like a big boy.

    Oh yea, again, not a funide, not a Bush supporter, or right winger…I voted for Ron Paul, am pro choice, am a libertarian, believe in evolutionary biology, and am completely in favor of stem cell research.

    Tell me again what I believe Jeff.

    When I press my ear really close to the speaker on my ‘puter…I can hear a faint, thin, whiny voice…it is saying…

    ‘Bu-bu-bu I went to Temple…wwwwaaaaaahhhhhhaaaaa!’

  • Mr. Plow

    danblack

    Why should we listen to you when you say do your own research, when you obviously have not?

    You say do your own research, then ask us to watch a movie?

    Do you always believe what movies tell you?

    Does watching a movie = research?

    “since the beginning of so called ‘civilized man’ ”

    When exactly was that? A year perhaps? And who are the ‘few intellectuals’ who are controlling everything?

    Are you one of the few? If you are, how do I join? If not, are you a part of the ignorant masses like me?

    Holy crap, where are Anon, Randall, and rest of the gang.

    I disagree frequently with them, but at least they can construct a cohesive argument.

  • danblack

    i think you have a problem with perception Mr. Plow…in fact we all have a problem with perception: we have OUR OWN NARROW perception and don’t want to stray from it one bit.

    i did do my own research by the way. after i watched the flicks i went on the official website and double checked the majority of their sources of info. is that not “seeing for myself” or “doing my own research”? either way you see it, i didn’t take what the movies said as FACT, i went and saw for myself that they were.

    did you notice that i put the words “so called” in front of ‘civilized man’ signalling my sarcasm?

    we have NEVER EVER been civilized as a species, not once in human history and i know that and it seems like you do as well.

    an ignorant/dumb person cant manipulate people, only someone with a half a brain can. yes it has always been intellectuals that socially manipulate the masses.

    here is a brief list of “the few” that control the world and guide allllllllllllllllll of our lives directly and indirectly.

    -the “inner” city of Washington DC (is in fact NOT a part of the United States; it is a city state; elects its own representatives; makes its own laws and policies and answers to no one. the so called MILITARY capital of the world.
    – the “inner” city of London England is in fact a corporation with share holders mainly owned by international bankers. hundreds of banks are headquartered there from all over the world and it is considered the so called FINANCIAL capital of the world.
    -Vatican city. over 2 billion people are catholic, christian, protestan, whatever. the vactican can cal upon these people at anytime to do their bidding and they do! it makes its own laws, elects its own reps, and pays ZERO taxes. the so called RELIGIOUS capital of the world.

    these 3 city states represent the holy trinity of pre-world domination.

    here are a few more
    -the international monetary fund
    -the world bank
    -the CIA
    -the Bilderberg Group

    …uhg i dont wana go on. i’ve been studying this stuff for over a year and a half now and my thoughts are still scattered and disorganized, there is no simply easy way to sum up who runs the world. you sound like a smart guy, why dont we TALK!!! instead of argue and debate? debating is 2 people who have their minds made up already who want to shove their opinion down their opponents throat!

  • Mr. Plow

    danblack,

    We are talking, I was asking you questions, and you answered my friend. More than I can say for Jeff.

    Look, I don’t even disagree with you on many of your monetary issues, as a guy who supported Ron Paul and is relatively familiar with many of the , I am pretty sensitive to some of the downright unconstitutional practices of banks, and the inordinate amount of power and influence they wield. And I won’t even get started on fiat money and the inflation it causes. Thomas Jefferson has written quite eloquently about the dangers that financial institutions can pose to a republic.

    I simply disagree, in the respect that you overstate the power an influence a ‘few’ can have on our planet. I think it is quite impossible for a handful of intellectuals, uber wealthy, or illuminati if you will, to dictate events and the economies of an entire planet. (not that groups and people have not tried.)

    I also disagree that the District of Columbia is somehow an unaccountable entity within the US. I challenge you to give me some evidence of this cabal that is playing the puppeteer pulling the strings. Or at least show me some examples of their work.

    As for your view that it is the military capital of the world, am I correct in assuming you are talking about the Pentagon? Please explain what you mean by the ‘military capital of the world.’ I am afraid I am not following your train of thought…do you mean that all military decisions originate from there perhaps?

    The religious capital is Rome? Why not Jerusalem? Both Muslims and Christians of all denominations hold dear.

    As for Christians, those who are not Catholic do not recognize the Pope or the Vatican as any leader. Protestant denominations broke away from Rome because of philosophical disagreement long ago.

    Please explain the mechanisims behind the coming ‘world domination.’

    how is this supposed to happen? And why?

    I understand theories about the illuminati and ideas that the Bilenberg group is secretly pulling stings…but my friend, I am wondering if you can show me any evidence?

  • Mr. Plow

    danblack,

    Oh yeah,one more thing.

    “we have NEVER EVER been civilized as a species”

    What would be defined as civilized? What would humans need to do to become civilized?

  • John

    “What would be defined as civilized? What would humans need to do to become civilized?”

    Survive another one million years in the civilization structure of society we have today, and which has only been here for like 10,000 years – pretty much NOTHING in evolution perspective. Now a million years is something different. Let’s wait and see what happens then ;)

  • Mr. Plow

    John,

    Fair enough. Let’s hope we make it another 1000.

  • Anon

    I’ll trim that down to 100for starters!

  • Mr.Plow

    Hey Jeff! Where did you go, surely a Temple man does not back down from a discussion?

    Tell me again how I am a right wing lunatic and religious zealot.

    What? Nothing?

    Typical…

  • sdavis

    402 Steve: Hear – Hear! Astute observation good sir. Comment sections where fools can blather on under the cover of anonymity. Nothing bolsters one’s courage like firing off a blistering salvo from the safety of their bedrooms while wearing their comfy jammies.
    Now excuse me, I must refill my hot cocoa.

    Steve Davis
    Anchorage, Alaska

  • jeff

    Plow, I have responded to your prior posting. If you took the time to read, you would have seen it. BTW, what school did you go to again? you never did say. was it BYU? or perhaps another evangical school.
    TYPICAL

  • Mr. Plow

    Jeff,

    Still want to talk about schools huh? You’ve responded to nothing and provided zero historical evidence for any points you made.

    Idiot, obviously I read you post, I quoted nearly every line of it.

    Once again, it seems your entire point is predicated on where I went to school. Why do you hide behind your school? Afraid if you can’t interject your supposed degree in a conversation you will have zero credibility in the discussion?

    Learn to stand on your intellect alone Jeffie baby…if you can’t, there is nothing your precious Temple can do for you.

    Yet another great non-response Jeff.

    Typical.

  • jeff

    mr plow, you rednecked maroon.
    i’ve been citing example after example of fact, not fiction regarding how religion is accountable for millions upon millions of deaths, and all you do is name call. in addition, you still haven’t mentioned the name of that school you went to? however, you do enjoy mentioning how much of an idiot i am. is that the way you rebut cold hard SCIENTIFIC fact? hmm, here’s a good question for ya, do you believe in evolution or creationalism?? this answer outta be good.

  • Mr. Plow

    I believe in evolutionary biology. In fact I went as far as to mention it in my post.

    “Oh yea, again, not a funide, not a Bush supporter, or right winger…I voted for Ron Paul, am pro choice, am a libertarian, believe in evolutionary biology, and am completely in favor of stem cell research.”

    I even quoted noted atheist Dawkins, who authored ‘The God Delusion.’

    You did not even read my response did you? Simply stunning.

    Why do you keep changing the topic Jeff?

    I took you on, point by point, cited study from credible sources…I have clearly made a well reasoned case, you, my half-witted wanna be history student, have given me nothing by conjecture (yeah, look the word up.)

    It’s obvious you would much rather talk about schools…and not your idiotic points.

    You say you have scientific ‘fact.’ Scientific fact is a completely different field…it is completely different from HISTORICAL fact.

    Tell me, can you observe results of experiments you have conducted? Do you have a testable hypothesis?

    As I mentioned to another earlier, why cast pearls before swine? You have no intention of taking on my point by point refutation of your unsupportable supposition.

    The reason you won’t, is because you can’t.

    Talk about schools all you want, ask me about biology…distract, deflect, and change the subject all you want…we both know that you have no rational response for me.

    Not one intellectually honest bone in your body.

    Jeff, you have been proven wrong in more ways than one…once again, your stupidity is embarrassing.

    If you really are a history major (which you are almost certainly not given your responses) you should be ashamed of your pathetic, child-like performance on this forum.

  • jeff

    mr plow i’m appreciate you, much like a shark appreciates a remora (parasite). you throw out 1 theory after another,but still avoid the basic topic for which you chose to attack me. and for that, my intellectually inferior friend, i ask you, how is religion not the worst invention in the history of mankind? go on? address that?? and yes, i did graduate as a history major from temple university in 1995, proceeded to spend a year in israel, in both the west bank, and on a kibbutz near eilot, appreciating every step i took as pure history. have you left the city you were born in? the state? the country? i doubt it. you take everything you read as gospel rather than exploring for yourself. and we do agree on several things, believe it or not. i, too, am in favor of stem cell research, pro choice, ABB (anybody but bush) but i would not waste my vote to the liberatarian party. perhaps in a few years. but, mr history, as i’m sure you are familiar with this quote, those who fail to study history, are doomed to repeat its mistakes, that my numbskull, refers specifically to the 2000 election, in which the liberatarian party pulled crucial votes away from the democratic party, and allowed for our corrupt government to put another bush in office for 8 horrid years. anywho, fleabrain, please address, and refute in your abbrasive way, once again, how religion is not the worst invention in the history of mankind. oh yea, what school was it that you went to?? never did touch on that, perhaps you’re embarassed to mention? or are we just so far beneath your highly tuned mind?

  • Mr. Plow

    Jeff, once again fool, you are so predictably wrong.

    Ass, once again you hide behind your school. How many times do I need to explain to you that people do not give fack-all about where you went to school in a place like this? I could say I went to Harvard or even some random community college, it would not make one iota of difference.

    You see, I am challenging you to support your supposition on facts. I don’t care where you did or did not go to school, nor does it matter.

    The fact that you continue to drop Temple’s name, as if that is some kind of evidence of your understanding of history. As if the mere fact you went there somehow means you don’t have to intellectually defend yourself.

