Greatest Inventions

[dark]

Today in history class I realized, the steam engine was the greatest achievement in all of relative history. Fire doesn't even hold up against the engine. Look at how fast technology has advanced after the engine, an entire new world opened up. Of course I am biased since I like fast cars, but that doesn't change the fact that this was a really good thing.

What items would you all see as the Greatest Invention and why?

I am sure there wouldn't be anything made that compares to this, the engine affects our lives more than almost anything else.

 

[Amor Anti]

Written language.
Not exactly a "technological" invention, no, but nonetheless.
It allowed ideas to spread more rapidly from place to place plus allowed them to be preserved through time. An entire society changes when its population becomes literate. Thought is deeply connected to language, specifically to the ability to communicate one's thoughts. And being able to read and write deeply enhances that ability.

 

[EvilScientist Trainee]

Microscope, 'cause it was one of the main factors behind the biology we have today. And of course, telescope, which if we didn't had, there would be no microscope.

 

[Melllvar]

Computers/internet are probably the best of the past 50-100 years, IMO. I'd vote for calculus (i.e. physics), analytic geometry (i.e. mathematics) and the periodic table (i.e. chemistry) for the past 500, since they pretty much gave birth to most of modern science. Probably the invention of zero, negative numbers and printing before that.

I'm just coming up with stuff off the top of my head though.

 

[foemangler]

the wheel

 

[Jesse]

Clothes. Because without clothes we would be naked.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Today in history class I realized, the steam engine was the greatest achievement in all of relative history. Fire doesn't even hold up against the engine. Look at how fast technology has advanced after the engine, an entire new world opened up. Of course I am biased since I like fast cars, but that doesn't change the fact that this was a really good thing.

What items would you all see as the Greatest Invention and why?

I am sure there wouldn't be anything made that compares to this, the engine affects our lives more than almost anything else.

Nothing, really. Progress works just like violence, it'll just continue on becoming greater and greater until it reaches a self-destructive point.

Quality of life is really relative anyhow.

 

[snafupants]

Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla (apparent rivals) should be in the running for top inventor. Also, whoever invented/innovated the internet (n.b., it's definitely not Al Gore!).

 

[The Frood]

^ Edison was a patent thief, Tesla was better. lol

But as for the question. I would say, the plow. The plow was the causation method behind civilization

(go youtube "connections" by James Burke, and watch some episodes, amazing documentary (from the mid-late 80's I think) that expands upon this idea, and similar inventions)

 

[Anthile]

Gravity. Hah!

 

[The Frood]

^ Edison was a patent thief, Tesla was better. lol

But as for the question. I would say, the plow. The plow was the causation method behind civilization

(go youtube "connections" by James Burke, and watch some episodes, amazing documentary (from the mid-late 80's I think) that expands upon this idea, and similar inventions)

 

[Thoughtful]

Pizza

Or maybe the printing press. Much higher literacy seems to have lead to many more inventors.

 

[Cognisant]

The furnace.

Without a furnace you can't have anything but the most basic metalwork, and without metal it's impossible to build anything durable enough to warrant the expenditure of energy in order to create it, sure you can make industrial era machinery out of wood or stone but how expensive is that, how much maintenance would it need, and remember you can't melt down and reuse wood or stone.

The furnace also has many other vital roles, like firing ceramics, making glass, internal heating, energy generation, which leads me to the point that a steam engine is basically just a self propelling furnace.

Fire was man’s greatest discovery.
The furnace was man’s greatest invention.

 

[Agent Intellect]

Spoiler

If someone hadn't started picking crap up off the ground and modifying it, we a) would not have survived long enough to invent anything else and b) would not have had the spark of ingenuity that led to everything else.

 

[Cognisant]

So what, tools are the greatest invention...
But aren’t all inventions tools in one way or another?

That’s just saying the greatest invention of all time was: innovation.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

That’s just saying the greatest invention of all time was: innovation.

Mind = blown

 

[dark]

^Genius.
Tesla was the real intellect between the two, Edison was a poser, he ony acted like he was intelligent when in reality he didn't know anything in comparison.

 

[warryer]

The gun. I would say the gun has had more influence on the world than any other piece of technology. We still use it today because it works so well.

Sad but true.

 

[Saeros]

I have several best "inventions":

- Antibiotics: They destroy bacteria, and prevent infection. Antibiotics cure disease by killing or injuring bacteria.

