3 ms·

> What are other examples of when the course of history have balanced on a knife's edge? I suspect that almost all of history does balance on a knife's edge. H

> What are other examples of when the course of history have balanced on a knife's edge? I suspect that almost all of history does balance on a knife's edge. How far back in history that edge exists, relative to the event is the real question. There is probably a point in every civilization where it's rise would be anything but inevitable. You don't need very many of these events in ancient history before the chain of causality for everything that came after it would be seriously altered.

mongol 5y ago
I think differently. For example, if Newton would have perished as a child due to an unfortunate accident, the physics he discovered would have been discovered by someone else. It was just a matter of time. But geopolitical events can turn out very differently due to random flukes, such as the outcome of a battle.
- chasil 5y ago
  Perhaps you mean Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz? We have to admit that the dy/dx notation has proven more useful than f'(x), as we all saw in our first semester of calculus.
  - mongol 5y ago
    Yes, for example.
- TrevorJ 5y ago
  I would say that individual 'inflection points' might be incredibly rare. IE: maybe only 1 notable event out of 10,000 is like this. But something like this would only have to play out once or twice far back in history before the world we see today would be very different.
  - maverick-iceman 5y ago
    Humans were down to 10,000 units at some time. Maybe some leader consolidated power and convinced the tribe to embark in a journey to move somewhere else where water was more plentiful and food too, we can only imagine that ...had his attempt at convincing the tribe been unsuccesful we would not be here today! Or maybe the opposite, which is also true...somebody level headed convinced the tribe not to embark in such a journey...to stay, because with so few units it was not the time to make experiments or gambles
toss1 5y ago
Sir Francis Drake raid on the Spanish Armada in 1588 [1] Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, defeating the Confederate charge at Little Round Top in the battle of Gettysburg is arguably the key turning point of the US Civil War - the entire war and subsequent history could easily have turned out entirely differently without Chamberlain's successful order of the 'right wheel forward' maneuver bayonet attack when the 20th Maine was out of ammunition, which held a key ridge in a pivotal battle. [2] Those are merely the first two that come to mind. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Round_Top https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Round_Top

mongol 5y ago

I think differently. For example, if Newton would have perished as a child due to an unfortunate accident, the physics he discovered would have been discovered by someone else. It was just a matter of time. But geopolitical events can turn out very differently due to random flukes, such as the outcome of a battle.

chasil 5y ago
Perhaps you mean Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz? We have to admit that the dy/dx notation has proven more useful than f'(x), as we all saw in our first semester of calculus.
- mongol 5y ago
  Yes, for example.
TrevorJ 5y ago
I would say that individual 'inflection points' might be incredibly rare. IE: maybe only 1 notable event out of 10,000 is like this. But something like this would only have to play out once or twice far back in history before the world we see today would be very different.
- maverick-iceman 5y ago
  Humans were down to 10,000 units at some time. Maybe some leader consolidated power and convinced the tribe to embark in a journey to move somewhere else where water was more plentiful and food too, we can only imagine that ...had his attempt at convincing the tribe been unsuccesful we would not be here today! Or maybe the opposite, which is also true...somebody level headed convinced the tribe not to embark in such a journey...to stay, because with so few units it was not the time to make experiments or gambles

toss1 5y ago

Sir Francis Drake raid on the Spanish Armada in 1588 [1] Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, defeating the Confederate charge at Little Round Top in the battle of Gettysburg is arguably the key turning point of the US Civil War - the entire war and subsequent history could easily have turned out entirely differently without Chamberlain's successful order of the 'right wheel forward' maneuver bayonet attack when the 20th Maine was out of ammunition, which held a key ridge in a pivotal battle. [2] Those are merely the first two that come to mind. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Round_Top https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Round_Top