What's the greatest invention of all time?
I read this from Raymond, which prompted this post.
To qualify for greatness, an invention would have to affect the most people and benefit humankind in a big way
When pondering this question, I’ve heard things like:
- Wheel
- Transistor
- Computer
- Printing Press
- Vaccines
- In4ternal combustion engine
- Cars
- Planes
- Sandwich
- Language
- Internet
- Tablet PC
Two things that are rarely mentioned come to mind: phonetics and the decimal representation of numbers.
By phonetics I mean that there is a simple relationship between the written and oral representations of a word or concept. Phonetics allows humans to communicate simply through the span of generations. People can learn from the accumulated knowledge of predecessors.
By decimal representation I mean the 1’s, 10’s, 100’s decimal number system that we use today (including understanding and using zero). Imagine mathematics and science without decimal numbers, or even with Roman numerals. Of course, I’d prefer base 8 rather than base 10, so things like ½, ¼, 1/8, etc. would be simpler. Imagine drill bits: which is bigger: 5/64th or 3/32nd ?
Then again, wouldn’t it be nice to have 10 days in a week, 10 months in a year, 10 hours in a day, 10 seconds in a minute? And the US would be using the metric system.
I don’t know to whom to attribute these two “inventions”, but I think they are of such immense importance to humans that they should not be forgotten
Comments
Anonymous
December 07, 2005
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December 07, 2005
Now, let's not forget sliced bread.Anonymous
December 08, 2005
It is sometimes difficult to qualify things as inventions, especially when considering them in their own right. For example the computer could not have been conceived without the prior 'invention' of the transistor, itself born of the idea behind the valve whose own generation could only have been brought about after the discovery of the properties of semiconductors, preceded by that of the electron and so on.
Did the sandwich exist before sliced bread? Or perhaps a more pertinent question, did the sandwich exist before the Earl of Sandwich, after whom the standard lunch of millions is named?
Without belittling the tremendous feats of brilliance shown by many inventors all over the world, it is often difficult to tell how much of an invention was actually 'invented'. Many of the items people credit as modern inventions are simply miniaturisations of older versions, such as the transistor and the Tablet PC.
Your honourable mention of the decimal system and phonetics are much more than inventions. I would consider them as full paradigm shifts in the evolution of civilisation. Indeed the spread of some such concepts would not have been so wide were it not for the military 'inventions' (referring here not only to weaponry but also to intellectual inventions in strategy and technique) of peoples like the Chinese, Romans and Greeks enabling their expansive conquests.
In summary, while we're staring in awe at the marvellous inventions we use in every day life today, it's worth remembering - and giving credit to - the full historical origins of these inventions and how they came about. Thanks for bringing it up.
aleem.juma@gmail.comAnonymous
December 08, 2005
IMHO- 1) Wheel and a close second I think is the whole freon /refrigeration/Air conditioning thingy.Anonymous
December 08, 2005
A lots of inventions are due to others, as they mentioned before, transistors to computers, slide bread to sandwich, etc.
IMHO one great invention that lead to many others is the electricity, but there is many others like the wheel, the first tools, etc.
All this inventions that are natural for our daily living, but we can not live with out them.
Thanks for giving us the opportunity to think in this small thing that keeping us alive.
Hernan E. DelgadoAnonymous
December 08, 2005
What about plastics? They're everywhere nowadays and I don't think we can live without them and maintain our lifestyleAnonymous
December 08, 2005
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December 08, 2005
TiVo, the Toaster Oven, and Visual FoxProAnonymous
December 08, 2005
Who invented human beings?Anonymous
December 08, 2005
Satellites? Cel phones?
Didn't apes invent human beings? <tic>Anonymous
December 08, 2005
I clicked to quickly.
I wanted to say that anything that furthers communication is a great invention. It's just that some of these things advance the state of communication more than others.
