greatest inventions ever
April 2, 2008 1:36 AM Subscribe
serious question, quick experiment:
what are the three greatest inventions in history?
I mean inventions, not "ability to think abstractly" or something else that evolved.
thanks.
This post was deleted for the following reason: chatfilter. -- jessamyn
Fire, writing, the wheel.
(but if you research Literacy you can build the Great Library and things get easier)
posted by nasreddin at 1:43 AM on April 2, 2008 [4 favorites]
(but if you research Literacy you can build the Great Library and things get easier)
posted by nasreddin at 1:43 AM on April 2, 2008 [4 favorites]
SO has been raving on about this (Venturi Effect - aspirators ect.) lately...
I think a lot of Tesla's work is just mindblowing. I couldn't pick one.
What about Binominal Nomenclature? Or is that not exactly what you were looking for?
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 2:15 AM on April 2, 2008
I think a lot of Tesla's work is just mindblowing. I couldn't pick one.
What about Binominal Nomenclature? Or is that not exactly what you were looking for?
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 2:15 AM on April 2, 2008
Response by poster: I really mean things that a person (or persons) invented, because they didn't occur in nature.
by "fire" one means "control over fire" so I guess that counts.
not to bias responding, but people often say things like "the telephone" which would be the right kind of answer whether it's your favorite or not.
what I'm wondering is how often a certain invention shows up in people's responses.
posted by cogneuro at 2:23 AM on April 2, 2008
by "fire" one means "control over fire" so I guess that counts.
not to bias responding, but people often say things like "the telephone" which would be the right kind of answer whether it's your favorite or not.
what I'm wondering is how often a certain invention shows up in people's responses.
posted by cogneuro at 2:23 AM on April 2, 2008
I could make an argument for the steam locomotive and its effect on the gene pool- people by and large, before the industrial revolution, married within a very limited geographical area. Once people could travel long distances quickly, more people began to travel and marry farther afield.
posted by pjern at 2:24 AM on April 2, 2008
posted by pjern at 2:24 AM on April 2, 2008
Agriculture (bad for the individual but necessary to forming non-nomadic societies of more than approx. 150 people), writing (originally to record commercial obligations, later used to preserve hsitry and transmit culture and codify law), astronomy (to predict future events and provide a calendar).
Fire's a big nice-to-have, especially for metallurgy, but it's not a necessity; one can imagine an aquatic species becoming dominant without it (probably by putting more effort into biology, animal husbandry, and genetics, to make up for lacking metals). Similarly the wheel: while very useful where roads exist or can be made to exist, or as a way to measure distances (early architecture) or provide reciprocal motion (motors, etc.), it can be substituted for by other forms of locomotion, measurement, and rhythmic motion.
posted by orthogonality at 2:26 AM on April 2, 2008
Fire's a big nice-to-have, especially for metallurgy, but it's not a necessity; one can imagine an aquatic species becoming dominant without it (probably by putting more effort into biology, animal husbandry, and genetics, to make up for lacking metals). Similarly the wheel: while very useful where roads exist or can be made to exist, or as a way to measure distances (early architecture) or provide reciprocal motion (motors, etc.), it can be substituted for by other forms of locomotion, measurement, and rhythmic motion.
posted by orthogonality at 2:26 AM on April 2, 2008
The wheel, the lever, and the semiconductor junction.
posted by No Mutant Enemy at 2:26 AM on April 2, 2008
posted by No Mutant Enemy at 2:26 AM on April 2, 2008
Greatest? Too hard. Great? The gun, the boat, and the printing press. Put the three together and you can sure spread a civilization.
posted by thedaniel at 2:42 AM on April 2, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by thedaniel at 2:42 AM on April 2, 2008 [1 favorite]
Agriculture, Hand Mould, Penicillin.
Agriculture lets you free up people for Other Stuff (art, science, trade, religion).
The hand mould is the most important bit of the whole printing press/movable type/book thing, as it lets you mass-produce the type. Presses, engraving, books, writing, ink - they all already existed. Movable type acts as a force-multiplier for ideas and pretty-much brought Protestant Europe into existence.
Antibiotics stop people dying.
Plenty of cultures got along just fine without the wheel, and while writing is neat, it needs the printing press before it can really start having an effect on the world.
Oh, and chatfilter. Gonna get deleted.
posted by Leon at 2:46 AM on April 2, 2008
Agriculture lets you free up people for Other Stuff (art, science, trade, religion).
The hand mould is the most important bit of the whole printing press/movable type/book thing, as it lets you mass-produce the type. Presses, engraving, books, writing, ink - they all already existed. Movable type acts as a force-multiplier for ideas and pretty-much brought Protestant Europe into existence.
Antibiotics stop people dying.
Plenty of cultures got along just fine without the wheel, and while writing is neat, it needs the printing press before it can really start having an effect on the world.