    You are a like a Limbaugh or a Hannity…you will go after the person, not the Idea. Identity politics…are you sure you are not a congressman?

    I have responded to EVERY single point you raised, even laying them out point by point so you could keep score, as I was shredding your post to bits.

    I’ve not backed away from any of your posts, in fact, I took them apart quite easily.

    Now you want to re-frame the question. To remind you, I simply said that religion is not the single biggest killer in history (and in subsequent posts, empirically showed it.)

    In your original post you said religion “has accounted for more deaths in the name of god than all other causes combined.”

    Either concede the point, or prove me wrong. Seeing as you have refused to take me up on anything and continue to whine about school, my worldview, my supposed religious beliefs…I am going to take your non-response as a concession.

    That is what I took you up on, the religious body count vs. secular body count. Now, you want to begin an entire new discussion because you have been so discredited in the old one.

    No, you don’t get to play that game Jeffie…besides, you are so unquestionably biased that my burden of proof will be nigh impossible.

    Tell me, what could I possibly say that will convince a person that throws out these gems…

    “or are you a religious right winged freak??”

    “believe that the bible was written by the hand of god. talk about naive and foolish. the bible, along with all other “books of god” were written by skewed people, with their own agenda, much like your own. try looking outside your religious box,”

    There is nothing I could say that will convince a intolerant fundamentalist such as yourself. You are just as bad as any Southern Baptist diehard or luddite of any stripe.

    Let me make your argument for you.
    1. I respond, showing examples where faith has been a benefit to a community.
    2. You respond with some semi-literate rambling response about science\secular movement is really responsible for these so called ‘religious’ benefits and how the ‘negative’ impact of religion outweighs the ‘positive.’ You mention Temple at least 3 times.
    3. I fire back that objectively, most of these ‘negatives’ are actually nothing more than secular conflicts not religious ones or the IRA vs. UK argument. (Some see it as a religious war, Catholic vs. Protestant, but really it is about Ireland’s right to self determination…the IRA does not bomb because the UK is predominately Protestant)
    4. You drag your penor across the keyboard and crap some illogical abortion of a post about how religions can be used to manipulate people, and therefore should disappear. You mention Temple at least 8 times and accuse me of being a right wing nut job, but really you’re just jealous of my brilliant-Einstein-like capacity and my ruggedly handsome, Brad Pitt-like good looks. (A little bit of sarcasm for you, your posts are getting boring and I need to entertain myself.)
    5. I point out what an intolerant secular jerk you are, and cite that secular killers in just the last 100 years have killed more people than religion ever has…and I bring the debate full circle (I point you to my original response to your post.)
    6. You once again, fail to address any of my points other than providing evidence free nuggets like ‘Hitler was religious.’ You mention Temple 15 times, fawn over your degree hanging on the wall, and tell your self ‘I went to Temple…and my mom says I am smart…ergo, I must be.’

    As I said Jeff, you are not interested in discussion, you are interested in who I am. What is your fascination with me Jeff?

    Does my voting record somehow change our original discussion? Why would you bring the 2000 election into this discussion? Again, you debate like…Hannity. (If you don’t agree with me, you are unAmerican!)

    And who pulls out ‘those who fail to study history are…” quotes? Are you in 9th grade? Seriously? Between that and your Marx quote (again, what a FAIL quote)…I am starting to think that your entire history education is straight out of Bartlett’s book of Quotations.

    My school is irrelevant. Tell me, what does it matter where I went?

    Yes, I have left the country, but again, what does that have to do with the religious vs. secular body count? Do you have ADD? Why can you not stick to the topic at hand?

    What is really sad about your pitiful excuse for a response is the fact that you graduated from Temple when I was still in high school. From the way you’ve responded, I figured you were just some 22 year old who just graduated.

    FFS! It’s been almost 15 years! You remind me of uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite.

    “are we just so far beneath your highly tuned mind?”

    No, just you Jeff. I disagree with the likes of Randall and Anon often, at least they have cogent thoughts and can construct and logical argument.

    PROTIP: 2 Spaces in between periods\question marks and the beginning of the next sentence. And still have an aversion to capital letters? I know, that shift button, is ALL the way to the left and right of the keyboard.

  • jeff

    mr plow, once again you cease to suprise me. i was merely bringing up my education to point out the fact that i have an education. i’m not a braggart, or a condescending putz like yourself. you hide behind SAT vocab words. in reality, all the points you made prove nothing. you refuse to admit that there is not difference between secular and religion. mr plow, although our country was born on the idea of separation of church and state, can you honestly say that it exists? of course not, hell, the national anthem even includes the phrase “under god”. therefore, mr plow, if there is no separation of church and state, there can be no separation of religious and secular beliefs. unfortunately, they go hand in hand. that’s why there is war. behind every war, without exception, lies religious beliefs. the government may try to say it’s about human rights, or oil, or whatever, but in reality, that is religiously based, on which country, or despot believes they have the divine right to whatever they want. so, mr plow, please enlighten me

  • Eliza

    Atheism and McDonald’s

  • Jael

    Fast food. It is literally turning America into a country of overweight, lazy slobs.

  • Anon

    Eliza, (554),

    Religion and Kentucky Fried Chicken

  • Anon

    Known as ‘RI & KFC’ for short

  • KFC is definitely on the short list. Sea Monkeys would be, too. In fact, there are so many contenders for the top 10, I’m not entirely sure Religion would make it.
    Rites of Manhood have to be on there, but as a group, or individually? If individually, well, they’d just take up the entire list, we’d might as well go home. If we can lump them, that makes it easier, and we can squeeze in more entries.
    “No Child Left Behind” has to be close to number 1, if not actually number 1 itself. All it managed to do was make certain that no matter how poorly a child did in any level of school, he was assured of being passed on to the next level, so his little feelings wouldn’t be hurt.
    Oh! I can come up with dozens more, but you catch my drift…it’s not always the “big” ideas that make the biggest impact on society, but the small ones, the well-meant ones, that cause the most harm over time.

  • somerandomguy

    The pointed stick. It caused that whole violence thing to just spiral out of control.

  • f8fbearcat

    I vote for Mankind as being the worst invention.

  • Nauplius

    The worst human invention has to be Temple University’s history department.

  • jeff

    nauplius, outstanding comment, duely noted, and crapped out, ha, you piece of shit

  • Anon

    segue

    “I’m not entirely sure Religion would make it.”

    Neither am I. In fact as far as my posts 556 & 557 went it was simply being poured over atheism in 554 as a balancing volatile neutraliser, much as one creates a harmless salt by mixing acid and alkali.

  • eye sea sed the blind (wo)man

  • PC

    Worst invention ever is poison gas. I don’t know of a more potent and terrible weapon that not only kills but kills you over several days. I mean you get hit by a nuke you die fairly instantaneously (unless court in fallout) but gas takes days even weeks to kill while it dissolves your lungs.

  • gabi

    Religion’s been much discussed so I’ll just say ORGANIZED religion and leave it at that. I’m not jumping into any of that angry hoo-haa.

    There was someone in the 400’s that mentioned crocs, which made me laugh. I strongly detest them.

    I believe the top of my list would be those lollipop spinners…those things with a button you press and it electronically spins the lollipop for you. They (to my knowledge) haven’t murdered anyone, sparked wars or sprouted any cult movements but they make me so angry. I think of them as the culmination of the obesity empire. We’ve gotten so fat and lazy that we can’t spin a freakin’ lollipop?!

  • dirkgently

    Sorry for the absence, life gets in the way.

    Let me make a couple of points. When I said medicine (meant globally – medicines, surgery etc.) was the worst invention I also made the point that it would erase all the other inventions. Yes we would still live in grass huts and reach the ripe old age of 12, but no other inventions (save blunt instruments) would be around to bother us. I also am still alive and relatively pain free thanks to modern medicine but the point still stands. If medicine was never invented then no other “worst inventions” would have happened.

    The larger point is that all inventions have their bad and good sides. The advent of nuclear weapons also gave us nuclear medicine which saves lives. The invention of religion (and it is definitely man made) also brings moral codes and structured laws. Television and the internet lead to mass communication and dissemination of information (I won’t bother listing the bad parts of these as others have already done so) and the list goes on.

    Even weapons like guns, poison gas, rocket launchers etc. have had their good uses, if only to thwart greater evils. Imagine a war where the bad guys had the superior weapons.

    The last point, while it is fun discussing the best or worst inventions, like most of life, you have to take the bad with the good.

  • Anon

    dirkgently, (567),

    Your paras 2-4 are perhaps the wisest in the entire thread. You left out utterly useless inventions, but of course even those make people happy (if only while they are unwrapping them as presents!) and, more importantly, provide employment for some among our 6 bill. who need it.

    I suspect your para. 1 is a non-sec. though. I’m not at all convinced medicine is the root of human invention. If you could somehow take it away, the big brain would still be up to the rest of its tricks, surely? It doesn’t look to me as if the pointing of a blunt stick to form a spear, the invention of the net for fishing, the drop trap for hunting, clothes, and many other fundamentals are inevtiably linked to the existence of medicine.

  • gabi

    Nukes have long-term ill effects… infection in the weeks after, cancers in the years after and genetic mutations in the decades after. They are just as potent in the long term as gas…the only real difference is that gas is more readily available.

    Picking out specific weapons and even broad subjects like medicine and religion are all well and good but it’s human nature to have sticks and stones to one-up our enemies and create devices and techniques to try to fix our ailing clan members to keep our numbers strong and moral codes to create a semblance of order. If we didn’t have guns and antibiotics and (insert specific religion here), chances are someone somewhere would’ve invented something similar. It’s hard to truly define an original invention that sparked the evils of humanity but if I were to attempt it, I would say the invention of a social heirarchy. From that we have superiority-inferiority complexes that can simplify the origins of wars, the invention of bigger and badder weapons for the arms races, the bigotry and hate crimes that lead one to believe a certain religion or social movement is ‘better’…it even loosely connects to medicine research. (how many of you would willingly drill a hole in your skull to relieve a headache? Now how many would do that because you are a lowly field laborer and the higher up shaman tells you that is what needs to be done?)

    However, the idea is contestable because it’s hard to determine if that is truly a human invention or a natural evolution of our social nature. Yes, there is a nature-aspect to it since we see a clan hierarchy in dogs but there was probably some idea that set off the massive change between our social structure outcome and theirs.

