OT: In your opinion, what is the greatest or most important invention of all time?
- Thread starter jsusc
- Start date
I think the air conditioner has to be in the Top 10.
I don't discount the invaluable role of electricity, but it isn't an invention. The wheel is an invention. It's hard to top when the things it gave rise to are considered - at least from the standpoint of mechanics, and therefore, the performance of work beyond the capabilities of the human body.
Correct. Electricity is a discovery, not an invention. I guess you could say the same thing about fire, but a means of creating fire is a great invention. I guess a means of control of electricity is like that.
Or is this like fire and electricity? The invention is finding a way to harness it? Either way my answer stands!
The ability to harness and use electricity is what powered (no pun intended) the vast majority of innovation. The world, in most practical ways, was largely unchanged for thousands of years. Electricity jolted (ok, pun intended) us forward.
When that AC goes out in June or July, some of you will find out real quick how high up on the list that really is.
1. The wheel
2. The nail
3. The compass
4. The printing press
5. The internal combustion engine
6. The telephone
7. The light bulb
8. Penicillin
9. Contraceptives
10. The Internet
2. The nail
3. The compass
4. The printing press
5. The internal combustion engine
6. The telephone
7. The light bulb
8. Penicillin
9. Contraceptives
10. The Internet
Interesting thread to think about. I really don't see how you can narrow down all of human history and come up with one single most important invention. Inventions all built on previous discoveries and innovations; take away one, and who knows how that changes things.
As one poster said above, steam power had to be the catalyst that changed so much that had been static for thousands of years and pushed history into modern times. A close second would be the ability to harness electricity.
As one poster said above, steam power had to be the catalyst that changed so much that had been static for thousands of years and pushed history into modern times. A close second would be the ability to harness electricity.
The wheel. Fire is a naturally occurring phenomenon, so you can't say that it was invented. It was harnessed.
I mean, technically the wheel is just a way of harnessing naturally-occurring matter by shaping it into a disc.
Anyway, probably not the greatest or most important, but I've always had a soft spot for the flyball governor. It's just so simple and elegant.
I know many have said electricity. Reciprocating power is a human invention that made it widely available almost everywhere humans and animals work and live. Air and space travel should also be included. Keeping time with watches and clocks of all kinds. Weather forecasting has saved untold lives. Communications, motion pictures, and pictures broadcast through the air. Sterilization of harmful germs and bacterial growth. Mass production of alcoholic beverages sure has made many of us happy. Nuclear power and medicines. Ex-ray for medical and other beneficial ways. Language and recording of it by writing, typing, etc. Fossil fuels (both good and bad.) Capturing solar power for electricity. Running water systems. I thought about education but the fact that so many non-human life forms educate the offspring of going through life. Astrological navigation. Domestication of animals. Producing more human-engineered plants that are more favorable, faster-growing, hybridizations.
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I was going to say indoor plumbing, but I think electricity has improved quality of life on a much larger scale.
I'll add what I don't think has been mentioned ... the automobile. Followed closely by the airplane.
Could you imagine all of us trying to live our lives if our only means for transportation was a horse?
And before you say "train travel", that was extremely limiting. The individual use of the automobile and the sophistication of the air travel system make so many of the things that we do and enjoy for work and play/recreation possible.
Could you imagine all of us trying to live our lives if our only means for transportation was a horse?
And before you say "train travel", that was extremely limiting. The individual use of the automobile and the sophistication of the air travel system make so many of the things that we do and enjoy for work and play/recreation possible.
Not so much an invention, but the original agricultural techniques and the advancement of those techniques over the following centuries and millennia.
Agriculture allowed humans to switch from hunter/gatherer and semi/nomadic lifestyles. Civilization as we know it grew from agriculture. Advancements in agriculture allowed more people to spend time doing something other than gathering food. Countless advancements, inventions, and technologies came from this. Including…beer!
Agriculture allowed humans to switch from hunter/gatherer and semi/nomadic lifestyles. Civilization as we know it grew from agriculture. Advancements in agriculture allowed more people to spend time doing something other than gathering food. Countless advancements, inventions, and technologies came from this. Including…beer!
How about a hammer? Unless of course they were using properly shaped rocks to drive the nails.