Oh, and chatfilter. Gonna get deleted.
posted by Leon at 2:46 AM on April 2, 2008
The hand mould is the most important bit of the whole printing press/movable type/book thing, as it lets you mass-produce the type. Presses, engraving, books, writing, ink - they all already existed. Movable type acts as a force-multiplier for ideas and pretty-much brought Protestant Europe into existence.
while writing is neat, it needs the printing press before it can really start having an effect on the world.
I disagree. Writing was already having an effect on the world before printing was knee-high to a grasshopper (the Scripture. Chinese literature. The feudal order and papal bureaucracy. The classics and the Renaissance).
If anything is false, it's the technological-determinist argument for printing. The cultural foundations behind the spread of printing had to be already in place before printing could have an effect. See the awesome introduction to Michael Warner's Letters of the Republic.
posted by nasreddin at 2:53 AM on April 2, 2008
im torn between picking the earliest inventions that paved the way for the later ones, or the latest inventions which benefited from the advances of the earlier ones.
either way, i'm pretty sure askme is not the place to run experiments.
posted by prophetsearcher at 3:02 AM on April 2, 2008
either way, i'm pretty sure askme is not the place to run experiments.
posted by prophetsearcher at 3:02 AM on April 2, 2008
thedaniel writes "The gun, the boat, and the printing press. Put the three together and you can sure spread a civilization."
Have you read Carlo Cipolla's # Guns, Sails, and Empires: Technological Innovation and the Early Phases of European Expansion, 1400-1700. It's very detailed, but very very good.
posted by orthogonality at 3:06 AM on April 2, 2008
Have you read Carlo Cipolla's # Guns, Sails, and Empires: Technological Innovation and the Early Phases of European Expansion, 1400-1700. It's very detailed, but very very good.
posted by orthogonality at 3:06 AM on April 2, 2008
Seems I pretty much concur with orthogonality.
Agriculture allowed X people to feed X+N people, freeing up the +N to do other things, such as invent stuff, giving us everything we have
Language allowed cooperation and delegation (leading to division of labour helping with the X+N of agriculture), and abstract thought, all of which lead to writing, mathematics and law, which in turn give us history, education, map-making, architecture, civil engineering, democracy and diplomacy, etc, etc.
Astronomy bolstered Agriculture (helping with X+N), and allowed forward planning in the form of a calendar which allowed large scale cooperation giving the ability to work on very long term projects.
Everything else pretty much relies on one of these, or has alternatives. Harnessing fire is about the only thing that comes close since it leads to chemistry, metallurgy, exploitation of wilderness, etc. It's still not such a fundamental building block of human society as the agriculture, language and astronomy though.
posted by unconvention at 3:07 AM on April 2, 2008 [1 favorite]
Agriculture allowed X people to feed X+N people, freeing up the +N to do other things, such as invent stuff, giving us everything we have
Language allowed cooperation and delegation (leading to division of labour helping with the X+N of agriculture), and abstract thought, all of which lead to writing, mathematics and law, which in turn give us history, education, map-making, architecture, civil engineering, democracy and diplomacy, etc, etc.
Astronomy bolstered Agriculture (helping with X+N), and allowed forward planning in the form of a calendar which allowed large scale cooperation giving the ability to work on very long term projects.
Everything else pretty much relies on one of these, or has alternatives. Harnessing fire is about the only thing that comes close since it leads to chemistry, metallurgy, exploitation of wilderness, etc. It's still not such a fundamental building block of human society as the agriculture, language and astronomy though.
posted by unconvention at 3:07 AM on April 2, 2008 [1 favorite]
The Internet, GTA III, marijuana.
The first two because without them life would have no meaning, the third because without it we wouldn't be able to properly commune with Jah.
Gee, this is fun!!!
posted by Meatbomb at 3:16 AM on April 2, 2008
The first two because without them life would have no meaning, the third because without it we wouldn't be able to properly commune with Jah.
Gee, this is fun!!!
posted by Meatbomb at 3:16 AM on April 2, 2008
I disagree about agriculture vs. fire. For the vast majority of the time humans have existed on earth, there was no agriculture to speak of--yet there is plenty of evidence for fire. Societies without agriculture continue to exist, but without fire human society is impossible.
I also don't think language is an "invention." If it were, of course it would be the most important one. But we don't know anything about the origins of language, and I suspect it leans more toward "ability to think abstractly" than, say, the steam engine.
posted by nasreddin at 3:23 AM on April 2, 2008
I also don't think language is an "invention." If it were, of course it would be the most important one. But we don't know anything about the origins of language, and I suspect it leans more toward "ability to think abstractly" than, say, the steam engine.
posted by nasreddin at 3:23 AM on April 2, 2008
I disagree. Writing was already having an effect on the world before printing was knee-high to a grasshopper (the Scripture. Chinese literature. The feudal order and papal bureaucracy.