    …and this was an attempt. My vote for worst human invention is still the spinpop.

  • PC

    In response to comment 567

    What positive comes out of poison gas?!

    In response to comment 569

    While Nuclear weapons are terrible they properly did end WW2 quicker than it would of ended otherwise and they properly stopped WW3 between USSR and the US.

  • gabi

    I never said they didn’t serve their purpose. I was merely refuting the idea that they kill instantaneously with no long term physical effects. I don’t think either weapon is the worst human invention because they can both be replaceable by something else just as deadly.

    You can take away nukes but they could just as easily build some other kind of super bomb or they might even stumble on something unintentionally. Who knows for certain what the outcome will be of the Large Hadron Collider? Saying you are attempting to create a miniature big bang sounds innocuous but so was ‘we’ll try to make a big bomb’ and the destruction caused by a nuclear bomb wasn’t fully realized until it was dropped in populated areas.

    Poison gas could be easily replaced by biowarfare through anthrax distribution or even something as medieval as poisoning the water system. There’s not much good that can be said of any of them. All three are easy to utilize, hard to defend against, and difficult to get rid of.

    Are these nukes and poison gas bad? yes. Are they the WORST? That’s still debatable…

  • PC

    In response to 571.

    I have had a sudden realisation of great truth!!!!
    The worst invention by man is…..
    WAR!!!
    If we had never invented war and had always solved our differences peacefully then we wouldn’t have nukes or anthrax or poison gas.
    They are all bad but war created them all.

  • dirkgently

    In response to 570, the research into poinson gas led to research in other bio-chemical fields, many of which habe lead to modern medicines and treatments.

    In response to 572, war typically stems from either greed or misunderstanding. When humans started warring against each other (grass huts and blunt weapons) there was not the education or communication level to resolve differences peacefully (nor the time). Man approached the problem the same way he approached his other problems, food and shelter, the only way he knew how, with his hands. Small struggles evolved into wars we know today.

    Peace is preferable, but fighting is in our DNA (and before any jumps on that, yes today there is no reason for war, just saying that as man evolved from single cells fighting was necessary and became programmed into us)

  • PC

    I was specking about humanity in an ideal world I know as well as everyone else, as long as there is people there will be war.

    A very sad fact of modern human life.

  • Anon

    PC, (570),

    “What positive comes out of poison gas?!”

    Terrible but great cautionary anti-war poetry from an inspired poet who himself fell victim.

    Try to read it without your stomach churning and tears starting to your eyes.

    Dulce Et Decorum Est

    Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
    Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge,
    Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
    And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
    Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
    But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
    Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
    Of gas shells dropping softly behind.

    Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstacy of fumbling,
    Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
    But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
    And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime …
    Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
    As under a green sea, I see him drowning.

    In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
    He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

    If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
    Behind the waggon that we flung him in,
    And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
    His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
    If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
    Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
    Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
    Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, –
    My friend you would not tell with such high zest
    To children ardent for some desperate glory,
    The old Lie: Dulce et Decorum est
    Pro patria mori.

    Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

  • Burgerbuddy

    #116 nailed it..

  • PC

    I did that poem for GCSE if anything it proves my point that gas is properly the worst weapon of war. That poem is just so… I don’t have the vocabulary to describe it. I don’t think we will ever truly know how those men suffered. Also proves my later point about war.

  • Anon

    PC 577.

    “I did that poem for GCSE if anything it proves my point that gas is properly the worst weapon of war … I don’t think we will ever truly know how those men suffered.”

    My response to your last observation is, I hope to all that matters we never shall.

    I entirely agree with you about gas being the most obscene weapon, although I say that in ignorance of how biological warfare might be in practice. Humans are so unimaginative they only react when they’ve seen and know the effects of something.

    As it was, I answered the question you asked and stand by it. That piece by Owen is staggering and, whatever the subject, positive. It is driving people to face the consequences of their moral and intellectual blindness and cowardice.

    Oh, and by the way, humans didn’t invent war. Ants did. Or whatever were the first social insects. Seriously.

  • PC

    In response to comment 578

    Ants at war.

    Just out of interest who are they at war with? Termites?

    Because I think I know what your referring too.
    Lol in that case I can see your point on war. I’ve seen footage of ants suicide bombing attacking termites. Quite odd to see really. But ants and termites fight for food. Humans tend to actively kill one another for any number of the following

    : Land
    : Religion
    : Resources
    : Even politics

    I doubt ants invented war over religion!

  • PC

    And also I agree it is a powerful piece of literature but I still think the author would have rather that gas hadn’t been invented even if it meant that poem was never written.

  • Anon

    PC, (580),

    Goes without saying, my friend. Owen would have chosen to live and love long in a peaceful world, and perhaps have become one of the great English poets of all time. And so would the rest of us. But it was not be. Events denied him that.

    Things are as they are, and so that poem is nevertheless by terrible and totally unwanted circumstance something positive that came out of poison gas.

  • PC

    I suppose the poem caused by the poison gas gave us all the message that i believe would still be useful today: Never again.

    Sadly I doubt a time will come when humans do not wage war.

  • Anon

    PC, (579),

    “Ants at war.

    Just out of interest who are they at war with? Termites?

    But ants and termites fight for food. Humans tend to actively kill one another for any number of the following

    : Land
    : Religion
    : Resources
    : Even politics

    I doubt ants invented war over religion!”

    Well we don’t know what ant religion is. Queen worship maybe? Hahaha. In which case they DO!

    For land and resources, Definitely. Against termites to some extent, sure. Against other ants of the same and different species, mainly.

    Don’t take my word for it. Read ‘Journey to the Ants. A story of scientific exploration’ by Hölldobler & Wilson. Ed Wilson is not only one of the top living world authorities on ants, but one of our greatest present general naturalists.

    Chapter 5 (p.59 on) is entitled, War and Foreign Policy.

    It contains the following observation: “Ants of many kinds conduct war with colonies of both their own species and alien species. Some employ strategies that might have been prescribed by Carl von Clausewitz, the Napoleonic Era master of battle field science.” There is another relevant passage on pps. 42-44.

    Wilson points out somewhere else that if humans conducted their affairs like ants, we should be fighting almost continuous wars everywhere, and dying in great quantities at each other’s hands. For ant colonies of any species to survive untouched and essentially unthreatened, as have major cities in the US, Canada, South America, Australia and New Zealand would be impoissible unless their warriors were constantly fighting and winning to keep it so.

    Sorry I can’t quote any more detail here.

  • wnak

    me

  • jeff

    hey wnak, without jews, there’d be no jesus. and i’m going to assume you’re not buddhist, atheist, agnostic, or any other religious follower other than christian. get your head out of your ass, thank your jewish doctor for prescribing your life saving meds, thank your jewish lawyer for keeping you out of jail, and i thank you for not pro-creating with any intelligent people, keep up the good work dolt.

  • stoner

    dudes its about invention by humans
    not by “god”
    personally i think u guys shuld stop talkin bout religon cause seriously no one cares about little website arguements about something completley off the topic

    well i think that ice the drug is the worst invetion made by man
    cause it can seriously screw some one up very badly
    and wreck u 4 the rest of ur life

  • macca 29

    i agree with stoner
    gey a life and stop getting angered about wat some one probably ova the otha side of the world is thinking

    n yer most drugs (apart from the ones that r givin out by doctas) r bad and dey shuldnt be around

  • jeff

    i disagree, marijuana is a wonderful drug, and should be legailized in the sense that alcohol is legal. no one od’s on it, or drives wrecklessly. the government could tax it, like alcohol, it’s been considered a gift from the gods by every major culture and country, other than our ultra conservative country. the assinine woman/religious right who insisted that alcohol was the devils drink abolished drinking and look what happened, crime rose tremendously, opened up organized crime, and ultimately failed.

  • lounge

    worst Man-Made invention………Religion!!!

    Has killed and still killing since human existance!!

  • velior

    Money!

  • Chowder

    -Capitalism
    -Money as an object of vanity
    -Cigarettes
    -Hunting as a sport
    -In some cases, television
    -Nuclear weapons and guns
    -Electoral College
    -War
    -Automobiles when your destination is literally around the corner
    -Smurfs

    I’m on the fence about religion in general… I have respect for religions like Buddhism and Wicca (in Wicca, the basic code of conduct is to do what you wish, as long as it harms no one) But some of the more extreme religions make me uneasy. Though, I have to say, Christianity would be, in my opinion, a more respectable religion if more of them stuck to their moral oaths (e.g. “Love thy neighbor”) and would take the Bible less literally. Christianity has the potential to be a peaceful religion, but frankly, it didn’t turn out as such. (Just for the record, I’m NOT Christian, or any other religion for that matter)

    Humans are stupid, impulsive creatures. But the ability to think and reason has a price.

  • macca 29

    yer marjuana is good i agree but the stupid stuff people do wen there high n stuff is just ridiculuos one of my mates was gonna jump off a builiding cause he thaught that he culd fly cause he was baked

    so it shuldnt be legalized because of idiots like my mate doin stupid stuff wen dere high

  • clay

    I would argue that knowledge would be the worst human invention, because ignorance really is bliss. No knowledge, no understanding or attempt to understand, no religion, no wars, there would just be dumb people living simple lives, or no people at all, without the knowledge to reproduce… Unfortunately, no matter the species, knowledge is inevitable.

  • Wow. You must be really happy, then.

  • Raewen

    The gun dosen’t kill its the human.

  • Snout

    I think it’s religion or they use of oil.

  • Kase

    532.

    Just so you know, Eli Whitney tried to take the cotton gin to his grave with him, because he knew the ramifications of it getting out. But it was already out by then, and he couldn’t stop it. So don’t hate the inventor, hate the slavery.

    I would say MONEY is the worst invention ever. Perhaps this is just the hippie in me speaking, but imagine a world with no money, where everyone just helped people out and nobody owned ridiculous amounts of stuff, or… or release me the duty of explaining what I mean and go listen to John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’…

    ^_^

    -Kase

  • blah

    stupid hippies

  • Gabi

    Money is just one of the many solutions to solve trade and commerce. There was bartering with other items, there was selling off your children in marriages for political favor or to pay off debt, the use of shells and semi-precious stones…there’s even a country in Africa that uses cell phone minutes as a means of purchasing power. See where I’m trying to get at? You can take away the the banknote but the practice of exchange of property will still occur in some fashion.

