Greatest invention

[Top]

What do'u think is the greatest invention?

[GOURDHEAD]

We may have trouble agreeing on the criteria for greatness. MY shot at it is "that which generated the largest relative leap forward at the time and in the environment of its occurrence". My vote goes to the creating of thread (for sewing and weaving) out of various short fibers (as in spinning). Language and farming would be competitors except they were not invented at one fell swoop but rather slowly evolved and continue to do so.

[tycho1981]

i think its inventions of albert enstein.

[Faulkner]

The greatest invention (and perhaps the oldest) = BEER! :P (Round of applause for those ancient Sumerians!)

Also, without doubt, the Internet is one damn fine invention, too.

[Weaselbunny]

Fire and the wheel? We still use them both :lol:

For me, the motorbike in its many and varied forms (except the Yamaha Virago), and music, also clothes were a pretty groovy idea, especially in winter! :rolleyes:

[DippyHippy]

I don't know if the internet would be the greatest invention but it's certainly revolutionalised the world, in just the same way that other revolutions have in the past (eg, steam, the automobile, flight etc)

I mean, go back in time 10 years and very few of us would have the ability to go online and chat with other people around the world like this. I'd heard of the internet and email but from what I know, it was pretty basic. The first time I heard of someone using the internet for entertainment was in 1996 when my girlfriend at the time looked up a Superman website (no, seriously!) and I myself didn't see a webpage until the next year.

I went online in November 1997 and I can remember magazines predicting the 'net would soon come to a grinding halt due to all the new users eating up the bandwidth.

In fact - and this is true - many moons ago, in the dark ages of early 1998, here in the UK you could tell when America went online because the internet did, quite literally, grind to a halt. It was like a wave of computers being logged on sweeping across America as the country woke up and went to work LOL

[Peter Canuck]

A goo top 5 list in tersm of how they impacted the world....Outside of Atomic technology that is.

In no particular order....

1. The internal combustion engine... we'd all be walking, taking steam locomotives, or complaining about the mess the horse left in the driveway.

2. Plastic... and its various cosuins. Half my house wouldn't be here if it weren't for this little miracle

3. Birth Control Pill / Condom ... It has been the liberating and defining force for half the population of the planet.

4. Modern PC / Internet ... the net goes with the personal PC. Many people wouldn't care to have a computer at home if they couldn't do somethign other than play solitaire.

5. Semi-Automatic and Automatic weapons ... Johnny got a gun, and it fires several hundred rounds in a short amount of time enabling Johnny to decimate the human gene-pool in an efficient manner.

Honorable mention....
Beer
Television
Penicillin - Antibiotics - Insulin
Sign Language and Braille


I'm open to suggestions people, but that 5 is tough to beat...

[DippyHippy]

Why oh why oh why has no one mentioned sliced bread yet??? :P

[Peter Canuck]

Who needs sliced bread...

Jam tastes good on waffles too!

[Faulkner]

Who invented money?? :huh: (Not a very good invention, I must admit).

[Chook]

THE SCREW.
(No cracks from you Faukner! :D )

No screws = no industry, no easy assembly/disassembly of any kind. (No computers, no space industry etc.)

Maybe on an equal footing to the wheel and the gear.

[Faulkner]

The screwdriver? (No cracks from you, Chook! :P )

[Weaselbunny]

I saw a programme a couple of weeks ago, it was about inventors. There was this guy, during industrial revolution times, who owned a factory. Quite a pedantic man by all acounts.

But he standardised the size of screws/screw threads within his factory and the idea spread. Before that each bolt was made for its own specific nut, nightmare. Just imagine how many DIY related tragedies could result from that frustration!

I'm thinking anaestetic was a good idea.

And I'm sure the ladies would all agree, thank goodness for bras, chocolate and hair dryers! ;)

[Faulkner]

Ha ha ha...

And the BLOKES in this forum should certainly agree: beers, pizza, and, uhmm, ladies.

