If You Could Change One Historic Event Which One Would It Be?

@seaglass unfortunately humans have been at war with one another for various reasons ages before the industrial age.

@Gibbon Well, yes, but not using ships, tanks, planes, bombs and chemicals. It's not war, itself, I have a problem with in this scenario. It's the pollution from the implements of more modern war.

@seaglass yes as a species we have a lot to answer for .

@seaglass Then you want to stop the steam engine.

So Britain never becomes financially ascendant, spreading British law & organization around the globe, and it certainly doesn't need American colonies to feed its fabric mills with cotton...

@SomeMichGuy Thank you for helping me know what I'm talking about.

@seaglass Np; the steam engine is the seminal event.

This is why some have said that, had Hero of Alexandria understood his steam toy could do work, we could have been to the Moon by 1000 AD.

@SomeMichGuy I see...

I never heard that saying before... Also no going to the moon, pls

@seaglass lol Why?

@SomeMichGuy Because of the pollution spacecraft emits into the atmos...

I realize it's done a lot for knowledge in several scientific fields. I just don't think those benefits have outweighed the price paid.

@seaglass Well, without the steam engine, it might never occur, but

1) a primary fuel mixture was liquid oxygen & liquid hydrogen. If you let them expand and burn them...it makes water.

Clouds of water vapor aren't a problem.

The solid rocket boosters on the Shuttle were different, but still not based on oil AFAIK, and no industrial revolution means that the C budget isn't changed.

2) Each $1 invested in space exploration returned multiples.

@SomeMichGuy okay you win that info just sent me into orbit..science was never my strong point..lol

@SomeMichGuy Primary, but is that what has been used for travel to the moon? And all other spacecraft launches? And why aren't we using that to propel all means of travel on earth? Maybe we should all go to the moon instead of joyriding in gasoline propelled vehicles so we can make money make money so we don't need money.

@Primnproper It's not winning / losing, but understanding what is, in context. If I have helped that for a few people in this instance, great.

I'm sure you could explain something else to me.

Don't worry about science not being your thing; it is a "thing" for others.

@seaglass The Saturn V had 3 stages; the second & third used LOX & LH2 (liquid Oxygen and liquid Hydrogen).

The first used a form of kerosene, RP-1, so it was def fossil fuel (because less of ab explosion hazard, etc.).

If you don't have fossil fuels in auotomobiles, you still have a small amount of this and the combustion in a rocket is more complete than burning wood on a fire.

@SomeMichGuy There's just no way to stop this train, lol. But hey... let's keep growing populations because we're not done until we go extinct.

@seaglass A lot of birth rates have turned down, but what is your intended point about population?

@SomeMichGuy The more people, the more fire, the more pollution. We can't escape our footprint.

@SomeMichGuy i didnt by in any way mean you won the discussion. I'm not that crass..lol

@seaglass Well, modern wood stoves use blowers to make much more complete combustion, which results in a lot less ash, etc.

So your real point isn't about a specific event as much as you want to change how people view the planet, and realize their actions have consequences.

In that case, remove gunpowder, and let the native Americans be the explorers and bring the ideas of cooperative society to the Europeans.

Columbus' discovery was a proof that competition with gunpowder backing is stronger than cooperation.

You want wisdom, cooperation, sustainability all built in.

Instead of changing the past, let's change now.

@SomeMichGuy Let's change both 😌