    It’s a nice song but no, I can’t really imagine the world with no possessions. Money may be a human invention but it is simply a “civilized” way express our biological need to posses as much as we can as we are naturally territorial creatures.

  • brownysos

    come on.. tv the worst invention??? you said you dont watch tv really just “made for tv ” programs… well theres your problem rite there… thats whats dumbing you down… those shows are retarted… try watching the history channel, discovery, nat-geo, BBC America(i live in usa so i dont get regular bbc here and without bbcAmer. i wouldnt have seen alot of GREAT British classics).. try all the news networks, yeah alot of them are biased but there are so many, with a remote, and a little work on your part you can see both sides… TV IS GREAT! if you think it dumbs down the society than your using it wrong…

    i think the worst possible human invention of all time would have to be more humans… because we all lead to the dstruction of us all… guns, bombs and weapons in general arent bad, the intent we humans put behind them is. someone near the top wrote the bible. and i agree with that to an extent, but i would like to further that by saying religion in general… created by humans is horrible.. once again proving that man is the worst invention of man…

  • Fury2.0

    Religion becomes destructive when the Bible becomes abused and misused. The purpose of the Bible is to help people, but sadly, man has taken it out of context to a point that many people become disillusioned with all things religious. So it is easy to say that religions that misused the Bible that caused bloodshed is the worst invention.

  • PC

    In response to 591

    Really?
    Capitalism is the worst thing humanity has ever invented?
    And what would use replace it with? Hey?

    Have you never heard of the cold war?
    America effectively won it because the people of Eastern Europe were fed up with the alternative (communism).

    Capitalism isn’t perfect but it’s a dam sight better than communism.

  • Chaserdeer

    The Solar powered flashlight.

  • ozzy

    God!

  • Evan

    The DVD Rewinder….name says it all

  • phat jon

    the male thong

  • stevek

    I would have to say that RACISM and CLASSES.

    Why should the colour of ones skin, or who your parents are, determine the worth of a person. How much has humanity missed out on because the person who thought of the idea was different.

  • peter griffin

    i rekon dat government would be numba one 4 me because
    u shuld look at da stuff dat dey do like start wars n everything which is just plain stupid wen ur arguin dat dere not sellin oil at da price dat dey want even if there a 3rd world country n stuff and they need the money for it
    and if u look at america most of there tax money wuld be used for chemical warfare and what guns n stuff there army navy and airforce and making sure dat dey have the biggest and best stuff which is just ridiculous

  • yc

    hey all lv readers:)
    worst invention… hmmmmmm.. lets see
    the human developed from the apes according to darwanism,
    looking at the monkey we have made a lot of inventions, but which is the worst.
    the human race is by fare the most productive animal, nobody really knows what the whole deal is, and basicly every body is trying to find a awnser to why we are here.

    some make their view seem more reliable then others, and out of that we make our own reality, the fact is that every human who ever lived on this planet has only been able to make an consumption.

    therefore my opinion on this topic is maybe by fare the most relevant in world history.

    even thoug this is hard to say. I believe the worst inventions for the human is…….

    now i have been thinking for more then ten minuts and I cant come op with and awnser. to bad se ya!

  • Malfore

    Inventions as a broad usuage, and as such, I choose to not use it in a physical sense…The worst invention of man is industry. Before heavy industry, people had harder lives, but people were far more equal. It is only in a time of industry where 5% of people can control 95% of the wealth of the world. There is also something to be said that industry leads to war, famine, and greed. You have resources *cough*oil*cough* that we need? BOOM! Now its ours. This kind of industry also leads to pollution, which has lead to a global threat. Finally, all inventions people usually think of when they think of inventions were spawned off of industry, so all other horrible inventions have spawned from industry. The good inventions i.e. telecommunication and automobiles, have been abused and modified away from thier original concepts. Telecommunication once was a way to instantly communicate important news, conversations, and messages long distances. Now we have 14 year olds texting thier friends while watching Survivor on an HD TV. Greed begets industry, industry begets excess, excess begets the obese, lazy, complacient world around us.

  • Sean

    The Bowflex machine is rather quirky and unreliable.

  • Mr.Graves

    I would say, the ridiculous and ignorant belief in the idea of choice and free will. They have no logical basis, neuroscience has physically disproven them, and they are essentially excuses used by mentally weak people.

    Choice and free will are the basis of justification for all human persecution of others, all throughout history, ironically they even influence what people would consider to be static ignorances like racism and sexism.

    When you wake up and realize that there is no such thing as choice or free will, you will see the path that all the greatest hearts and most spiritual, wise and intelligent people in humanity’s existence- and you will find the unending well of forgiveness that can heal all.

  • cb

    #612. Wouldn’t it be easier to belive in determinism, to not be held accountable for your actions as they are predetermined by the atom?

    I for one have read no such “proof” for determinism and if it is true why argue with me I was destined to have this argument and have no choice over which side I stand

  • cb

    Before anyone jumps down my throat for denying an argument, I just seen the oppurtunity to state a paradox I once read.

  • Good Nads

    Anything that has either hindered human intelligence or the concept of space travel.

  • dnnsdwlf

    The worst human invention…

    Races, classes, and general distinctions between brothers of the same species. These differences have allowed the most barbaric acts of evil to occur. A black man is no different than a white man, nor is royalty different than peasants. All these differences are illusions, self-fulfilling prophecies, and have led to such evil. We are all brothers and sisters of the same flesh. Our ancestors are the same, we are all extensions of same genetic base. We ignore this and we murder each other because we think we are different than our enemy but we are not. We are driven by the same forces even though we may look different. He may be wearing a cloak and you, jeans and a tee. But the reality is that you are both clothed.

  • landlady

    # 604
    God is the best thing man (invented) because without the concept of a being that can punish the guilty ,everyone would go do wrong and the would would be HELL

    • Invisible Apple

      I’m mildly offended. Only mildly though : ) (can’t believe I just used a smiley).
      Anyway, god is (I’m sure he’s/it’s got more than the moral aspect) only one form of morality. Right & Wrong and the distinctions between could definitely be considered an invention just the same.

  • Big Daddy

    Chemical and biological weapons aside from thermonuclear bombs are the most diabolical_evil inventions thus far in my opinion with the exception of one invention above all. Mind control…..Guns are not the worst or most evil invention as some bleeding hearts claim them to be. Just about anything dangerous is not good in the hands of any killer. Guns unfortunately are a must to protect one’s self in these times. Criminals will always have weapons be they legal or not. Therefore law abiding citizens should have that right to protect themselves.

  • Nightbird

    Cell phones.

    OK, maybe not the worst, but definitely top 10 for “Most Annoying”

  • landlady

    the worst is yet to be invented , i mean we are still here right ?

  • Angry onliner

    Uhhg… its a bad invention because read the bible. It’s evil…

  • Norwegian in Denmark

    Marxism. It spawned Socialism, which in turn spawned Communism, Leninism, Stalinism, Trotskyism, Fascism (via Socialism combined with Nationalism), Nazism (via Fascism), Maoism, Juche, Hoxhaism, Titoism, Chavezism, Castroism and others.

    Oh yes, and of course Scientology.

  • dusha

    LMAO..I cannot believe Mr. Plow went on that F*in long about it. Another funny factor I’d like to point out was that he actually tried to pick a fight, or I guess what he would call, an “intellectual argument to state his case in point”(lol), before doing so with Jeff. If you look up to comment no. 511 you will see where his attempt failed! I love how some people have no life, it makes my 12hour shifts at work go by s0o0o much better! Keep up the great work Mr. Plow et. al.

    Also, in response to the previous comment, and to reassert my claim: CAPITALISM is the worst human invention, not Marxism!

  • gabi319

    Bullets. Argue all you want about guns but it’s the BULLETS that kill. ….well, I suppose if you threw a gun hard enough…

    Malfore brings up a good comment. I was going to mention specifics like steel-beam buildings, factories, mass production but they all fall under the umbrella of industrialism. Industrialism and capitalism is credited to the formation of the middle class, but in actuality, the middle class is merely an extension of the upper class and effectively widened the chasm between the have and have-not.

  • Andre Buxey

    T4 turbo…..

  • Jasper clay

    The leaf blower and the bluetooth headset.

  • Nicolai

    Mac Donalds it does ppl FAT AND LAZY AND IT TASTE BAD

  • Akira

    Nicolai- So I’m guessing grammar and spelling aren’t your strong points?

  • obvious

    aside from religion, which everyone has said, i think my vote goes to zyklon gas.

  • Xthye

    The HDI. Basically it is quite useless.
    1. Data took 2 years to gather.
    2. By the time the data are gathered, the country had changed.
    3. It screwed my Geography exam

  • 630. Xthye: Things change.

  • John

    Communism.

  • Odium

    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

    You illiterate proles have almost made me laugh up my lungs. Don’t you realise that every invention is equally loathsome, purely because they arose from the cankered, vile depths of the human mind? That said, weaponry throughout the ages aren’t all bad…they’ve resulted in the eradication of a good number of we filthy vermin. Here’s hoping nukes or superviruses finish the job…and take out the rest of life on Earth with it, so nothing like us ever rises out of the ashes.

  • Shurnui

    dare i suggest lists :P

  • PAC

    the segway

  • Rawr

    Come on people. AIDS isnt an invention. it just happened. thats like telling people we invented the common cold or hepatitis.

  • Ellery

    Money

  • b money

    Liberalism.

  • Renworth

    Lol to everyone who has posted a wikipedia link to prove a point. My chemistry teacher would bash you over the head!

    In regards to the question, I think plastic water bottles are pretty evil. And I agree with the person who mentioned slavery.

  • Neddy

    Nuclear Power!
    I don’t see why they even assumed it would help anything!!:(

  • AshleyBeTheMILF

    Money.

  • AshleyBeTheMILF

    Oh…and whoever said fire…are you serious? Fire ins’t an invention…

  • Naveed Taj Ghouri

    Money!

  • Blap

    I think the Engine. Although it has made our lives a lot easier, easier does’nt mean better. Pollution, obesity, laziness all a factor here. If I had to ride a horse everywhere I would have a completely different outlook on life. The Engine has made more wars possible, connecting different societies which otherwise would have had nothing to do with each other, which would be for the better.