- Anesthesia: Can you imagine what it was like performing a surgery before this? Imagine an amputation without anesthesia.

- Printing Press: Allowed us to print books.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

Contraceptive FTW!

Diaper makers would be more powerful than Big Oil without them. Just imagine what kind of environmental disasters they would get away with....

 

[dark]

The gun. I would say the gun has had more influence on the world than any other piece of technology. We still use it today because it works so well.

Sad but true.

I would have to disagree, guns seems logically, at the time of its invention, to be weaker than the other projectile weapons, specifically the crossbow. Guns I think succeeded only because, well the movie "Shoot'em Up" explains it easy enough, allows a wimpy asshole to act tough, when before the wimpy actually had to become tough to act tough less they risk being crushed.

 

[warryer]

I would have to disagree, guns seems logically, at the time of its invention, to be weaker than the other projectile weapons, specifically the crossbow. Guns I think succeeded only because, well the movie "Shoot'em Up" explains it easy enough, allows a wimpy asshole to act tough, when before the wimpy actually had to become tough to act tough less they risk being crushed.

That's exactly the reason why the gun imo is the "greatest" invention. It levels out the playing field. Money suddenly is not a barrier to having power. A peasant wielding a gun can have kill a sword wielding knight where a bow and arrow could not. No longer does a person have to train for years and years and spend all kinds of money to be effective in war. They can literally destroy their enemies in the time it takes to figure out what the trigger is for.

The gun redefines what it means to have power.

 

[LPolaright]

Teleporters!!!
Oh, wait... We're not there yet...
Bummer.

I'd have to go with metacognition.
because it's the only place where everyone of us could actually make a difference.

 

[gruesomebrat]

A peasant wielding a gun can have kill a sword wielding knight where a bow and arrow could not. No longer does a person have to train for years and years and spend all kinds of money to be effective in war. They can literally destroy their enemies in the time it takes to figure out what the trigger is for.

So, you consider the original WMD to be the greatest invention of all time? Wouldn't that mean that the chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons of today are also "great" inventions?

My personal opinion favours the printing press as the greatest invention. Without mass publication, the spread of knowledge, and specifically, the spread of scientific knowledge could not have made it as far as it did. Newton's Laws of Gravity, and his application of them to the relationships between celestial bodies, could not have come about, if the works of Galileo, Brahe, Copernicus, and Kepler had not been publicized. While Newton's inspiration for his study of gravity may have come from the proverbial apple dropping from the tree, he would not have made the connections to space without reading the works of those who came before him. Newton acknowledged this himself when he said that "If I have seen a little farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants" in a letter to Robert Hooke in early 1676. Without the printing press, Newton could not have climbed up onto the shoulders of the giants before him, to look "farther than others".

 

[snafupants]

BILLY MAYS HERE! (too soon?)

 

[EyeSeeCold]

BILLY MAYS HERE! (too soon?)

 

[Bird]

Aqueducts.

 

[s0nystyle]

microwaves

 

[The Journey]

Today in history class I realized, the steam engine was the greatest achievement in all of relative history. Fire doesn't even hold up against the engine. Look at how fast technology has advanced after the engine, an entire new world opened up. Of course I am biased since I like fast cars, but that doesn't change the fact that this was a really good thing.

What items would you all see as the Greatest Invention and why?

I am sure there wouldn't be anything made that compares to this, the engine affects our lives more than almost anything else.

You need to define what "great" is in this context.

Is it an invention that had the greatest effect on history?

Or is it an invention that is most useful in today's world.

 

[Vrecknidj]

The kaross.

Electricity.

Antibiotics.


Frankly, I think the modern world began with Gutenberg's printing press.


Dave

 

[MunkySpanker]

Today in history class I realized, the steam engine was the greatest achievement in all of relative history. Fire doesn't even hold up against the engine. Look at how fast technology has advanced after the engine, an entire new world opened up. Of course I am biased since I like fast cars, but that doesn't change the fact that this was a really good thing.

What items would you all see as the Greatest Invention and why?

