
Ask HN: What is the most significant turning point in society in our lifetime? - pedalpete
I&#x27;m asking this as a result of a separate thread on HN which suggest that the Election of Trump was the &quot;most significant turning point in society in our lifetime&quot;. https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=12936107<p>I strongly disagree and thought I&#x27;d ask the general community what they think is most significant in our collective lifetime.
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dvdhnt
For older folks, I would argue that Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor changed the
entire world.

As for myself, I wasn't alive then, so it's probably the attacks on September
11th. They resulted in numerous wars, changed the lives of probably billions
of people, changed the characterization of an entire religion, affected
foreign and domestic policies, etc.

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hga
In my lifetime, the integrated circuit and its development ecosystem, Moore's
Law, and for a long while, Dennard Scaling
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennard_scaling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennard_scaling)),
I think.

Some others cite things like the web or the personal computer, but that would
never have become a big thing without ever denser and for a long while faster
ICs, then again, they don't have to be too much younger than me for the
invention of the IC to fall out of their range.

9/11 was and remains big, but I don't think it's of a fraction the magnitude,
unless, again, these other things happened before you were born. E.g. in that
category, the assassination of JFK and how that shaped the coming Vietnam War
was a _much_ bigger thing for the US, not sure about the world outside of East
Asia, though, except through the profound effects it had through changing the
US.

In a few years I might list Watergate in that category, for how it changed the
power balance between the Executive and the Congress, and among other things
changed the budgeting system to one where all internal restraints are pretty
much gone. When the Feds can no longer can borrow huge sums of money at around
0% interest rates, well, things will get very interesting in the "interesting
times" sense. How that will effect those outside the US, though, I'm not sure,
but nothing good, I would think. I.e. the 2nd bank collapse phase of the Great
Depression on steroids sort of magnitude.

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jfaucett
You said turning point so I'm going to list what I think caused the most
significant change in society.

1\. End of Cold War / The Fall of the Soviet Union / Berlin Wall - because of
its massive impact on geopolitics, the ultimate failure of the communism
experiment, as pertains to Germany, the reunification of East and West.

2\. The Invention of the WWW - this was the ultimate culmination of the
information revolution, the 20th centuries version of the industrial
revolution.

3\. The Maastricht Treaty / Introduction of Euro - Formation of the European
Union as we know it today. For western culture this has had and will continue
to have profound impact whether the union ultimately succeeds in becoming a
USA 2.0 or disintegrates into an economic union (Brexit, Grexit, etc).

4\. 9/11 - For what it represents for the 21st century, as regards a global
jihad, an ongoing terrorism and counter-terrorism war, and what will most
likely become the largest issue of at least the first half of the 21st
century.

~~~
kafkaesq
To which we could add:

5\. The introduction of "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" starting in
1978 (combined with the post-Tienanmen crackdown, which appears to have been
largely responsible for cementing the CP's longevity).

6\. Putin's appointment as Prime Minister on December 31, 1999 (and the
ensuing waves of influence which have not only swept the region... but indeed,
with the last election, have significantly impacted politics in the U.S.
itself).

7\. The Reagan/Thatcher elections in 1979 / 1980 (basically responsible for
the rise of neoliberalism as we know it).

8\. The Iranian revolution of 1979.

9\. The onset of the global HIV epidemic (ultimately leading to far broader
recognition of LGBTQ rights, and to loosening of mores with regard to non-
reproductive sex in general).

We have to stop somewhere, so 1978-1979 seems about as good as anywhere.
(Basically, nearly everyone here seems to be "post-Vietnam/Watergate" and
"post-deindustrialization").

Other significant changes have had no specific turning point:

1\. Major decrease in global poverty.

2\. Major decrease in urban crime in the U.S (largely responsible for
gentrification and the long-scale housing bubbles we have today), for reasons
still not entirely understood.

3\. Gradual winding down of armed conflicts in Latin America.

4\. And of course, anthropomorphic climate change.

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dmfdmf
Its a little too early to write the history books because it all depends on
how it plays out. Its not possible to say Trump's election is a turning point
yet (despite all the angst on both the Left and Right) because we don't yet
know how he'll govern or what he'll do. People forget, he ran as a Republican
but was repudiated by the Right and he certainly isn't a Sanders-style
Democrat but shares many of the same values of the centrist Democrats so
change is in the wind, how much change depends on what happens next. Trump has
single-handedly shaken both parties to the core. If this leads to a major
change of one or both major parties then 20 years from now we can point to
Trump as the instigator. If the two parties settle into superficial changes
("I feel your pain") to address the concerns of those who voted for him then
his presidency will just be a blip on the road to the future and not a turning
point.

Now on to your explicit question; By far and away the most significant turning
point in our lifetimes is (last century) Ayn Rand's validation of reason by
solving the problem of universals in her theory of concepts. I don't expect
anyone here reading this to understand or appreciate this but it is an epic,
world-changing achievement and, like Aristotle, she will be discussed in the
history books 1000's years from now. She is a turning point in the history of
man.

~~~
kafkaesq
_I don 't expect anyone here reading this to understand or appreciate this but
it is an epic, world-changing achievement and, like Aristotle, she will be
discussed in the history books 1000's years from now._

It's pretty safe to say that if no one on HN knows what the hell you're
talking about (and not even WP mentions PoS and AR in association with each
other), then no, it's not likely that this will be seen as "the most
significant turning point" of our era, centuries from now.

~~~
dmfdmf
> WP mentions PoS and AR

Over my head, care to define your abbreviations? Thanks

~~~
kafkaesq
WP = Wikipedia

PoS = should be PoU = Problem of Universals

AR = The Greatest Thinker Of Our Lifetime, And Indeed, One of The Greatest
Thinkers In The History Of Man

~~~
dmfdmf
> AR = The Greatest Thinker Of Our Lifetime, And Indeed, One of The Greatest
> Thinkers In The History Of Man

Don't forget Aristotle! Everything we have now including science, technology,
medicine, math, freedom and even Ayn Rand we owe to him for discovering the
laws of deductive logic. But deductive logic was not validated till Rand
identified the principle behind concept formation.

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Gibbon1
I think the economic and geopolitical implications of affordable electric
vehicles and PV Solar isn't as appreciated as it should be.

Also outside the US there is a huge rural to urban migration occurring.

~~~
schoen
> Also outside the US there is a huge rural to urban migration occurring.

Notably in 2009 the world's population was majority urban for the first time
in human history. It is now more common to live in a city than not to.

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nickpsecurity
I already see IC's, automobiles, and the Internet on the list. Let's add
washing machines:

[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/aug/29/my-
bright...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/aug/29/my-bright-idea-
ha-joon-chang)

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willcate
My lifetime: the personal computer. Parents: WW 2. Grandparents: the
depression. Great-grandparents: the automobile.

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bdcravens
1) Invention of the web.

2) 9/11\. It created policies that we deal with still, implanted ideology and
its critics, and likely emboldened future attacks.

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BjoernKW
I'd say the end of the Cold War.