:P But damn true, whoever even invented the idea of "standardization" rocks, because it allows us ALL to share in the delights of others!...

Remember the fiasco with the old Mars probe (Observer?) that disappeared because half the scientists were using "kilometers" and the other half were using "miles"!?

Ridiculous, wasn't it?

[Peter Canuck]

Standardization was a revolutionary concept. Does a concept count as an invention?
Standard time and time zones would also be pretty huge. Before that every local town could set its time when it wanted...Usually based on sunrise/sunset/ and high noon.

So at point A it could be 12 noon, get on the train for a half hour and go 20 miles down the line and when you got off it was 1:30 local time.

Standard time... Invented while they laid the railroad across CANADA.

[galaxygirl]

I would have to say that stuff like cars, planes, trains, etc are pretty important. Also, we wouldn't have gotten far without school and medicine.

[fisherofmen]

The GREATEST invention is the ability to read DNA.

This discovery has imprisoned the guilty, freed the innocent and put Darwins theory of Evolution to shame!

[Peter Canuck]

I think that would be more of a discovery than an invention. It is of great imporatance but might not be considered an invention.
An instrument that could alter DNA would an invention. Reading and mapping it is a discovery.

[Tinaa]

How 'bout the printing press? It helped shake the reign of the church and ushered in the Renaissance.

[Garry Murphy]

The greatest invention of all time I think was the dishwasher! Can you imagine cleaning dishes all day long ? All you do nowadays is put the dishes in , press a button and hey presto , after an hour they are clean - the miracles of science.I suppose I will have to say the mobile phone was good too.

[Cambo]

For a second I thought this was going to be a serious question and answer topic!
Wrong again!
I really like the zipper for my silly answer. Unbuttoning a fly to do what boys do, well, it's too slow and accidents happen. Accidents happened with zippers too but only once, you then are really careful.
Fro the serious answer... harnessing electricity. I can't agree with fire since it wasn't invented just controlled, the wheel is up there though.

[Peter Canuck]

Some of us still do dishes by hand!!!

I still like my top 5 though I will admit adding the printing press to make it 6 is a tough group to beat.

[galaxygirl]

One invention I couldn't live without is the microwave! :D

[AmateurSpaceCase]

!!! Ice Cream !!! :P :D :lol: B) :rolleyes: :)

[zooplancton]

for me:
and those are some tough ones peter, mine would be:

-- the "inter"vention that created Stephen Hawking

-- Hi-Fidelity, re-producing music. -(let's go back to instruments for live)

-- breathable oxygenated water

-- the lighter

-- Aerogel: world's lightest solid.


beer and wine are stuffed in there somewhere near the front compartment.
-b

[kashi]

The greatest invention is the button here that says "close topic"...nah I'm only kidding.

I think google is the greatest invention.

[Algenon the mouse]

I would have to say the printing press along with libraries that allow you to get books and go on the internet via the computer. Now anyone can get information.

For my less serious answer I would have to say that mustard and ketchup are on the top of my list. How else would you be able to disguise cooking mistakes?

[Weaselbunny]

Accidents happened with zippers too but only once, you then are really careful.
:lol: :lol: :P :lol: :lol:

[VanderL]

Hi there,
let's add these as well

- Hygiene, more specifically the toilet and a good sewage system.
- Irrigation
- Language/Writing

Cheers.

My vote goes to beer, that was one of the few germ-free drinks in ancient times.
Cheers again.

[Weaselbunny]

You Dutch guys really like your ale don't ya!... Or is it just you VanderL ;)

[GOURDHEAD]

Does our definition of greatness give much weight to how small the giants were on whose shoulders the inventors stood? How much of a leap from what was before?

[Hoore500]

Lie-detector?

[VanderL]

You Dutch guys really like your ale don't ya!... Or is it just you VanderL ;)

Well, whenever I'm ordering in a bar there's always a line. Funny though, I thought there were countries where beer consumption is higher than over here. Maybe ours are tastier? :rolleyes:

Proost.