I am sure there wouldn't be anything made that compares to this, the engine affects our lives more than almost anything else.

the condom.

before this, girls used to be able to use "getting pregnant" as a reason to not have sex with us (referring to men, not INTP's...haha). after this invention, many more men were convincing many more women to have sex. Then they resorted to "being on the rag" and "you're not tall enough" and "get off me I said no."

now if one could only invent a device that would be as successful to get women to have sex with INTP's, there is something I would invest in.

 

[Jean Paul]

Microscope, 'cause it was one of the main factors behind the biology we have today. And of course, telescope, which if we didn't had, there would be no microscope.

I concor

 

[warryer]

So, you consider the original WMD to be the greatest invention of all time? Wouldn't that mean that the chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons of today are also "great" inventions?

Yea they would be also great but not greater than the gun. I've gone and defined great as the invention which has had the most influence in the world.

I think I would have to reconsider and also say the printing press is the greatest invention. Nothing is more influential than knowledge and ideas. I think the gun would be second to the printing press though.

 

[dark]

^Just read MunkySpankers post... I understand now... Think I will just skip over his posts when I encounter them from now on.

 

[gruesomebrat]

Hmm, I was being a bit sarcastic when I called WMD's great... but I can agree that on the historical significance scale, guns would rate relatively high. They were, after all, a contributing factor to the extinction of a number of the most advanced cultures of the 1500's. So, historically, yeah... near the top of the list...

Just a quick correction, since I don't think anyone commented on it yet. Neither electricity nor gravity were inventions. These were discoveries. Gravity was always there, it just hadn't been defined until Newton; same with electricity and Franklin. Greatest discovery of all time: Fire. Without it, society could not have advanced. Language is another discovery/invention that was crucial to the advancement of society.

 

[mke2686]

has to be the hadron collider...

 

[IfloatTHRUlife]

I would just have to say that in saying, "the greatest invention of all time" you have to consider that despite things like the printing press etc. being some of the most influential inventions, they would only be great inventions, not greatest. There is no such thing as the best or greatest anything, everything can be made better.

So i would either just have to agree with what Cog said, that innovation itself is the "greatest invention" despite innovation not exactly being something we invented, it just happens. Or i would have say you would have to settle for the most ground breaking recent invention, which i honestly couldn't begin to decide what that would be.

 

[JoeJoe]

You need to define what "great" is in this context.

Is it an invention that had the greatest effect on history?

Or is it an invention that is most useful in today's world.

I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned earlier. If you just say "greatest invention" everyone is going to come up with something else, because they have different definitions of "great" in the context of invention.

So far, here are some of the focal points the commentors are using in this thread so far which I was able to discern:

• Impact on society
• Beneficiality for society
• Impact on new inventions/spread of knowledge

I didn't go through each post individually to check how they justified their judgments. Maybe someone else can complete the list, if there is anything to complete?

 

[gruesomebrat]

JoeJoe, that seems pretty accurate. There are very few exceptions to those three, and it seems most of the exceptions were jokes, rather than actual thoughts on the greatest invention. Notable examples: condoms, pizza, and clothes...

Difficult to tell just which of the inventions mentioned here really is the greatest. So many great suggestions. It's hard to pick just one of the inventions mentioned.

 

[FearDunn]

The Guinness Draught widget.

 

[Acrogamnon]

Do you mean specific inventions, or general groups of items? For example TVs are actually several devices replacing each other over time, working on very different principles. If the principle of operation of the original TVs was not invented, it would only delay their creation.

Also some inventions may be influential, but were pretty much obvious after some other advances. For example after the diesel engine was invented, it was only a matter of time before someone strapped some armor on a vehicle and got a tank. Same about the airplane - the basics of aerodynamics were understood well enough, its creation required a powerful enough engine, but after such engine appeared, a lot of people started working on the airplane and someone would succeed pretty soon anyway.

On the other hand, some inventions seem to have came before their time. The nuclear bomb for example is a product of a theory that could have easily stayed unknown for decades more, and a nation with a lot of resources, desperate to get an advantage over its enemy. Without a combination of these, it would be created decades later (and without deterrence it provided, WWII would most likely be followed by WWIII).

Another advance like this would be vaccination - at the time of its development the whole principle was not obvious, it helped save a lot of lives, and provided greater incentive for more scientific study of medicine.

In warfare stirrup was a very simple thing that was not discovered for centuries of military use of horses, but when it was, it changed warfare for the next thousand years.

 

[RobdoR]

I'm gonna go with "money"