What’s the greatest invention evar?
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48 Comments!
Ice cube dispenser in fridge door.
You mean invented by mankind?
teh innertoobs!
Thermos (dewar flask). Keeps the hot stuff hot, and the cold stuff cold.
How do it kow??
No contest. Washing machine. I turn to jelly when ours is down for repairs.
If by “greatest” you mean most efficient, widespread and change-making, the Nicky Tesla takes it with the electric transformer.
Take THAT, Thomas A. Edison!
Duct Tape.
It’s like the force, it has a light side, a dark side, and holds the universe together.
The concept of money.
Woman.
If you mean within the realm of what humans have created, I’d have to say to date it would be the silicon transistor, however it is a two edged sword.
It is both the greatest, and the most terrible thing ever to come from the human mind.
The number zero. Modern math wouldn’t exist without it, and all real science rests on math.
Some sumbitch (AM) beat me to it: Duct Tape
Hey, I was taking a nap.
The roof has a lot going for it. Without it, I wouldn’t have a dry place to fry bacon, which is very important. Matches; to light the stove to fry bacon.
Steam engine; allowed us to move away from rivers and still have power. Coke; allowed us to manufacture iron and steel without turning forests into charcoal. Coal is wonderful. Chainsaws; make cutting down trees a whole lotta fun.
Gotta go to bed so I can get up in the morning and have my bacon, under my roof.
Okay, duct tape is up there, but in all serialness, I’m going have to go with mojo, and Tesla.
If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be having this what passes for a conversation.
Language. It enabled that first person to say “Let’s get the fuck out of Africa”. His progeny has flourished ever since. Not so much for the hanger-ons.
Can’t pick one. Here’s my short list:
the wheel
air conditioning
the remote control
the condom
Sliced white bread?
Air conditioning has to be at the top of the list at least where I live anyway. I did live without it until I married, that’s when I first learned the use of “yes dear”.
In the practical sense, either the printing press or the iron plow.
On a more personal note, another toss-up . . . either the character of Claire on the original Cosby Show or the Angela character on Bones.
Thanks to my short attention span, the greatest invention evar is whatever I’m trying to build or acquire at the moment. This weekend that item is a rig enabling fishing from my waverunner.
http://www.jetskisportfishing.com/3-4-pvc-cooler-rod-rack-p5895.html
Belt fed weapons.
Cain`t believe I am the first one to note this. Question: What invention allowed homo sapiens to thrive and rise to the top of all animals on earth?
FLINTSTONE TOOLS!!!!!! No OTHER invention has ever lasted for 1,000,000 years, give or take! (…even today, in the year of our Lord, 2012, Flints are an absolute necessity for a fucking Zippo lighter!…)
Now—-on a personal level, regarding my own personality enhancement, I must point out the second most important invention: Evan Williams 1783 Kentucky Sour Mash Whiskey!
The pencil.
^ ColJ (21) ‘beat me to it, dangit!
I was going to say, “Edge on a stick.”
A flint edge can occur naturally, so any swingin’-arm Homo could trip over one and use it. Homo habilis (I think) refined this to making tailored tools; but the friggin’ genius who tied a flint edge to a stick made the rest of mankind’s progress possible (think: knife, ax, spear, arrow, hoe, peanut-butter spreader). I mean, this Jasper invented friggin’ technology, not just the refinement of nature, but the creation of things that had never before existed … ever!
The bra…
Clothes- had to have been the first invention and unlike the leopard, we can change their spots. Shoes (often mentioned here) probably came a little bit later.
Thanks, Yatali! I didn’t see your post til after I posted, I swear.
Along with all the good ones so far — Soap!! ————–ladies might think it’s the”plug”,
batteries of every size? Any tool– Hammer,screw driver,pliers,saw. Ax. I know they all evolved from the originals but— fabric instead of animal skins and leaves.
If you had to wear a bra– you wouldn’t have picked that–
The Colt .45 Revolver and the Winchester Lever Action.
Susan Warren’s Ancestors would have kicked our white bread asses without them.
Wheel. But first, there had to be tools. Hand tools.
Here is to beer money, machine guns, peanut butter, and if you got only a little patience, a great story about how a couple ww2 vets took their knowledge of a sword and turned it into a plowshare that has prevented many smashed fingers and sore elbows. The history of the first nail gun.
Bacon.
the Thumb.
