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

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


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

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

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

Je suis méchant.
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I know I just did a survey, but this was too good to pass up. - 07/04/2010 12:44:15 AM 852 Views
Myself: World War I. - 07/04/2010 12:45:57 AM 717 Views
I don't think it's that simple. - 07/04/2010 12:57:16 AM 671 Views
I see your point. - 07/04/2010 01:02:33 AM 665 Views
Sometimes sooner is better than later. - 07/04/2010 01:10:11 AM 644 Views
True. - 07/04/2010 01:14:45 AM 622 Views
True, one might even say *adding* a war there would've improved things. - 07/04/2010 01:36:07 AM 624 Views
*nods* A small war is usually preferable to a big war. - 07/04/2010 01:49:06 AM 624 Views
The Plague - 07/04/2010 12:52:33 AM 602 Views
Re: The Plague - 07/04/2010 01:05:35 AM 498 Views
Maybe; there were episodic plague epidemics before and after that time. - 07/04/2010 02:05:18 AM 660 Views
I am talking about one of the plagues not THE plague - 07/04/2010 02:50:25 AM 600 Views
Re: I am talking about one of the plagues not THE plague - 07/04/2010 08:45:26 PM 588 Views
I'm so glad you have the time and inclination to type up these replies. *NM* - 08/04/2010 07:09:22 AM 380 Views
...? - 08/04/2010 07:51:14 PM 509 Views
Sounds like he was thanking you for saving him the effort of writing a similar reply. *NM* - 08/04/2010 09:28:55 PM 400 Views
If that is the case, then great *NM* - 08/04/2010 09:30:51 PM 353 Views
The spread of Christianity - 07/04/2010 12:55:29 AM 678 Views
Huh. Wild to think about. *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:06:44 AM 386 Views
Re: The spread of Christianity - 07/04/2010 08:47:06 PM 495 Views
Re: The spread of Christianity - 08/04/2010 09:29:17 AM 519 Views
Why would that have an impact on Judaism? - 08/04/2010 01:40:47 PM 599 Views
Re: Why would that have an impact on Judaism? - 08/04/2010 01:42:25 PM 431 Views
But wasn't Christianity the inspiration for a whole era of art? *NM* - 08/04/2010 01:41:34 PM 461 Views
Re: But wasn't Christianity the inspiration for a whole era of art? - 08/04/2010 01:44:36 PM 648 Views
precisely. - 08/04/2010 05:37:26 PM 622 Views
sorry, didn't see that Lorraine already addressed this. *NM* - 08/04/2010 07:55:00 PM 381 Views
The Partition of India, 1947... *NM* - 07/04/2010 12:59:32 AM 383 Views
Any paticular reason why? *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:34:54 AM 380 Views
Agreed. *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:59:02 AM 501 Views
The destruction of the Great Library. - 07/04/2010 01:02:59 AM 574 Views
Internet spam sucks indeed. - 07/04/2010 01:08:23 AM 671 Views
We'll never know; makes for fascinating speculative fiction. - 07/04/2010 01:13:49 AM 628 Views
This whole topic is wild, it's something I sometimes think about. - 07/04/2010 01:17:50 AM 607 Views
Ya, that's what makes history so gripping. - 07/04/2010 01:19:54 AM 704 Views
I don't know if that's really true... - 07/04/2010 01:39:51 AM 621 Views
It wouldn't have been as sudden or extreme. - 07/04/2010 01:58:39 AM 658 Views
"Joel captures Alexandria! The Great Library is destroyed!" *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:08:35 AM 253 Views
NOOOO1111 - 07/04/2010 01:11:33 AM 533 Views
A shame. It's one of the better ones, too. *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:14:20 AM 382 Views
Not in the first two Civs. - 07/04/2010 01:22:43 AM 469 Views
Civ, i love that game... - 07/04/2010 03:01:13 AM 574 Views
Yeah that's one of the small annoying things - 07/04/2010 07:34:52 AM 463 Views
An interesting point - 07/04/2010 02:57:03 AM 628 Views
That's usually my reply to this question too *NM* - 07/04/2010 11:42:55 AM 354 Views
if the giant meteor hadn't destroyed the dinosaurs... - 07/04/2010 01:10:42 AM 534 Views
"FOR" global warming? Now there's a phrase I never thought I'd here! - 07/04/2010 01:16:04 AM 457 Views
The spread of Islam - 07/04/2010 01:26:11 AM 639 Views
oh aren't you clever. *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:47:13 AM 363 Views