In the space of 100 years, we went from the whole of Europe having enough books to fill a couple of farm carts to millions of printed documents. And not just books - pamphlets, handbills, indulgences, broadsheets, hymnals.
The classics and the Renaissance).
Renaissance Venice was the most important centre of printing in Europe at the time. Eg Aldine Press. The printing press was instrumental in the spread of Renaissance culture.
posted by Leon at 3:27 AM on April 2, 2008
In the space of 100 years, we went from the whole of Europe having enough books to fill a couple of farm carts to millions of printed documents. And not just books - pamphlets, handbills, indulgences, broadsheets, hymnals.
The classics and the Renaissance).
Renaissance Venice was the most important centre of printing in Europe at the time. Eg Aldine Press. The printing press was instrumental in the spread of Renaissance culture.
posted by Leon at 3:27 AM on April 2, 2008
Response by poster: If this was not the appropriate place to post this, sorry, but could someone please tell me what is?
Or does this just fall outside the metafilter strictures entirely?
posted by cogneuro at 3:28 AM on April 2, 2008
Or does this just fall outside the metafilter strictures entirely?
posted by cogneuro at 3:28 AM on April 2, 2008
nasreddin writes "For the vast majority of the time humans have existed on earth, there was no agriculture to speak of--yet there is plenty of evidence for fire."
Yes, but you're missing the point I think. As unconvention points out "Agriculture allowed X people to feed X+N people, freeing up the +N to do other things, "
For pre-agricultural nomads, fire's a nice to have, for warmth and scaring away scavengers/predators. But it's only in a division of labor non-subsistence economy that it is useful for other purposes (siganlling, clearing land for agriculture, metallurgy, food treatemnt (e.g., fermentation)).
You can do settled agriculture, and get the "leisure class" knowledge-class specializations that unconvention mentions, without fire; but without agriculture fire is merely another subsistence tool, not a force- and knowledge-multiplier.
Note that the consensus is that Homo erectus had the controlled use of fire as long as 1.5 million years before present. But erectus spent a million years making the same hand-axes, without any noticeable progress. Clearly, it's arguable, but I'd be inclined to call erectus a fire using, tool-making animal.
Homo sapiens, on the other hand, goes from nomadic tribes of 150 persons to dominating (and possibly destroying) the world only 10,000 years after discovering/lucking into agriculture.
posted by orthogonality at 3:36 AM on April 2, 2008
Yes, but you're missing the point I think. As unconvention points out "Agriculture allowed X people to feed X+N people, freeing up the +N to do other things, "
For pre-agricultural nomads, fire's a nice to have, for warmth and scaring away scavengers/predators. But it's only in a division of labor non-subsistence economy that it is useful for other purposes (siganlling, clearing land for agriculture, metallurgy, food treatemnt (e.g., fermentation)).
You can do settled agriculture, and get the "leisure class" knowledge-class specializations that unconvention mentions, without fire; but without agriculture fire is merely another subsistence tool, not a force- and knowledge-multiplier.
Note that the consensus is that Homo erectus had the controlled use of fire as long as 1.5 million years before present. But erectus spent a million years making the same hand-axes, without any noticeable progress. Clearly, it's arguable, but I'd be inclined to call erectus a fire using, tool-making animal.
Homo sapiens, on the other hand, goes from nomadic tribes of 150 persons to dominating (and possibly destroying) the world only 10,000 years after discovering/lucking into agriculture.
posted by orthogonality at 3:36 AM on April 2, 2008
In the space of 100 years, we went from the whole of Europe having enough books to fill a couple of farm carts to millions of printed documents. And not just books - pamphlets, handbills, indulgences, broadsheets, hymnals.
Yes, and after fire was developed the number of things on fire at any given time increased dramatically. That in itself doesn't make it significant. And the contrast you are drawing is false. By the fifteenth century, monastery scriptoria were efficient enough that they could produce a substantial amount of work, even if not quite as much as printing. For the latter to have any effect, a literate culture had to exist first.
Renaissance Venice was the most important centre of printing in Europe at the time. Eg Aldine Press. The printing press was instrumental in the spread of Renaissance culture.
The Renaissance began and had its heyday before printing was invented. Any contribution that printing made was purely incidental, given that the philological skills that were developed relied on private aristocratic libraries of manuscripts. Almost all the Renaissance writers were also copyists.
posted by nasreddin at 3:40 AM on April 2, 2008
I'm gonna go with... writing systems, antibiotics, and the internet.
It's hard to pick just three, though. Some people are going with inventions that are necessary for civilization, and I can understand that. I went with stuff that distinguishes a more advanced civilization, and I doubt I even picked the best ones.