…and chocolate.
I was thinking about the condom, but PeggyU’s washing machine caught my eye.
So now I’m torn.
Yellow stickies are a really important invention, but not as important as condoms, washing machines, electric lighting, the printing press, antibiotics and of course fixed cartridge ammunition. Also air conditioning.
When my aging mother used to go on and on about “the good old days” I’d ask her if it was true that she suffered from malaria until after 1945, and she’d say “yes.” And then I’d say, “and you got air conditioning after that too.” and she’d say “yes.”
And then I’d say “so what was so good about days with malaria and no air conditioning?” And she’d say “not much.”
So I think that, while pre-1945 inventions were foundational, somehow post-1945 inventions have made life a whole lot better.
Post 1945: did I mention yellow stickies? Also, modern thermonuclear weapons are much more efficient than those crude 1945-era atomic bombs…. oh, wait, okay, maybe not the best example….
Also, I’d have to say that all-time great inventions from before recorded history even started would include pre-marital sex and the inclined plane, one of which was improved in modern times by the advent of the condom.
Urk! I overlooked geezerette’s soap. I’d even give up yellow stickies for soap.
24: there is a video episode somewhere in which a woman takes off her bra (okay, more than one of those) and uses it as a sling to pelt someone or something bigger than she is with good sized rocks. I don’t remember how the episode when, but it occurs to me that this would be a case of getting two birds* with one stone.
* I have heard boobs referred to by various words, but never before as “birds” so I feel that I should get credit here for a creative achievement, however small**.
** “small” …. okay, if you are going to associate that adjective with “birds” then I acknowledge that some “birds” are more like finches, and some are more like bald eagles….
leelu (#4): I got me one of those fancy insulated bags that says “keeps hot things hot and cold things cold”. Well I never. So I figgered I’d try it out. In the morning, I put in a cuppa coffee and an ice cream cone.
What a phoney!!! By noon, the coffee was cold and the ice cream cone melted.
Caged Insanity (#9): transistor. It had far-reaching social repercussions. For one thing, it made the car radio possible, and portable radios and players. Young’uns could now go to the beach and hang out with bring-along music.
But to get all serious, one of the really big ones was … the spur. Way back when. For one thing, it let warriors fight on horseback with weapons of varying effectiveness. And it also enabled the kingly sport of horse-racing.
You mean the stirrup, right?
IinD (36)
There’s also pelicans and, in extreme cases, albatrosses.
Personally, I like modestly sized tits (and other members of the Paridae family).
(What? Yeah, okay, boobies, blue-footed or otherwise.)
As far as the wearing of bras they make up for having to wear them by making them purrty and all lacy and pushey uppy. Just for the guys.
Think of days when there were no toilets—– or soap– or OMG toilet paper— the pheromones must have been very prominent in identifying friend or foe. Wagon trains to the west –Jolly old England and their motes– Ole Ben. F. had it made with his air baths. Probably wouldn’t want to stand behind him while the wind blew in at him.
So what prompted this one Sondra? It’s been fun.
1. Antibiotics
2. Clean water and sewage systems
3. Distributed electric power systems
Ironic – As in, “A bird in the hand …”?
Broad scale stuff would be the several innovations that allow us to control our food supply: the plow, fertilizer, canning, and refrigeration. Few people today realize just how big a deal food preservation is.
I’d also add the boat. It predates the wheel and allowed people to migrate, communicate, and trade over vast distances. I’ve often wondered how Earth might be different if it had more or less ocean. If the continents were not so separated so all land could be reached on foot, we would probably not have the different races and might have developed faster. The oceans were a barrier that allowed great differences in culture, genetics and technology to develop. Those are now mostly gone and the world is becoming homogenized as it would have been had the vast oceans not existed.
Doug 39: albatrosses: brings to mind cosmetic surgery gone wrong.
Peggy 43: Well, thanks for that. I’m not sure why I think it’s so funny* but 10 minutes later I’m still laughing.
* Possibly the best funnies are the ones we can’t explain.
bocopro: Yup. Stirrup. (I’m not much of a horse guy.) The spur was obviously an enhancement enabling really cool gunfight scenes in Western movies.
Annoyed White Male: “I’ve often wondered how Earth might be different if it had more or less ocean.”
For one thing, Earth would be a lot hotter. And there’d be a lot less fish. Fewer, even.
Polio vaccine.