Where would Humanity be if the Middle Ages never happend?

Question

The Middle Ages was period one thousand years of most people in Europe thinking that Jesus was coming back for the "End of Times" (ppl still think this today). Because of this, Europe,stopped advancing in the Arts & Humanities; Which was the same thing that changed Ancient Greece for being just another barbaric country to a place the revolutionized the world. If this period of "non-advancement" never happened, where would humanity be, potentially, now?


Im rooting for flying cars.....
PS: im not smart so don't make the answers to complicated. @_@

Answer 1

I have heard this question before, and its an interesting one..

First, I think its more complicated than simply blaming the collapse of knowledge and art on early Christianity. Rome was a hoarder of knowledge, collecting from the all around the empire and storing in libraries. These libraries were burned along with many other roman buildings toward the end of the roman empire. I have heard from arguable sources that they were burned by early Christians because the knowledge stored was "heathen", but I don't firmly believe that, I just haven't heard anything more structured or anything that disproves it.

Anyway, I think that the knowledge would have been lost anyway, since the enemies of Rome hated all things roman, and Rome didn't like to share it, so the knowledge stayed within roman boundaries for the most part.

Anyway, to your question, the middle ages was a time where people believed the only meaning of life was to prepare for the afterlife, and without that time its hard to predict where we would be without that time period. It's hard to predict where humanity would be in 1,000 years. Either we have wiped ourselves out by expanding beyond what our world could handle without expanding to new worlds, and our entire planet becomes one giant collection of ruins sparse of life, or we become a vast empire colonizing and strip mining other worlds.

Hover cars would be nice though.. I want my hover cars!

Answer 2

I disagree with your synopsis.
The middle ages is often refereed to the time between the Classical ages and Modern times. or the collapse of the Roman Empire and the age of Enlightenment or Renascence period. Roughly 500 AD to 1600 AD. In Europe the strong central government collapsed and the European continent was split into various rival feudal fractions. The Roman Emperor and Empire fell into a spiritual body and became the Roman Catholic Church.
Just as new European countries and powers were starting to solidify the Church was split into various rival fraction of different beliefs.
With the discovery of the new worlds these rivalries were put on the back burner so that the European powers could race to exploit the new worlds. Which puts us to the beginning of the modern times.
To assume that the middle ages never happened would take a great deal of imagination. It would mean that the roman republic re-established itself in some form, the central focus would have been on the Mediterranean, incompassed more of the middle east. A big question would have been the effect upon the expansion of Islam. With the majority of the middle east being under Grecco-Roman influence. With a viable Roman Republic what would th einfluence of Christ have had, would the Catholic Church have formed into the power it was. Without the stife and religous turmoil, the pressure of Islam and muslim forces on the europeans and forced the west ward migration and exploration.

Answer 3

People did not stop advancing.
The fall of the Roman Empire brought a dark period. Invasions, invasions, invasions, during which time the abbeys were the only place where knowledge could be found and books, scrolls and such were protected. But that's only the beginning of the Middle Ages.
During that thousand years people rebuilt everything, cities, roads, kingdoms, people went to the Arab centres of knowledge to bring back what had been lost during the invasions. Universities appeared in Europe. And if the civilisation was rooted in Christianity it did not stop it from developing beautiful art (architecture, music, painting, statues, jewellery). Alienor of Aquitaine was well known for her love of poetry, music and books and taught her very rough and rustic knights to act like gentlemen. It also brought forward the importance of mathematics and engineering, which is what allowed us to develop technology.

If it hadn't happened instead of flying car you would probably still be riding a horse.

Answer 4

The Middle Ages was *not* a period fo non-advancement. This is a misconception that emerged in later periods and is now discounted by modern medieval historians. In fact, many historians now believe that without the Middle Ages, Europe would not be were it is now. In fact, some would argue that without developments in this period, Europe would still be *behind* Asia and the Middle East. For example: During the Early Middle Ages, although much of the culture of late Rome did decline, by the High Middle Ages (11th century onwards), the scholars of the new universities had begun to rediscover and reinterpret the "classics" such as Aristotle. These universities were unique in the world: they were essentially independent corporate institutions that allowed a freer flow of information and analysis than any alternatives. Great work by academics such as Thomas Aquinas gave the scholars of the Renaissance and onwards much to build upon. The medieval period also saw the emergence of European cities that, unlike other world cities, were essentially independent of external influence. The "burghers" of cities such as London or Paris paid a tax to the lords in exchange for these freedoms, but in return were free to trade extensively and become prosperous. In turn, they turned this economic power into political power that led to the popular urban government and the emergence of parliaments in England. In particular, during the Middle Ages, the Italian cities became very prosperous and could fund extensive trading missions to Asia.

Answer 5

yeah basically we'd be a lot more advanced in current technologys and arts and humanities

Answer 6

I surmise that the renassaince would have occured eventually so your question is moot.