[kenberg]

TimG, on Jun 3 2008, 09:33 PM, said:

kenberg, on Jun 3 2008, 09:26 PM, said:

I would have the  American Constitution, from the first day of the republic,  ban the ownership of one human being by another.

Why start there? It's not like slavery was unique to the American republic.

I start there because:

A. The instructions were to take one event. So "eliminate slavery" doesn't qualify.
B. It's my country.


Of course no question of this sort can really be answered. Whatever is suggested, there can always be "why stop there?".


Most responses have really been in good humor. That was my instinct as well, but I thought I would take a stab at something real. I, all in all, think well of the US. But the slave trade is part of our history and we would be a better people if this were not so.

I rarely spend much time regretting the past but since Pam asked, this is my thought.

[Hanoi5]

Hm, what about not letting Jesus be crucified? That would certainly change history.

[blackshoe]

No Big Bang.

[TimG]

kenberg, on Jun 4 2008, 07:03 PM, said:

TimG, on Jun 3 2008, 09:33 PM, said:

kenberg, on Jun 3 2008, 09:26 PM, said:

I would have the  American Constitution, from the first day of the republic,  ban the ownership of one human being by another.

Why start there? It's not like slavery was unique to the American republic.

I start there because:

A. The instructions were to take one event. So "eliminate slavery" doesn't qualify.
B. It's my country.


Of course no question of this sort can really be answered. Whatever is suggested, there can always be "why stop there?".

It seems a good thought, and you are right that the Constitution is an easily marked occurrence.

[irdoz]

Quote

If it is true that the HIV epidemic was caused by a single stupid vaccine producer using chimp serum then I would change that. But I have no clue if that is true.

There was a well supported hypohesis that the development of oral polio vaccine (OPV) could have played a role in the early propagation of the HIV epidemic. However, when supporting evidence was sought, it was not found. Now it is generally not thought to have played any role in the HIV epidemic.

The most accepted theory is that the precursor to HIV is a virus known as SIV that occurs in monkeys. HIV closer to that seen in humans has been documented in a particular (protected) chimpanzee population that feeds on SIV-infected monkeys. There are two common strains of SIV and it is believed they recombined within chimpanzees to form a virus closer to HIV. (It is possible that colonization and destruction of habitat caused migration of the chimpanzees and exposure to monkeys with different sorts of SIV)

It is likely that human hunters became infected with HIV from hunting chimpanzees. By estimating the changes in genetic patterns between the HIV found in chimpanzees and the first HIV infections in humans it is thought that HIV first crossed into humans somewhere betweeen 1915 and 1945. The first confirmed cases (from stored samples) were in West Africa in the late 1950s, USA in a teenager in the late 1960s and in Norway in the mid-70s.

Recently another retrovirus (SFV or simian foamy virus) has been shown to have spread from non-human primates to human hunters. (SFV doesnt cause serious illness in humans). This confirms that cross species transmission of retroviruses occurs.

[zasanya]

Changing just one event will not change the course of History.Yet I wish the atom Bomb had not been dropped on Hiroshima.

[blackshoe]

zasanya, on Jun 5 2008, 10:10 PM, said:

Changing just one event will not change the course of History.Yet I wish the atom Bomb had not been dropped on Hiroshima.

Have you considered the alternative? I assure you, Harry Truman did.

[helene_t]

TimG, on Jun 3 2008, 11:02 PM, said:

Surely there is some future event that would be better avoided. I'd like to travel 50 years into the future, look back on those 50 years and then pick an event in that time frame to change.

I think it was Douglas Adams who wrote that while the technical problems can probably be solved, it will be a major headache to find the propper verb tense to use while refering to an event that happened/happens before you travelled back from the future.

[y66]

According immortal, artificial, unfeeling entities (corporations) with the rights of persons is a huge historical mistake. Maybe it's not too late to undo this.