Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Break Down The Scariest Inventions Mankind Has Ever Created

People Break Down The Scariest Inventions Mankind Has Ever Created
Image by WikiImages from Pixabay

Ever wanted to freak yourself out? Stay up late at night and read Hiroshima, journalist John Hersey's account of the Hiroshima nuclear bombing and its immediate aftermath. It's 31,000 words––originally filling an entire edition of The New Yorker––and it never fails to send a chill down my spine. The piece, later published as a bestselling book, is a frightening piece of journalism about one of mankind's most frightening inventions... perhaps it's most frightening.

People shared their opinions after Redditor Illurinatil asked the online community,

"People of Reddit, what is the scariest thing you think mankind has ever created?"

"You can't see them..."

"The most terrifying inventions are biological weapons. You can't see them and you die horribly. In the best case, you die within minutes; in the worst, it can take hours or days. Or you don't die and there are permanent damages to you."

Delta1136

The silent killer.

Reading about the Ghouta chemical attack is bound to ruin your day. We apologize in advance.

"Chemical weapons by far..."

"Chemical weapons by far because the effects are limitless and you can engineer the fallout to be global."

tmcdrw

"A vicious cycle..."

"A vicious cycle where we have the technology to solve our problems but can't because not everybody can agree on it."

Coolius69

We're doomed, aren't we?

Yeah... we totally are.

"The idea that..."

"Adversarial thinking. The idea that "we are right and they are wrong." This is how every war begins."

WonderfulSpecific601

"I'm honestly..."

"I'm honestly going to have to go with social media in its current form. Nuclear weapons have chains of command and are kept under lock and key. Some private cannot initiate a nuclear strike but any nitwit can hop on Facebook, Instagram, etc. and fall into the rabbit hole of extremism, believing whatever some @ss tells them due to lack of critical thinking skills, people who know how to exploit social media doing just that, and so forth. And this has happened to millions of people.

I honestly think social media has been a net negative to humankind and that, if it had been invented in the 1940s, we would still have polio crippled people being placed in iron lungs every year."

DeputyCartman

"Nukes are..."

​"Nukes are what kept the planet at peace for the majority of the world based on the understanding that if you get turned to dust in a second you are considered the lucky ones on the receiving end. It is by far the scariest thing mankind has ever created."

ghigoli

Mutually Assured Destruction has indeed kept the world safe... but what happens when someone gets a little too scary and cocky?

Probably shouldn't think of it. I need to sleep tonight.

"I just saw..."

"I just saw a video of a robot controlled by neurons from a rat's brain. So that's alarming."

owmyfingy

"The scariest thing..."

"The scariest thing mankind has ever invented is still a secret because if they told us we wouldn't be able to sleep."

Blacklolipop

"We don't have very much..."

"Antimatter. We don't have very much of it, but the very idea of a substance that can annihilate matter is insane. For that matter, the colliders that can make it. The physics involved are terrifying."

Rainbow_Dash_RL

We'll never sleep again.

Sorry if you had a nice, leisurely day planned. Did you really need another reason to think that humans are horrible? To be fair, they make it so easy.

Have some suggestions of your own? Feel free to tell us in the comments below!


Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Red cap with "Make America Great Again" text held by a hand with a black watch.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

MAGA Voter Gets Blunt Reality Check After Complaining That Her Mom's Government Assistance Was Taken Away

A new entry to the MAGA voter with regrets subReddit "Leopards Ate My Face" (r/LeopardsAteMyFace) drew all the customary empathy it deserved for a woman named DiAnne.

In a series of posts beginning in August of 2025, DiAnne expressed her devotion and faith in MAGA Republican President Donald Trump.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots of Scott Jennings and Leigh McGowan
CNN

CNN Panelist Epically Rips Conservative Pundit After He Tries To Downplay Epstein Files

Podcast host Leigh McGowan criticized conservative CNN panelist Scott Jennings on Monday over his cavalier attitude about the Justice Department's failure to release the Epstein files, calling his response “insane” and “horrifying.”

The DOJ has released less than 1% of the Epstein files. The department acknowledged that it has released just 12,285 documents—totaling 125,575 pages—related to Epstein, even though federal law required the bulk of those records to be made public by December 19.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots of Mar-a-Lago performers in dog masks
@patriottakes/X

Mar-A-Lago Just Hosted A Bizarre Event With Entertainers In Dog Masks—And The Mockery Was Swift

President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is weirding people the hell out after hosting an event with entertainers dressed in Rococo-era costumes and wearing dog masks.

The images are from the American Humane Society’s 15th annual Hero Dog Awards Gala at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, January 9, an event that Trump attended to honor "courageous canines." Video from the Palm Beach gathering shows some attendees wearing 18th-century formal attire topped with dog masks.

Keep Reading Show less
Donald Trump
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

New Data On How Trump Is Polling With Gen Z Is A Disastrous Wake-Up Call For His Administration

According to the latest polling data highlighted on CNN, President Donald Trump's support among Gen Z voters has fallen considerably—a remarkable shift in public opinion from a cohort whose support proved crucial to his 2024 election win.

Trump's 2024 campaign received a massive boost thanks to the efforts of Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk, the far-right activist who was assassinated in September. Kirk galvanized the youth vote but those gains have not held steady since Trump entered office.

Keep Reading Show less