  • marc

    I’d say Liberalism.

  • junky

    religion…responsible for insurmountable levels of death and suffering despite the invaluable crutch it provides

  • Cybogen

    IBCM’s

  • someonelse

    Everything marketed by Apple.

  • roody

    the atom bomb

  • paintball

    the baseball.

    I hate baseball

  • miker

    Im going to have to say myspace.com…

  • bait

    e-mail and the forward button, the last bastard on the food chain has to do all the work, and dechiper the s— all at the same time. it really pisses me off

  • Lizzie

    Commercials [sorry if someone else has said this, I’ve only briefly scanned the list]

    Without commercials, there would I wouldn’t have obnoxious little jingles for mattress wholesalers in my head when I need to memorize law stuff.

  • gab

    gunpowder

  • mee

    To those who say “automobiles” (cars for the less pretentious) are the worst invention ever, I give you this hypothetical situation:

    A family member is in desperate need of medical attention immediately, but the hospital is 20km away. You cannot drive them there yourself and motor-driven ambulances do not exist.

    Good luck with your horse and cart.

  • gabi319

    “The Customer is always right.” slogan. I’d like to find the ass who thought that gem up and stick them in a service industry job. Let’s see if after a year they still think the customer is always right…

  • travisthechimp

    I think that it’s unfair to say that religion kills or that certain foods or inventions make people fat. People kill. People let themselves get fat. I would like to think that if I weighed 300 pounds I wouldn’t suggest that it were metabolism or genetics or the fault of anyone who makes tasty food. Television doesn’t make people lazy, people allow themselves to be lazy. In essence, I believe that anyone who faults an invention or concept to their own insufficiencies is looking to deflect blame.

    I would then suggest that any invention which would normally fall prey to this sort of view be omitted from the list since it would present a bias result.

    I would also say that, while not a religious individual, that religion is less of an invention and more of a human conceptual realization in that there seems to be a natural tendency for humans to search for that higher power which would, more than likely, lead to religion.

    I would also agree with some of the comments that state that necessity is the mother of invention and would therefor validate even absurd inventions, or at least in theory.

    While there are many inventions that certainly lead to a great deal of suffering or pain or destruction, i.e. the gun or the automobile, they also serve a great purpose.

    I would say that since I am a firm believer in providing for oneself and one’s family as well as taking responsibility for oneself, I believe that the worst invention would be anything that generally disrupts natural selection and survival of the fittest. More specifically, financial or other aid, or forgiveness and understanding, to the undeserving. Anything that leads to the dissipation of responsibility, whether it be pity or legal loopholes, whether it be welfare or food stamps.

    It is our consciousness that separates us from the animals, as well as our conscience, collective or singular. Ergo, allowing any person to suggest that he or she is not at fault for his or her actions is the worst thing we can allow to happen, and is the worst of humanity’s inventions.

    Also, speed bumps.

  • gabi319

    aid, welfare and everything else that disrupts natural selection…so to sum up, you think the worst human invention is morality… wow, it’s a controversial platform but I admire that. I, for one, discount the moral indignities in a lot of these comments on LV and find that all I’m left with is a lot of gibberish and a rare gem of contribution here and there. Check out some of the other conversations in other lists and you’ll see what I mean.

    One thing I’d like is clarification on the difference between religion and morality since it is so deeply entwined in so many people. How is it that aid, forgiveness and understanding – precepts of religion’s Golden Rule, Wiccan Crede, etc. – can be worst human inventions but religion is good? How can it be separate in those so steeped in religion? You did define religion as not an invention but more of an conceptual idea but most inventions do start out that way. I’m not so sure if religion is a ‘natural search for higher power’ or if it simply appears that way to us at present because it’s been a modified aspect of society for so long that we’ve forgotten what it was like without religion. Until we find definite proof that religion is another behavior deeply rooted in our genes, I’m more apt to believe it is an invention rather than a translation of certain natural behaviors.

    Good, original answer, travis. I hope you don’t shy away from the term morality that I used to sum up your post. It’s a good idea. The only part it doesn’t embrace is the bit about “to the undeserving”. That phrase does provide ground for a bias because it’s hard for one person (let alone a mass of people) to objectively determine who is deserving and undeserving. That’s the major flaw in your argument.

  • travisthechimp

    I see a distinct separation between morality and supporting the weak. I consider morality the measure of one’s distinction of right and wrong; whereas allowing an individual to perform to a sub-par level is weakening society. However, I do believe that morality will play into the degradation of society.

    It is a morally challenged individual who will allow him- or herself to collect unemployment, for example, when he or she can work but refuses to out of laziness or believing that he or she is too good for a certain job. However, it is our collective duty as humans to ensure that the aforementioned individual is not allowed to collect unemployment, because allowing it not only serves to weaken the fibers of society, but it also corrupts the system.

    I believe that welfare and unemployment are useful programs, but I believe it is the allowing of individuals to take advantage of these systems that is the worst invention, is the worst aspect of our nature. I believe collectively we know better, and therefor, it is the lack of morality that is the problem, rather than the prevalence.

    I agree with you that religion does, and should, integrate morality and forgiveness and understanding. However, I stand by my belief that religion is a natural product of human curiosity and imagination. However, I can understand how it can be considered an invention. I think this could be an un-ending debate since it can neither be proved nor disproved at this time. I can see your point and respect it. As I tried to clarify, though, I don’t think that morality is a negative aspect of humanity, so I believe that that would clarify that for which you requested clarification.

    I would also agree that using a subjective term such as “undeserving” weakens my argument, but it was said with the understanding of what an average person might consider “undeserving.” As the example listed above, someone who is able to work but refuses is undeserving of unemployment benefits. Someone who buys a house outside of his or her means of living and then struggles to make mortgage payments is undeserving of assistance. These are instances of people abusing a system that is in place to help the needy, not the stupid or lazy or inconsiderate.

  • puffin

    before reading theses I was going to say telemarketing but now I’ve decided that it’s jerk atheists. you keep complaining that religion causes all our problems and it’s elimination will cause everyone to get along. Wake up and smell the coffee peabrain! You’re the only one here trying to force your beliefs on somebody else. you don’t have to believe on God to be a religious zealot. NONE of my friends at school belong ot my religion. I accept that, why can’t you?

  • splunge

    the snuggie blanket with sleeves? why not wear a bathrobe backwards. they arent even warm

  • Glowbug

    Just to go in a totally different direction, I’m going to say agriculture. If we hadn’t gotten to the point where we no longer had to hunt for meat and forage for fruits, vegetables and the like, larger societies wouldn’t have been possible. Which means that all of the other technological and social ills people have named so far would either not exist at all (no time to invent them), or be vastly reduced (no cohesive civilisation to carry out the attrocity in question in any large scale, be it war, widespread prejudice, or the Jonas Brothers).

  • Eyeronik

    puffin:

    Don’t you find it a little ironic that you are attacking atheists because of their religious views? Furthermore, simply because someone says that he or she believes religion is the worst human invention does not mean that he or she is pushing his or her views or beliefs. Also, insults and poor grammar only weaken your comment and I believe will cause you to lose credit. Finally, simply saying that religion is humanity’s worst invention is not persecuting anyone for believing or worshipping. Have a great day.

  • Blap

    SATAN

  • 664. Blap: Another universe heard from.

  • gabi319

    659. travisthechimp – “I consider morality the measure of one’s distinction of right and wrong; whereas allowing an individual to perform to a sub-par level is weakening society.”

    Ahh, but now how will you differentiate between morals and ethics? There is a clear delineation or there wouldn’t be such an emphasis on scientific code of ethics rather than scientific code of morals. Making it our obligation to ensure the undeserving don’t receive aide would probably go against moral sensibility but not necessarily any individual code of ethics (depending on the individual). Only problem with a case by case basis is the bureaucratic red tape and the fact that someone morally deserving could (and will) get thrown under the bus.

    I was just curious to see how far into Nietzsche you would go in terms of morality :-). Have you heard of Jonathan Glover’s “Humanity: A Moral History of the 20th Century”? It was required reading for a Moral & Ethics course in college and I am currently rereading it because I didn’t give it the attention it deserved the first time around. Glover shows a bit of an amoralistic view but creates a compromise between moralism and Nietzsche, in a way that kind of coincides with what you had to say although in an pro-amoral stand and with criticism of the do-gooder not the goods-taker. The root of his amorality is essentially “…[Amoralists] do not have to be ruthlessly selfish – they may have generous impulses…but are sceptical that they ought to do things for others.” Ought is the operative word.

    It doesn’t go into religion but it might be something you still may find interesting even if you don’t agree with the ideas, especially Part One discussing Ethics without Moral Law.
    That post was a great read, Travis! You had some really insightful things to say.

  • Boo

    High Fructose Corn Syrup. The stuff is nasty, is terrible for you, and is in almost everything…

  • adpr08

    Worst? I’m with Boo on this. A friend of mine wanted to loose 40 lbs. and he hates working out. He lost the weight and all he did was not eat or drink anything with HFCS in it and it worked. I wish I could but it IS in so much.

    The stupidest? I didn’t read through all of them but the out door treadmill has to take the cake from what I did read.

  • joo

    42

  • 669. joo: 42
    ****
    42 is not a human invention. It is an act of Physics.

  • More correctly, I suppose, a law of Physics.

  • Sophia

    FACEBOOK! but im addicted.

  • Angelina

    Sophia, I will politely disagree with you. Although Facebook may seem like a waste of time or energy, it is clearly not up there in the ranks of guns, bombs, germ warfare, etc. Besides, Myspace is much, much worse. So there. Facebook rules! :)

    *rant over

  • Baxter

    Nobody listens to Techno.

  • nsanecook

    nuclear weapons the idea that with one bomb you can wipe out a city the size of denver is horrid with out a doubt the worst thing EVER

  • Kalyan

    The worst – Superiority of one’s religion over another.

    I don’t think religion per se is the worst thing EMBRACED by humans but the idea that one’s religion is better than the other & thus spawning violence in the name of religion is the worst idea embraced by humans.

    The worst perpetrators are Muslims (kafirs) and Christians (Infidel).