The really important invention would be to take communication to the next level. Communication without understanding is really hollow. How do we invent something that conveys the true meaning of what we intend to give to the the other parties so that they understand what we really mean. How can understanding of all of the communication we are inundated with be crystal clear?Anonymous
December 08, 2005
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December 13, 2005
[quote - Carl Warner]
The really important invention would be to take communication to the next level. Communication without understanding is really hollow. How do we invent something that conveys the true meaning of what we intend to give to the the other parties so that they understand what we really mean. How can understanding of all of the communication we are inundated with be crystal clear?
[/quote]
Carl, you have a very good point! However, this ideal will be impossible while we still use communication that can be interpreted in different ways. Until communication elements have only one meaning and any concept can only be communicated in one way, there will always be ambiguity in communication.
Hmmm... those criteria sound familiar... anyone see the link with computers? Computers have been communicating with such languages for a long time now. Standards sets such as the IETF RFC repository (www.ietf.org/rfc.html) and ISO standards (www.iso.org) have been instrumental in standardising communication across the globe.
For example, the standard defining the Internet Protocol (IP) ensures that any computer can construct a message with absolute certainty that any other computer on the Internet can understand its contents.
Sounds like something we humans might try and emulate...Anonymous
January 22, 2006
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March 19, 2006
generatorsAnonymous
April 26, 2006
the aeroplane.
it gave people wings and hope.
allowing mankind to believe that impossible is nothing (thus resulting in many more inventions).Anonymous
June 12, 2006
The Thermos.Anonymous
September 14, 2006
Nobody has said "writing" yet, so I think I should!
Writing is not a natural instinct for humans.
Of course, this would have started with the cave-wall paintings created by cavemen.
There is more I can say, but can't, the brain's fried, I'm actually procrastinating from an essay on technological determinism.Anonymous
January 30, 2007
Immunization and Antibiotics. Three centuries ago, almost everyone died of infectious diseases.Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Light weight writing materials: This allowed for the spread of ideas. This goes along with writing in general. With out writing knowledge is limited to what individuals can remember in their own minds. It would make it impossible to accumulate great knowledge. Light weight writing materials (paper, papyrus, etc) allows the knowledge of one group of people to be easily transported to another group to then be expanded upon (Before this people wrote on caves, rocks, stone tablets, etc...) Knowledge leads to invention; Alexander Bell would not have been able to invent the telephone if he had no knowledge of electricity, conductance, magnetism, even the basics of how to make wire… He read what was written down by men before him.Anonymous
July 08, 2007
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August 27, 2007
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August 27, 2007
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April 17, 2008
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April 20, 2008
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April 21, 2008
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May 12, 2008
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July 25, 2008
obv computers!!!! dont u think soAnonymous
September 27, 2008
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December 12, 2008
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January 11, 2009
the greatest invention of all times would be a modern day toilet...Anonymous
January 11, 2009
the greatest invention of all times would be a modern day toilet...Anonymous
March 30, 2009
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May 20, 2009
Well, the greatest invention of all time would be artificial intelligence, for as far I can see in the future..Anonymous
June 16, 2009
PingBack from http://lowcostcarinsurances.info/story.php?id=106Anonymous
September 15, 2009
The greatest invention of all time is the invention of language. Think about it, if language was not invented, we would all be wondering around like idiots trying to communicate our thoughts with grunts and what not. Without laungage, none of these other inventions would exist. We wouldn't have a need for them.Anonymous
October 04, 2011
No doubt, Wheel was the most important invention till now. generation of electricity even needed its principle to be generating ! and it was need for so many machines as well as transportations and more... So, the importance is of invention which make the life easier and give more profit to the human was the standard. but in the present become nothing could be in comparable with the saving the life on our planet. But believe look at the European Patent Office, about The Greatest Invention ever an Invention will save our Planet, and will dramatically change the life of all humanity by an alternative free green energy. Patent no. (EP1980745) For any question and detail, may you contact media office of the inventor, Ibrahim Hussein Ibrahim: (Ibrahim.h.Ibrahim@live.com)