There's such a thing as being right for the wrong reasons, though I'm not sure he is. - 07/04/2010 02:12:14 AM 441 Views
Wikipedia is of course not a scholarly source, but all the same... - 07/04/2010 11:57:01 AM 605 Views
Fair enough. - 07/04/2010 12:51:16 PM 596 Views
I read the Bernard Lewis article referred to at Wikipedia... - 07/04/2010 01:19:03 PM 583 Views
So it's borrowed propaganda. - 13/04/2010 09:30:39 AM 564 Views
Re: The spread of Islam - 08/04/2010 09:24:31 AM 671 Views
Haha, are you kidding? - 08/04/2010 07:59:39 PM 439 Views
Re: Haha, are you kidding? - 08/04/2010 08:50:33 PM 425 Views
Ask yourself the question... - 08/04/2010 09:33:33 PM 441 Views
I don't see the connection. - 08/04/2010 08:49:46 PM 620 Views
Re: I don't see the connection. - 08/04/2010 08:51:21 PM 481 Views
I'd better not touch this one - 07/04/2010 03:12:00 AM 648 Views
The spread of Judaism. - 07/04/2010 04:30:37 AM 575 Views
Re: The spread of Judaism. - 07/04/2010 07:31:02 AM 517 Views
I...do not know. - 07/04/2010 07:18:13 AM 505 Views
Amusing that the underlying expectation seems to be more along political history lines - 07/04/2010 12:56:49 PM 694 Views
Considering the way history is taught, is it surprising? *NM* - 08/04/2010 07:11:03 AM 343 Views
Nope, not really - 08/04/2010 10:24:54 AM 601 Views
Here's one that'll be more to your liking... - 08/04/2010 10:40:53 AM 443 Views
Yes - 08/04/2010 10:52:11 AM 581 Views
Re: Here's one that'll be more to your liking... - 08/04/2010 11:58:27 AM 475 Views
Uh... - 08/04/2010 12:11:14 PM 630 Views
Re: Uh... - 08/04/2010 12:15:20 PM 651 Views
The Devil is always in the details - 08/04/2010 12:29:25 PM 598 Views
Re: The Devil is always in the details - 08/04/2010 12:32:34 PM 387 Views
Not really - 08/04/2010 01:07:57 PM 556 Views
Re: Not really - 08/04/2010 01:10:16 PM 473 Views
Only to a degree - 08/04/2010 01:27:22 PM 570 Views
Re: Only to a degree - 08/04/2010 01:30:12 PM 688 Views
I was into cultural and religious history - 08/04/2010 01:38:24 PM 575 Views
Re: I was into cultural and religious history - 08/04/2010 01:41:31 PM 454 Views
Ha! - 08/04/2010 01:49:23 PM 609 Views
Re: Ha! - 08/04/2010 01:51:28 PM 431 Views
I'm really sleep deprived... - 08/04/2010 02:13:20 PM 727 Views
Re: I'm really sleep deprived... - 08/04/2010 02:19:07 PM 484 Views
- 08/04/2010 02:52:59 PM 575 Views
Interesting fact of the day for you two... - 08/04/2010 02:45:15 PM 469 Views
I know - 08/04/2010 02:46:41 PM 602 Views
It was nice being a "threadkiller" of a different sort - 08/04/2010 10:08:34 PM 479 Views
Quote Pyramids of Destiny FTL *NM* - 08/04/2010 10:16:21 PM 369 Views
me being born mega rich *NM* - 07/04/2010 02:15:34 PM 476 Views
Joanie Loves Chachi. - 07/04/2010 03:42:56 PM 531 Views
worse than "afterMASH"?? *NM* - 07/04/2010 03:50:10 PM 337 Views
Worse than "Joey" ? *NM* - 07/04/2010 06:48:25 PM 362 Views
If you remember Joanie loves Chachi, you might be too old? - 08/04/2010 12:00:34 AM 463 Views
Re: I know I just did a survey, but this was too good to pass up. - 07/04/2010 09:04:02 PM 482 Views
Science getting on the ball in the 40's and making superhumans *NM* - 08/04/2010 05:31:34 AM 411 Views
The spread of peanut butter and jelly. - 08/04/2010 07:12:21 AM 625 Views
The Bread of Christianity. - 08/04/2010 07:12:51 AM 618 Views
The dead of Christianity. - 08/04/2010 07:13:34 AM 601 Views
The thread of Christianity. - 08/04/2010 07:14:15 AM 550 Views
The head of [Roman Catholic] Christianity. - 08/04/2010 07:15:21 AM 581 Views
You completely missed the "pick 1" part of the question, didn't you? *NM* - 08/04/2010 09:26:23 AM 369 Views
Well, techinically, I never said that you couldn't make multible posts, each discussing 1 thing. *NM* - 08/04/2010 05:36:37 PM 343 Views
I'm fairly sure he was just mocking someone's earlier post "just thought it would be interesting..." *NM* - 08/04/2010 08:06:56 PM 344 Views
I'm pretty sure of that too. *NM* - 08/04/2010 08:33:46 PM 349 Views
...it's pretty interesting *NM* - 08/04/2010 08:35:47 PM 408 Views
just as you thought it would be? *NM* - 08/04/2010 08:44:49 PM 344 Views
My parody. - 08/04/2010 10:41:29 PM 558 Views
Re: My parody. - 09/04/2010 07:29:19 AM 638 Views
The 1987 Rugby World Cup Final - 13/04/2010 12:23:17 PM 639 Views

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