  • travisthechimp

    gabi319:

    I suppose the greatest flaw in my belief is that any other option would still ultimately be made by faulted humans. While many of us lead less than charmed lives, we still must aim for internal strength and be self-supportive. To do less not only fails civilization and society, but fails us individually. We are responsible for what our lives turn into, and we must be careful not to fall prey to Hedonism and lose sight of our responsibility to society.

    I’ve made a note of Jonathan Glover and will definitely read what you have suggested, not to mention brush up on Nietzsche. The last I read was Thus Spoke Zarathustra and will have to continue from there. I’ll also have to read some more Machiavelli since I believe he would tie in well to this.

    Amoral or moral, ethical or not, it’s difficult to define who we are by single words. I suppose that I believe that we are all responsible for ourselves and society as a whole. While I do not believe we all have to play an active part in society, we ought to consider the consequences of our decisions before we act on them. Anyone who does less is only inhibiting him- or herself.

  • Austin

    The Crossbow.
    While regular bows, and especially long-bows started it all, the crossbow signaled the end of personal warfare. Before crossbows, guns, missiles, etc… you almost literally had to look a man in the eye before killing him in the battlefield. Wars were won with a combination of strategy and the physical ability of each individual soldier.
    Today, a sniper can take you out from over a mile away, you don’t even have to be close enough to hear the gunshot. This kind of “point and click” warfare is all thanks to the crossbow

  • Morgoth Bauglir

    WOW, I’m an atheist and, honestly, I didn’t expect to see so many people mentioning religion as the WORST human invention. At least, there’s some hope… I’m glad to see that more and more individuals act like individuals, and not like “herd components”.

    It would take me months to write only about major wars, atrocities and logical/ideological non-sense associated with any organized religion.

    REASONING (FREE WILL) makes us unique…makes us HUMAN. This is what any organized religion will try to smother…

    We are NOT the image of god… If there’s a god, he/she/it is the image of US.

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    english football.

  • akash

    GUNPOWDER!

  • dzmay

    #236 Hope: I didn’t want to wade thru all 600+ comments to see if someone’s addressed you question already, please forgive me. In the book of Genesis, God commands man to be fruitful and multiply. The Judeo-Christian interpretation of this is that every sex act should be open to conception. Therefore, homosexuality as well as birth control and masturbation are immoral because there’s no chance that conception will take place. The commandment had a practical purpose as well because in order for a society to exist and flourish, it must welcome children to replace its people as they die off. In the time the Bible was written, this made sense when you think of all the wars and diseases which killed hundreds and even thousands of people. Nowadays, it seems irrelevant. Earth is overrun with billions of people and a lot of the diseases that would wipe out whole towns have been eradicated when stuff like antibiotics and decent sanitation came along.

    Beyond that, I think people find homosexuality repugnant, but that’s a topic to address another time (no doubt readers are lining up to do so).

  • dzmay

    Cell phones and bluetooth headsets. I was brought up to think it rude to eavesdrop on people’s phone conversations. Now it’s unavoidable. I can’t believe that a fuss was kicked up about the government listening in on the phone conversations of terrorists as an invasion of privacy! And what’s the problem with turning off the damn things when you’re at dinner or a movie or a play? Is the off button not big enough to find?

    As for a bluetooth headset, man, the number of times I’ve avoided these users because I thought they were crazy!

    Really, is your time of so little value to you that you allow others to monopolize it on cell phones and bluetooths?

    Did anyone see the episode of Dr. Who where everyone was walking around with what resembled a bluetooth headset which was being used as mind control? You think that’s fiction now, but wait a few years!

  • oouchan

    683. dzmay: Agree with the cell phones. I did see that episode btw. If you have ever read Stephen Kings ‘Cell’ then if you combine the 2, I would never own a cell phone. (for 3 days after I read that book, I didn’t use mine!)

  • I still go with the accordion.

    • Invisible Apple

      Aw, you’re kidding.

  • Ernie Pyle

    This has been an interesting discussion. I’ve certainly enjoyed reading the myriad (and entertaining) responses to the question: What is the worst human invention?

    Having said that, however, I do not believe there is a ‘worst’ human invention.

    Human beings are as much a part of nature as the bears and the bees and, as such, anything produced or ‘invented’ by man is as much a part of nature as the bear poop in the shrubbery.

    It leads then, that the ‘invention’ (Gun, automobile, etc.) in and of itself cannot be bad by itself. It is only when used for bad purposes, by humans, that an invention is perceived as ‘bad.’

    Perhaps the question should be: What invention has been used most badly by humans?

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    segue – at least an accordian can be entertaining. i mean, you could throw it at walls and stuff or use it in a *what not to use* demonstration ;-). english football is DULL. i cant even watch it for the good looking men because there arent any.

  • 687. 6twistedbiscuits: Uh, I also answered accordion for “What is the Best Human Invention”.

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    segue – ooooooh ok. boy do i feel stupid. nothing new there tho :D

  • 690. 6twistedbiscuits: I just like to keep things confused ;-)

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    segue – i get confused so easily, it will just get boring for you ;)

  • 692. 6twistedbiscuits:…it will just get boring for you
    ****
    But ah ha! My superpower is the complete inability to be bored. So no worries.

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    segue – oh goody i can look forward to you confusing me :) how you going to do it? tell me to find the corners in a circle? the look right….. look left one? :D

  • Well, biscuits, I don’t usually go about trying to confuse people…oh, yes I do, sometimes…but the situation has to be right. And I like you, so I probably wouldn’t do it to you, except in jolly good fun. :-D

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    segue – i like good fun :D lol i dont mind if people try confuse me, its my natural state of being i think

  • okay then, biscuits! You’re on!

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    segue – yay!

  • biscuits, when my children were quite young (about 5,6,7) I convinced them that the vents in the car which allowed air in as the car drove forward, would suck the air out when the car went in reverse. So they had to always check and make sure that at least one window was partially rolled down.

  • I run with the wolves

    It depends..
    The most dangerous invention is the atomic bomb
    It can only destroy.
    But there are thing that dont damage us outright.But the Effect of them is there.Everyday stuff like the phone,gossip,News-can a random person you ask actually answer a question about whats going in the world aside from what they hear on the news
    Some trust news so much they never bother to question it.

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    segue – aw, your poor kids! hahahahaha what else did you onvince them?

  • Alicia

    Civilization. What could have been saved if we didn’t have it. true we would have none of this but… we would be pure as a people and a species. i’m sorry but i don’t care about the futherance of women because, in prer civilized times there was a matriarchial element to the small herd of people. civilization took that away. i just wish we didn’t have to go through all this crap

  • 701. 6twistedbiscuits: segue – aw, your poor kids! hahahahaha what else did you convince them?
    ****
    Well, you know how water pipes will knock in the walls when they’re expanding? I had my youngest, 4 at the time, that was because very skinny people lived in between the walls, and they were trying to communicate with us.
    Trained monkeys worked the traffic lights.
    Whenever we were driving down a steep, winding hill, I would make this noise, a kind of eerie noise, and say (while actually driving slower and more carefully) “faster and faster, out of control, AaaarrrggghhHH!”. At first they bought that one, but soon realized it was all a game and said the words along with me, in the correct tone.
    We also had some electrical problems in the apartment we lived in when they were young, and the lights would flicker for 5 or 10 minutes sometimes. I had them at least half convinced that the apartment was haunted (but by friendly ghosts, like Casper).
    This wasn’t all that easy, these kids are all have genius IQs and used them, even then, but if Mom said something, well, it pretty much had to be so.

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    segue – wow bet ur real proud of ur kids :) iam of my boy, he isvery clever. i wish he would listen to me tho lol, its so true what my mum told me about the terrible twos. and to think i never beleived her haha.

  • biscuits, haha, do you have surprises coming if you don’t deal with it now!
    The two’s are just like adolescence. They are testing their power, their place in the world, their limits. As a parent, it is up to us to set those limits, to make sure they are secure in their place and in their power. Parents got confused a generation or so ago, and thought they should be their kids “friends”, and look at how well that turned out.
    I told my kids on several occasions that sometimes the rules I set would make them mad at me, and that was okay. It wasn’t my job to be liked all the time by my children, it was my job to raise the best human beings possible, and so sometimes that would interfere with what they thought was going to be fun, that everything I did, I did because I loved them, and love trumped like any day.
    It worked.
    Yes, I had more rules than any other parent they knew, but guess whose house all the kids wanted to hang out at?
    Mine.
    Why? Because they all knew that once I gave them the rules of the house, I trusted them to follow them. And they did. Whether I was there or not.
    Parents have to be parents. Kids have friends. Being a parent doesn’t mean you can’t play with them and be silly with them (obviously!), it means setting rules, it means supporting them, it means loving them, giving them all the space they can handle and then allowing them, with your support, a little bit more. It means praising all of their efforts, and keeping silent when they fail. It means telling them you love them every single day, even on the days when it’s the hardest to say it (especially on the days it’s hardest to say it!).
    My kids are all adults now. I raised them alone. They all have grad degrees, and they all still like me very much, as well as loving me. We get along well, as my son told he astounded friends.

    *end of rant*

    I loved the two’s and I loved the teens! I envy you, just starting out. :-D

  • oouchan

    6twistedbiscuits and segue: My kids 13 now and is really testing her limits with me, but she is following all the rules. My best friend has a 2 year old whom I just adore. It almost makes me want another…almost. So I really dont envy you too much having your own 2 year old.

    Also, my daughters friends love to hang out at my house. It makes me feel good that I am the popular mom on the block. Its also funny that I have adopted the younger kids choice of clothes and styles. I wear band t-shirts and dark jeans and have guage earrings. Next is a tattoo of my daughters name.

    I have said it before…I don’t want to grow up. :)

  • 706. oouchan:…Next is a tattoo of my daughters name…
    ****
    Uh, ouch!