One thing is for certain, though: our inventions are way cooler than that of other earth species. Control of fire, the wheel, agriculture, guns, boats, airplanes, semiconductors... go homo sapiens!
posted by Nattie at 3:45 AM on April 2, 2008
It's hard to pick just three, though. Some people are going with inventions that are necessary for civilization, and I can understand that. I went with stuff that distinguishes a more advanced civilization, and I doubt I even picked the best ones.
One thing is for certain, though: our inventions are way cooler than that of other earth species. Control of fire, the wheel, agriculture, guns, boats, airplanes, semiconductors... go homo sapiens!
posted by Nattie at 3:45 AM on April 2, 2008
Nattie writes "Control of fire, the wheel, agriculture, guns, boats, airplanes, semiconductors... go homo sapiens!"
Fire: Homo erectus
Agriculture: several species of ants.
Wheel: bacterial flagellum.
Guns: some species of beetle.
Boats: the water boatman insect Notonecta.
Airplanes: pterodactyls, bats, birds.
Semiconductors (and transistors): neurons, calcium chaneels, sodium channels.
Go evolution!
posted by orthogonality at 3:58 AM on April 2, 2008
Fire: Homo erectus
Agriculture: several species of ants.
Wheel: bacterial flagellum.
Guns: some species of beetle.
Boats: the water boatman insect Notonecta.
Airplanes: pterodactyls, bats, birds.
Semiconductors (and transistors): neurons, calcium chaneels, sodium channels.
Go evolution!
posted by orthogonality at 3:58 AM on April 2, 2008
The single greatest invention has been spectacles- eye glasses. Spectacles obviously allowed inventors, scientists, writers, thinkers to work while their eyesight was failing.
posted by mattoxic at 3:58 AM on April 2, 2008
posted by mattoxic at 3:58 AM on April 2, 2008
For the latter to have any effect, a literate culture had to exist first.
Have we got any stats on literacy rates? My belief is that literacy was an effect of printing, rather than a cause, but I'm at work and I don't have any references to back me up.
This is fun. We should knock up a front-page post on Gutenberg, and keep arguing in there.
posted by Leon at 3:59 AM on April 2, 2008 [1 favorite]
Have we got any stats on literacy rates? My belief is that literacy was an effect of printing, rather than a cause, but I'm at work and I don't have any references to back me up.
This is fun. We should knock up a front-page post on Gutenberg, and keep arguing in there.
posted by Leon at 3:59 AM on April 2, 2008 [1 favorite]
Yeah, mass literacy didn't come around until the seventeenth century, and universal literacy until the nineteenth. But keep in mind that even in the eighteenth century most (Anglophone) people owned a) the Bible, b) the Pilgrim's Progress, c) an almanac of some sort, and that's about it. So if you're thinking about it in those terms, printing was still not especially influential for the majority.
Now, vernacular written languages, that's one effect of printing that I can't deny.
posted by nasreddin at 4:07 AM on April 2, 2008
Now, vernacular written languages, that's one effect of printing that I can't deny.
posted by nasreddin at 4:07 AM on April 2, 2008
mattoxic writes "The single greatest invention has been spectacles- eye glasses. Spectacles obviously allowed inventors, scientists, writers, thinkers to work while their eyesight was failing."
I want to favorite you, I do, but: Homer, Milton, and (difference sensory modality) Beethoven. All still worked.
posted by orthogonality at 4:16 AM on April 2, 2008
I want to favorite you, I do, but: Homer, Milton, and (difference sensory modality) Beethoven. All still worked.
posted by orthogonality at 4:16 AM on April 2, 2008
Response by poster: well, if you want to move this elsewhere or delete, fine. I was interested in how often people list writing. In other contexts (e.g., when the question is posed to more general audiences than MeFites), it almost never gets listed, even though it was invented, is a technology, etc. But, we have several winners here.
instead people list things like paper and the printing press, the value of which seems to me to already presuppose the existence of a way to write language down.
posted by cogneuro at 4:25 AM on April 2, 2008
instead people list things like paper and the printing press, the value of which seems to me to already presuppose the existence of a way to write language down.
posted by cogneuro at 4:25 AM on April 2, 2008
television - first (and most widely available) source of instantaneous mass communication.
posted by wayward vagabond at 4:26 AM on April 2, 2008
posted by wayward vagabond at 4:26 AM on April 2, 2008
"mass" should read "global"
posted by wayward vagabond at 4:27 AM on April 2, 2008
posted by wayward vagabond at 4:27 AM on April 2, 2008
- refrigeration
- sanitary plumbing
- antibiotics
- agriculture
posted by ArgentCorvid at 5:24 AM on April 2, 2008
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Agriculture, the wheel and organised religion.
posted by Jakey at 1:43 AM on April 2, 2008