[Weaselbunny]

The queue! Now there's a British invention (concept) that has stood the test of time! :D

(We queue for beer too, sometimes the queues are very big and a little cut-throat! :( )

[Chook]

I don't think anybody has mentioned CLOTHING.
(But, then, they didn't invent the Fig Leaf did they!) <_<

[GOURDHEAD]

I don't think anybody has mentioned CLOTHING.

Early on I mentioned the spinning of thread from short fibers which is essential to much of clothing manufacture. It required such a large leap forward from what was before that spinning is still my favorite.

[Chook]

I was aware of your earlier excellent post, Gourd, but I was considering the earlier "discovery" of body-covering via animal hide. Presumably this had been made necessary in order to keep warm (because of a shortage of dogs ha!) <_<

[imported_Swift]

Computer best invention no doubt!

[GREAT MIND]

DUH!


The greatest invention was THE TELESCOPE!
B)

[String Fan]

The telephone, without a single doubt in my mi..... :unsure:

Oh wait, it might be Steel.

[Weaselbunny]

I was thinking about great inventions... and my mind wandered onto the pen and made me chuckle... you know, the Americans spend millions developing a pen that will work in space... the Russians take a pencil :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Chook]

Quote Weasel:
"the Americans spend millions developing a pen that will work in space... the Russians take a pencil."

Another example of KISS. <_<

[aries_4_5_48]

......hierarchical society, who then defines progress, progress defines what
inventions are 'great', and which are not.................... :ph34r:

"No single idea has been more important than, perhaps as
important as, the idea of progress in Western civilization for
nearly 3,000 years." Nisbet

WAR IS PEACE HATE IS LOVE AND THE
U.S. PATRIOT ACT WAS PASSED TO PROTECT
YOUR RIGHTS

[StarLab]

I thought the greatest inventions were fire and the tameable animal! :o :D ;)

[DippyHippy]

Weasel & Chook, great, if you remember your sharpener or your penknife!!

[Gondo]

The number one invention in the history of mankind would have to be language.

The second is money (like it or not), it rules our lives and most, if not all the other inventions came about or were perfected in the persuit of money.

[StarLab]

That's an intelligent first post, Gondo. ;)

[Weaselbunny]

Hang on, we're missing the most fantabulous invention of them all.... The Motorbike!!!

[StarLab]

I think we're talking about safe, relevant inventions here, WB! :lol:

[Planetwatcher]

How about a little three letter word, we all do, but don't talk about.

SEX
;) :P :D :lol: B)

[isferno]

Do you know that in prehistoric times, when a "virgin" girl didn't choose a husband, but managed to give a lot a guys the feeling that she might belong to them, these girls were "sacrificed" to maintain piece within a small settlement.
Ugly invention of "appeasing the gods" to bar the bad luck suddenly happing within the settlement, all in name of love, jealousy and competition.

Too bad less smart people incorporated such "virgin" sacrifices without understanding the why behind it.
ex. stupid telling stupid, hey, our wise man sacrified a virgin, and all went well again. stupid, cool, I'm gonna use that too. Of coarse, any problem caused by nature (gods/spirits) would solve anyway.

of coarse, those "virgins" now earn there living on the street or behind a red lit window

[Cambo]

Isferno,
the thread was about greatest inventions and taking your idea a bit further...
The RED LIGHT was the greatest invention!
Well is stopped your 'virgins' being sacrificed... I'd say the 'virgins' thought is was a good idea.:)
The young and not so young men of the 'settlement' who had a problem finding a wife would have thought it was a good idea. :wub:

It stopped a few frustrating disagreements getting out of hand, or is that not really a good phrase to use...umm depends which way you... never mind leave it alone.:blink:

And from what I have heard the Dutch definitely have the concept of 'window shopping' in a Red Light district down to a fine art. :lol:

[isferno]

I wouldn't call it the greatest invention Cambo.

[jimmy]

The caveman who first tied a piece of animal gut to two ends of a branch and plucked it.. the stringed instrument. Though the drum probably came before it. :)