The Biggest Historical Event of the 21st century?

I dunno man, we've still got 86 and a bit years left, anything could happen. On the Daily Show (or was it Colbert?) some fellow was talking about a big ol' meteorite that's coming 2016 and whipping around again much closer a few years late (2032?) so it might be something like that.

 

No one can predict these things, who in 1900 would have thought that the death of Franz Ferdinand would change the world forever? However, if 9/11 is the biggest event of the century, at least we can be thankful it's going to be a relatively quiet century.

 

Unless we do something one of the biggest historical events of the century will be the oil running out. Also, over-population and limited resources.

 

Depends on what country you're from. Americans would say 9/11, people from the Mid East would say the Arab Spring, Japanese would say the 2011 tsunami, etc.

Personally, I'd say the three most influential and impacting events would be 9/11, Arab Spring and the global financial crisis. But again, someone from another country might have another list.

EDIT: Obviously I'm talking about so far. It's impossible to speculate about the future, unless you're looking for some fiction writing.

 

When every internet user joins superherohype, and then is renamed skynet.

 

Not really. Scientists do it all the time with data. That is how they know that on our present course within the century worldwide population will reach 10 billion people and there won't be enough energy available from oil to support that size population which meas an inability to feed and water half the population. If we don't change our ways and start thinking up solutions now this will be the biggest event in recent human history, and the casualty number will be staggering.

Obviously anything could happen and throw this off, but as of now it is where we are heading.

 

9/11 is the obvious answer. The event itself was a big deal, but the effects that it has had on politics, society, culture, art, entertainment, etc. are much bigger and longer lasting. At least in America.

There are still many, many years to go though.

 

When Apple/Walmart merge, and Mcdonalds/Starbucks merge...and they have a nuclear fallout over world domination.

 

The war will end, when Disney ends up owning them all.

 

I think it's the opposite, I've seen Mcdonalds inside a super Walmart.

 

Yes, there's some trends and indicators. But no intelligence agencies predicted the Arab Spring (at least on the scale it happened). You could argue some CIA analysts predicted an event like 9/11 might occur, but since the US didn't try and prevent it they were obviously in the extreme minority. My point is the greatest changes or events are usually "black swans", things that no one could anticipate because no one has seen before. And a growing population is a trend, not a singular event.

 

Walmart/Mcdonalds Apple/Disney I think make more sense....I typed that quickly at first lol

 

Honestly what I think is going to be the ground breaking achievement of the 21 century....lies in a car....

http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/

We shall hopefully...in the next 80 years be rid of the grasp of oil...and have cars that can run efficiently and powerfully on Hydrogen.

They last 10xs longer than battery operated cars, have 0 emissions, and can be refilled just as quickly as our standard cars today. It also has 1 moving part under the hood so maintenance becomes pretty much non-existent.

This cars technology is leaps and bounds better than any Prius or electric car out on the market today. Its more efficient, more economical, and more relevant in a transition from gas to another form of energy.

 

2004 Indonesia Earthquake and Tsunami.

 

I mean 9/11 will be remembered but its sad how soon we forget things like the 2004 Tsunami and the one in Japan more recently.

 

Agreed, 300,000 dead (roughly) isn't something we should forget so fast.

 

I think the biggest thing is the discovery of the Higgs Boson

 

I have no doubt that some pretty major crap will go down this century, both good and bad. Major wars? Possibly. Environmental catastrophe? Probably. Natural and man made disasters? Bet on it.

Still, just today doctors said that have more or less cured an infant with HIV. Higgs Boson has been discovered, the human genome has been mapped and we are making progress with cancer.

And this is only 2013. Imagine how much more the world had to see of the twentieth century when it was 1913.

 

Top 5. Each one would be the biggest, until the next one knocks it out.

1. A Neanderthal is cloned.

2. World War III.

3. The advent of true strong AI. I guess World War III might be more "historical", but in the long run, this will likely be a lot more important.

4. Alien first contact.

All 4 could happen in this century. And most probably will.

World War III will make everything else that has happened so far in this century look like a footnote. Like what WWI and WWII did for the early 20th century.

 

That's a great way of looking at it.

Terrifying.

 

Yeah.

It's impossible to not think of all of the amazing crap we will see in the coming decades when you look at it that way. For better or worse.

 

Well the first half of the 20th century was exceptionally bad. And the second half was exceptionally awesome.

 

I think a LOT of people would disagree with that.

 

Yeah. The second half was not nearly as bad as the first half, but ask a Vietnamese, Cambodian, Korean, Rwandan or Bosnian how "awesome" it was.