  • oouchan

    707. segue: which is the main reason I haven’t rushed out and gotten one. Gotta get over the pain thing. Which is funny because stretching your ears (guaging) hurts like hell. I guess it’s a healthy fear of needles. :)

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    segue oouchan – i’m gladthat there are some sensible parents in the world, i’ve seen some BAD ones. my baby’s daddy was SO not the kind of role model i wanted for my boy, he was a lot like my dad in that he liked to make people feel bad about them selves. having grown up like that, with a few issues today, i didnt want that for my boy so i left his dad. even when i lived with him, from day one i raised my boy alone. his dad wouldnt get up to him, never fed him, wouldnt go near him, so its no hardship and in some ways easier now i’m a single parent. i like to think i’m not doig to bad a job but i worry so much because i can find so little help with things like potty training, weaning, having a proper male role model, which he needs. he lives wth two women and is growing up thinking dresses and make up is the things he should have, which i dont mind, whatever makes him happy, but i do want him to realise he has a choice. todays problem is making him understand when he’s doing wrong. i wont hit him, but the naughty chair/step is doing nothing. and of course, the health visiters are no help!

  • oouchan

    708. 6twistedbiscuits: My girl’s dad didn’t even wait until she was born. I told him on a Monday and he was gone by Tuesday. (since we are on this list….the worst invention was fatherhood, lol)

    I did it on my own. She is a very happy 13 year old who is driving her mother to drink! She’s outspoken and has her own mind. When she was 3, she wanted to be a boy so don’t worry about the dress thing. When he laughs and you laugh with him, then it is ok with the world!

    Discipline….hmmmm. Always hated to be the bad guy but she learned to respect me when it came to the rules. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but the naughty chair/step/spot only works when the parent is vigilant. Meaning keep at it and don’t give up. No matter how much you want to. It worked on my kid very well. She hated to not be apart of something and not be the center of attention. :) Always made me laugh…although I didn’t laugh in front of her. One time she was so bad that I wanted to rip my hair out! She even bit me….on the back of my leg. Man that hurt. Anyway, I put her in the spot about 40 times in a row because she kept getting up and wondering away. At one point she must have realized I wasn’t giving up. She finally stayed in there the time limit I set and by that time we both needed a nap.

    btw….my daughter and I celebrate Mothers Day and Fathers Day together. On Fathers day, she calls me Dad. I don’t have any problems with that since her father is a total loser.

    As long as they are happy, nothing else really matters!

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    oouchan – that sucks with ur babys daddy, my boy dad hung around because he had no money without me. it took me as long to leave him because he said he would end it all if i left, and when i said fine, do that then, he said he would call the police and tell them i’d taken his son if i left. so i went to the police first. our relationship was such that the police have said if he comes near me again he will be arrested.
    i stick at it with the naughty chair, he spent almost all of yesterday on it, he just keeps doing the same things that got him put on it. if thats just him trying to show whos boss and he will give up soon, then its ok i will perservere but right now i’m thinking he’s just not learning.
    your daughter sounds so amazing :)

  • oouchan

    710. 6twistedbiscuits…I am proud to say that she is. Smart and with a wicked sense of humor. (wonder where she got that from?)

    That stinks that it had to come down to the police for you to resolve that. Mine came back when she was 2 and wanted to move in with me but only if my mom took care of her. WTF was that? He was nuts. I told him to take a hike.

    Since he is just 2, he is really testing his boundries. He will be almost relentless in that. As long as you are too, then he doesn’t stand a chance. Here’s another tip. When you talk with him about his being naughty, get down on your knees and look him in the face. That really drives the message home. I did that along with talking very softly….even though I wanted to yell my head off. With those 2 combined it really shows them whos boss and that you are not backing down. Takes awhile to get used to it, but I have done that in the grocery store and at resturants.

    I can only give you what worked for me…so I hope it helps you. You sound like a good mom who is doing the right thing for your son. Keep your chin up!

    I’m heading for bed…again…can’t sleep but will try a second time. night.

  • I’ve just decided that Skype might be the worst human invention. It has the possibility of being the best, but this morning I have had some guy from Beruit calling me every two seconds for ten minutes. I finally opened a chat, asked who he was calling (thinking he had the wrong number), and he just identified himself as where he was from and as a leban christian(?).
    I then asked why he was calling. He replied he wanted to get to know me!
    I told him I had no interest in speaking with anyone.
    Skype is still ringing, constantly for the last five minutes.

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    oouchan – i will give that a try, i try not yell coz he just yells back but i will sit so he can see me. hope you sleep!

    segue – that sucks with the skype. never used it,dont know anything about it, and after reading that,i dont think want to know!

  • biscuits: skype is a video phone. If your computer has a built-in video cam, as does one of mine, or a external mounted cam, you ca hold video calls with family and friends (or use in business calls). It’s really very cool.
    After this nut this a.m., I found the settings, and there is a “do not let this person see when I am on.line or contact me”, which I used.
    I wanted the app so that I could speak to my grand.daughter in S.F. and she could see to whom she was speaking; two-year-olds not having a lot of savvy yet. Phones scare them a bit. Computers don’t.

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    segue – i have a webcam, use it on msn. is skype like a video call?

  • downhighway61

    I love Skype. It lets me call the US, and keep a US phone number for people to call me on. It’s cheaper than Vonage and BT calling to the States. I never get calls from random strangers on it either. I rarely use my computer for it (only for occasional Bingo with certain people), I have a regular phone.

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    i dont understand this skype thing. i’ll havetolook it up sometime. just have add it to my to do list

  • 715. 6twistedbiscuits: Yes. It’s a video call. I only downloaded it a couple of days ago, so I’m still figuring out the whole thing, what the parameters are, the bugs, etc. I know it’s going to be good. I keep hearing things like downhighway61’s endorsement, and it just makes sense that it would be a good thing for family and friends.
    I’m glad to hear, 61, that you have never had an incident like mine this a.m., it seemed like a fluke even while it was happening.

  • 6twistedbiscuits

    segue – seems complicated i think i’ll stick to msn video call.

  • Good idea.

  • whatswrongwiththat

    definately the roads, with all this asphalt, we just rudeuce the space we can use to grow marijuana… more weed more oxygen, just helping out the environment

  • joker

    money…. the root of all evil.

  • 722. joker: The *love* of money is the root of all evil.

  • joker

    yeah but if it wasnt invented then no-one would love it.

  • Starman

    Car alarms and TV commercials

  • crazyhaze

    The Internet, YES the internet, everyone knows everything from sitting on there asses. Go out and live. Or the Enviromentalist,whiney bunch of cry babies. Make them go away too..

  • WSID1986

    Video games. They create a lazy, smelly group of boys with no social skills.

  • catchy

    the ash tray on a motorbike

  • joker

    or how about the inflatable dartboard? glass hammer/rubber nails,chocolate oven…. you get the picture.

  • catchy

    @joker.. underwater shower, sola powered tourch-that one might exist?,

  • Arnold

    Organized religion. Yes, it is a religion and yes, it is bad. Very bad.

  • jhhwild

    The worst human invention is obviously the wheel.

    If you don’t believe me then watch this video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNJZhhpIYcY

  • CanadianGirl

    I’d say reality TV shows (NOT counting competitions like idol and stuff). Basically, all it is, is watching a bunch of rich people be rich, and were just sitting there in front of the TV doing nothing about it. These rich people need to get their a**s kicked and thrown into Africa with NO luxury and food challenges like on I’m a celebrity get me out of here. Imagine how much money we could save if we didn’t even create shows like these.

  • ron

    A lot of silly candidates here.

    Money

    Plainly a silly recommendation. First off I am not sure it should be called an invention, but rather a natural development of a civilization. It developed independently in many primitive civilizations. Ban the use of money and all you do is force people to barter, which is obviously deficient. Most who’ve suggested it don’t seem to have any clue what it is.

    TV

    A highly effective educational tool with great entertainment value. If “wasting time” is such a bad thing then you should shut down your website as I can’t seem to leave. But we all need leisure activities.

    Cars

    Every negative mentioned is highly myopic failing to consider the alternatives.

    Yeah, it kills people. Next time you have a medical emergency, though, don’t call for an ambulance. That is it also saves many lives. We are actually talking about the combustible engine not the automobile alone. Without that device our farming and many other endeavors would be far less efficient, so famine would be more commonplace.

    Yeah, it pollutes, but we’d all be buried in horse manure if it had not replaced that mode of transportation. Further, there is no means of transportation that does not kill.

    BTW, steam engines were not feasible for vehicle propulsion due to a low power to weight ratios of the engines. They would have required far more fuel per mile, meaning more pollution.

    Guns

    I understand the motivation, but this is an extremely simple invention. Retarding technology to the point where this was not possible would have kept us in a very primitive state. Further, people were killing each other just fine before guns.

    An argument can be made that guns, especially once they became widely available, have actually spread peace and stability. Before guns history was about one invading army after the next. The masses were defenseless against trained soldiers, even if they outnumbered them. But once you arm the peasants with guns, with sufficient numbers, they can easily repel invaders.

    Nuclear Weapons

    The problem here is again you’d have to suppress the surrounding technologies. It becomes inevitable that someone is going to do it once those are well understood. If it wasn’t us, it would have been someone else, which is why Einstein lobbied FDR to move forward on it.

    Also, there is the argument that it deters war.

    Religion

    I am an atheist. But again, this is not truly an invention as much as it is a natural development of civilization. People want to be able to explain their world and science was not able to supply many answers then. Again, look at the independent development of religion in numerous cultures. Most of the negatives blamed on religion are misplaced. People kill, in mass, for all kinds of stupid reasons. You might as well say human nature was the worst invention ever. But then, you’d have to believe in some sort malevolent creator and then you’d have a religion.

    The worst inventions of all time are forgotten as they fail to find a useful application.

  • stockyzeus

    segways are the worst human invention ever

  • Elriky

    – everything thas has been invented out of fear (weapons, religion, politics, money, etc)
    – karaoke (those japanese bastards!)
    – vending machines
    – small coins
    – fabric that makes you scratch your nuts every 5 minutes
    – bumper stickers that reveals information about your family (once I saw a mini van with 7 such stikers, the guy driving it had 2 teen daughters, 1 boy, 1 baby girl, and 2 small breed dogs)
    – suppositories or everything related or similar

  • manuel

    Nuclear weapon

  • pippin

    I am new to this site and I love it so far. Lots of interesting information. But I am sick of people saying guns and/or weapons are bad… People would have found a way to kill people with or without weapons. Hell, even neanderthals created spears, even if they were intended for hunting, how long do you think it would take for one of them to kill someone else?

    Anyway, enough of my rant, I would say texting is the worst invention. Kid’s just get dumber each year because they cant spell a sentence without words like “cuz” for “cause”, “2” for “too”, “u” for “you” … Not to mention the lack of punctuation and grammar used today, it’s just ridiculous.

