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

Make us preferred on Google

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

Donald Trump
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Trump Dragged After Image Of Him On Fox News Watching Himself On Fox News Goes Viral

President Donald Trump was widely mocked after an image from Fox News of him watching himself during their live coverage on the Fourth of July celebrations in Washington, D.C. went viral.

Trump is widely known to obsessively watch news coverage of himself day and night, hence why he's become notorious for attacking news organizations and political opponents on Truth Social at all hours.

Keep Reading Show less
Members of the Patriot Front
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

Photo Of Black Woman Surrounded By White Nationalists On DC Metro For July 4th March Goes Viral—And It Speaks Volumes

Reuters photographer Cheney Orr took a photograph of a Black woman on the DC Metro on July 4 surrounded by Patriot Front members as they prepared to march amid the America250 festivities that has struck a chord with the public living under President Donald Trump's administration.

The neo-Nazi organization, which is based in North Texas, proceeded with its demonstration despite the cancellation of numerous Fourth of July events across the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia region, including the parade planned to mark America's 250th anniversary.

Keep Reading Show less
Kathy Griffin (left) criticized The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon after Conor McGregor (middle) appeared as a guest on host Jimmy Fallon’s (right) late-night show.
@kathygriffin/Instagram; The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon/YouTube

Kathy Griffin Sounds Off On 'The Tonight Show' For Banning Her While Allowing Conor McGregor As A Guest In Viral Rant

On June 16, MMA fighter and accused rapist Conor McGregor appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he discussed his return to the UFC, a time he knocked someone out in 13 seconds, and the origin of his nickname, "The Notorious."

Fallon, of course, left out any questions regarding McGregor being found liable in a sexual assault case stemming from allegations made by Nikita Hand.

Keep Reading Show less
Melissa Gilbert on a red carpet; A vintage photo or Michael Landon
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images; Kypros/Getty Images

Melissa Gilbert Shares Sweet Throwback Photos Of Herself And Michael Landon On The 35th Anniversary Of His Death

There were not many TV families more beloved than the Ingalls on Little House On The Prairie, the beloved series based on the novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder, which had a nearly decade-long run from 1974 to 1983.

Particularly touching was the relationship between Laura, played by Melissa Gilbert, and Charles "Pa" Ingalls, played by Michael Landon.

Keep Reading Show less
Karlie Kloss; Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump
@bloombergoriginals/Instagram; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Karlie Kloss Sparks Heated Debate With Her Take On Navigating Political Differences With Her Trump In-Laws

Supermodel Karlie Kloss is in hot water on the internet after addressing how she navigates her Trump-aligned in-laws' kleptocratic fascist politics.

Kloss, who is married to Jared Kushner's brother Joshua and is a Democrat, recently sat down with Bloomberg to discuss what it's like to be married into a family she doesn't agree with.

Keep Reading Show less