  • asshole

    if you ask me the worst invention is suicide bombing

  • rm

    I have been wanting to travel for a long time, but have not had the money. I have been thinking that if it wasn’t for TV, there are a lot of things I would never see in my life. Yes, there are alternatives, like illustrated books and zoos, but even though I love animals, I think I can recall going to a zoo about 5 times in 10 years. TV gives you immediate access to information, images, and ideas, you would never have on your own.

    If you think it’s all crap, watch House or West Wing and see if you learn something new.

  • RayRay

    guns don’t kill people…people kill people.

  • Ali G

    i agree with the outdoor treadmill. i can’t even think of what to put down as a reason.. its just so… bazaar. and pointless.

  • Ali G

    also- bluetoothes. (blueteeth?). I used to work retail and I would get so annoyed when I would respond to someone talking only to have them turn to me and point furiously at the ear that was not facing me before. like i am supposed to know that there is a stupid piece of plastic strapped to their ear that sends tiny voices to their ear drums that inevitably make the plastic sporting person speak really loudly. alone. in public places.

    another one. Wal-Mart. enough said.

    also those ride on scooter things that they have at places like walmart for the purpose of catering to obnoxiously obese people. my favorite is seeing whole families on those things buzzing in straight lines down isles while us skinny people feebly jump out of the way to make room for these “disabled” peers. It’s great when the one in front starts yelling to the fifth one back in the line. or when they all run over merchandise “unknowingly”.

    wow. i’m usually not that mean.. retail has done me wrong.

  • Norman

    Escalators. No wonder we’re getting so fat, we can no longer walk up a flight of steps without assistance.

  • Cuz

    Fast Food. It has made our nation fat and lazy. People often sit in front of the TV with a Big Mac or Whopper in their hands.

  • Moe Green

    Been to Vegas lately?

    The continuous shuffle machine. Invented by Satan himself.

  • scooter

    RELIGION!!!

  • Gus

    “guns don’t kill people…people kill people.”

    People are the worst invention…

  • ajshrestha

    Reality TV

  • shingie

    Pretty much any invention marketed for teenagers. This texting fad has got to stop. Cell phones can be useful, for if your car breaks down in the middle of the highway, or if you need to contact somebody in a case of an emergency.

    Ipods. While handy, I’ve noticed at my school people tend to reclude into their ipods rather than talk to people. And we wonder why youths are more anti-social.

    And MTV. It’s just useless drivel nowadays.

    All the stuff marketed (entertainment) for teenagers causes them to be lazy, apathetic, and self-centered. Geez, these are your future leaders of America.

    Fashion is a really dumb invention too. Just slap on enough to cover yourself up, do we really need to create a whole new world of anorexic models, and impressionable girls who starve themselves just to be thin? This whole style going and being cool with the latest trends is ridiculous, insipid, and pointless.

    TV isn’t that bad of an invention, lol. I like watching documentaries of animals and their various enviroments. Pretty educational–it’s not like I can travel to Africa or go rock-climb myself 50 feet into a cave. It’s also a source of news, although they are pretty biased to the point of propaganda (Fox News *cough*). And plus they have good movies, good shows that sometimes makes points about the wrongs our culture/racism etc.

  • Davy

    @shingie (751):
    well said

  • mark

    the internal combustion engine. the damage its use has created to our planet is only now becoming apparent.i hope am wrong but i am afraid that people a hundred and fifty or two hundred will hate us for the use of it i guess on the upside though there probably wont be that many people to hate us

  • Urashima Keitaro

    I’d like to say ‘guns’ but no, without guns action movies would be boring.

    So I’ll go with ‘bra’ :P

  • someone

    I don't believe in any religion and I'm not even sure if i believe in God. But religion is not the worst invention. It's not what causes war and it's not the reason the middle east and israel are troubled. Intolerance causes all of that. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and if there was one thing this world did not need it'd be people who cannot accept that.

    • Name

      yes. Totally. (and I’m an agnostic atheist).

  • cHILLOUt

    one size fits all
    &
    Plus sized spandex leggings, or plus sized spandex anything….
    I have recently gained weight, so I can say this and not feel too badly about it. But seriously, WTC does anyone wearing a size 18 need with spandex leggings.
    &
    One size DOES NOT FIT ALL….it looks horrible when bigger women squeeze into these articles of clothing, and it also looks horrible when its hanging off of slimmer women.
    &&&
    For all of you against guns. I personally dont and wont own one b/c i have a four year old, and i am so accident prone that i’m sure I myself would shoot my eye out or somn. but think about this, U.S.A citizens own more “personal” guns than any other country. It has been said that this is one of the reasons that keeps us from being invaded (by armies, not crazies like w/ 9/11). Who in their right mind would want to invade a country where every other citizen owns a personal weapon and isnt afraid to use it?? just food for thought.

  • Brandon

    I would seriously have to say that the invention of crake cocaine is probably the worst invention ever unleashed upon society. It’s effects have ravaged society and destroyed many lives.

  • maccecilie

    Gum… It’s gross, and it’s everywhere.

  • aston

    when anyone invented anything it was to help themselves, help others or become famous or all above… you all say drugs or guns or tv some say fast food [i guess they came to this website not to get cultivated about reality but to post moronic comments] as i said as stupid as the invention could be at least 1 of 3 billion people would love it or think it’s great or not be so narrowminded

    and my opinion is that AIDS the disease created in a lab [or was it] is the worse invetion if it was really man-made

  • bulzi

    ron 734: well done

    also tv makes people happy how is the bad??
    also the film industry think of how many jobs that is

    and for cars they transport so much think of everything that it transport and tell me it would be excatly the same in your house….err i mean something else

  • jemma

    All of you people who say Automobile… do you all have one? i bet you do! your just contradictiing yourself….. say you dont like vehicles…but DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! dont drive one…. see how easy it is to get around first of all…unless you live in a city and can walk everywhere, that would be perfect…if not…stop saying its the worst invtention…yes it has a lot of negative points and arguments that come with it…but tell me one thing that truly doesnt come with imperfection. andd like all things they have good/and negative that come with it.

  • jessebe

    war. It is an invention because it didn’t just come out of no where someone has to start it. I mean war as in any sort of conflict not just a big cuns and bombs war

  • worst human invetion is …… religion

  • nicoleredz3

    I would say the WANT for power is the worst human creation (invention) of the mind. That want has the world as (mostly) horrible as it is, today. Self-serving, manipulative individuals do anything to rule over people, not giving a damn about their fellow man, as they climb on their backs…

    This want is the very base of corruption of societies (eg. political groups, governments, religions) all over the world.

    Greed, inhumanity (including the creation of weapons for use against other men), the push for war are some of the symptoms of someone wanting power over the masses… Everyone wants power, in one way or another, but some, go the extra mile, with the assistance (of what I like to call) of a psychopathic mind to get there.

  • The worst of all human inventions has been agriculture, and the domestication of nature in general, because it laid the foundation for the technological civilization that followed. The culture of domestication lead to division of labor, social stratification, institution of property relations and social hierarchies, and ultimately to a sedentary urban lifestyle and the rise of industrial mass society. Every major crisis that we face today is a result of that development from a nomadic life of hunting and gathering to a sedentary culture of mass production.

    Already at this point many people will be itching to protest: “What about penicillin and chemotherapy?” Well, what about them? They are technological civilization’s responses to problems created by technological civilization. Hunter-gatherers did suffer from diseases, of course, but these did not threaten life the way they do in mass society. Infectious diseases, for instance, need densely populated urban centers to cause much damage, but their impact is much less pronounced when there are only small nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers. There is also a proven correlation between civilized life and a high prevalence of food allergies, cancer, diabetes and insanity.

    Then there is the argument that civilization is needed to control man’s natural proclivity to violence. Here, too, we notice the circularity of the classical defenses of civilization. It is only because of mass society that the need for institutionalized violence (cops and military) arose in the first place. Sure, hunter-gatherers could put a stone ax through a person’s skull, but they could not have done this to very many people. They also lacked the incentive to do so as the absence of resource accumulation and social stratification minimized the potential for major conflicts.

    What arguments in defense of civilization always ignore is that the structure of hunter-gatherer societies is critically different from the structure of mass society. It was never each man and woman for themselves back then, but rather each man and woman for themselves and everyone else. The possibility of violent anti-social behavior was minimized by the fact that it would almost certainly disadvantage the perpetrator as well as the victim. In mass society, however, natural restraints to violent behavior hardly exist as we have come to rely on technology and institutionalized violence for our security.

    In fact, every attempt to justify civilization by referring to its supposedly life-enhancing inventions is made ridiculous by the fact that it was only because of civilization that these inventions became necessary in the firs place.

  • shanapants238

    Hmm… nuclear bombs… there are many many bad things in this world but the only thing that can kill every one and thing (at least that i know of) instantaineously are nuclear bombs…. oous ous goose me no no ous dice

  • Sean

    Politics is the worst invention, hands-down

  • dth

    the two pronged plug, imo

  • ethannn!

    this website

  • Steve

    Humans are the worst invention.

  • invention

    ppeople please tell something different i really need to write about the worst thing invented(by man)???

  • Tribol

    religion

  • Anonymous

    Computer viruses (Seriously what is the point to them?)

  • Jill

    Herbicides, shit like agent orange and the nightmare it causes even to this day

  • dan

    Suburbs

  • Joseph

    The Atomic bomb.
    On the flipside, it gives us nuclear energy.

  • Joe

    Ron and jhhwild, you guys are excellent

  • Lost is by far the greatest all time show. The only show I watched fro episode one till the finale

  • carlos

    Religions

  • doubleprime

    Chemical weapons – they provide no benefit whatsoever to society. At least bioweapons can be studied for science and nuclear weapons can be hypothetically used for construction projects.

  • Eduardo

    The internet

  • Wackadoodledoo

    Religion.

  • Possum

    The toast rack! Cold, hard, greasy toast. Oh, and doilies.

  • Rick Haines

    The infomercial , making you believe you need crap that you don’t that is Si crappy, they dish it out as ” call now and get 2 for 1″ deal

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  • Steve Russin

    Welfare. Get a job, end your shame, rid us of your burden.