Well, that was obvious.
May 9, 2012 12:40 PM Subscribe
What are the most world-shattering discoveries, innovations, and methods of our lifetime?
I'm thinking of things like the recent successful eye implants, the double helix in 1953, or the first microprocessor in 1971.
However, I'm particularly interested the small things that change our world in tiny, but powerful ways such as the first computer mouse (1963), as well as concepts such as Thomas Kuhn's idea of scientific paradigms (1962). I would especially love things that we now consider obvious, common sense, and ubiquitous.
Ideas outside of science and technology would also be awesome. For example: the Peter Principle (1969) and Dunning-Kruger effect (1999).
Examples going back to…say 1900 would be appreciated, but concentrating on ones since the 1950s.
I'm thinking of things like the recent successful eye implants, the double helix in 1953, or the first microprocessor in 1971.
However, I'm particularly interested the small things that change our world in tiny, but powerful ways such as the first computer mouse (1963), as well as concepts such as Thomas Kuhn's idea of scientific paradigms (1962). I would especially love things that we now consider obvious, common sense, and ubiquitous.
Ideas outside of science and technology would also be awesome. For example: the Peter Principle (1969) and Dunning-Kruger effect (1999).
Examples going back to…say 1900 would be appreciated, but concentrating on ones since the 1950s.
in vitro fertilization
posted by elizardbits at 12:43 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by elizardbits at 12:43 PM on May 9, 2012
Your question implies positive developments but the method of food production that incorporates HFCS as a sweetener has certainly had an impact on the world.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:44 PM on May 9, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:44 PM on May 9, 2012 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Oh yes, negative examples would be interesting, too.
posted by thebestsophist at 12:46 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by thebestsophist at 12:46 PM on May 9, 2012
Depending on how old one is, Norman Borlaug's semi-dwarf wheat cultivars should qualify.
posted by Etrigan at 12:49 PM on May 9, 2012 [7 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 12:49 PM on May 9, 2012 [7 favorites]
Fast food and franchising.
posted by Tomorrowful at 12:54 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by Tomorrowful at 12:54 PM on May 9, 2012
The fiber optic cable, which allowed the internet.
The weaponry differences before and after World War I are beyond extraordinary. Changed frickin' everything. (The airplane is but one example.)
The cell phone. (Sometimes when I describe a story where I got lost or something, I have to append it with "This was before cell phones, so...")
posted by Melismata at 12:55 PM on May 9, 2012 [3 favorites]
The weaponry differences before and after World War I are beyond extraordinary. Changed frickin' everything. (The airplane is but one example.)
The cell phone. (Sometimes when I describe a story where I got lost or something, I have to append it with "This was before cell phones, so...")
posted by Melismata at 12:55 PM on May 9, 2012 [3 favorites]
The Microprocessor (1960s)
Nuclear Fission (1938)
posted by Static Vagabond at 12:58 PM on May 9, 2012
Nuclear Fission (1938)
posted by Static Vagabond at 12:58 PM on May 9, 2012
The remote control...totally changed how we watch television...and totally changed how programmers and advertisers vied for our attention
posted by AlliKat75 at 12:59 PM on May 9, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by AlliKat75 at 12:59 PM on May 9, 2012 [2 favorites]
0110000000000110101010101010111111111001010101010. . . .and so on.
posted by Danf at 1:02 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by Danf at 1:02 PM on May 9, 2012
The Big Bang! We discovered how the entire universe started!
posted by Static Vagabond at 1:03 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by Static Vagabond at 1:03 PM on May 9, 2012
Miniaturization generally
It isn't news, but I still find the eradication of smallpox very moving. It was a scourge, and human beings decided to end it, and we did.
posted by zadcat at 1:08 PM on May 9, 2012 [2 favorites]
It isn't news, but I still find the eradication of smallpox very moving. It was a scourge, and human beings decided to end it, and we did.
posted by zadcat at 1:08 PM on May 9, 2012 [2 favorites]
This is going back before 1950 but the discovery of quantum phenomena, that at a very sub-microscopic level physics appears to be wildly different from what happens at the scales we can perceive with our own senses, definitely qualifies as world-shattering.
Don't have a link handy but I remember reading that in the early days this was viewed as so unraveling of everything before it that it moved some physicists to consider suicide.
Before that, not as world-shattering but pretty crazy, was General Relativity and its various implications. My favorite one is that gravity creates extra space, which I described in this comment in a past thread.
posted by XMLicious at 1:17 PM on May 9, 2012
Don't have a link handy but I remember reading that in the early days this was viewed as so unraveling of everything before it that it moved some physicists to consider suicide.
Before that, not as world-shattering but pretty crazy, was General Relativity and its various implications. My favorite one is that gravity creates extra space, which I described in this comment in a past thread.
posted by XMLicious at 1:17 PM on May 9, 2012
It's not an exaggeration to say that the development of the polymerase chain reaction utterly revolutionized genetics, and has had profound effects on everything from courtroom forensics to drug development.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 1:21 PM on May 9, 2012 [9 favorites]
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 1:21 PM on May 9, 2012 [9 favorites]
About the time I was born, astronomers were just figuring out that there are other galaxies. Prior to that, astronomy books used to refer the "Andromeda Nebula," for example. The universe got a whole lot huger in my lifetime, and astronomers figured out that it actually had a beginning (BANG!).
Black Holes!
Heart Transplants.
Kidney Dialysis.
All kinds of medical technology, Cat Scans etc.
All kinds of entertainment technology (Cable TV, DVD, VCR, Compact Disks, MP3s etc...).
posted by lordrunningclam at 1:23 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
Black Holes!
Heart Transplants.
Kidney Dialysis.
All kinds of medical technology, Cat Scans etc.
All kinds of entertainment technology (Cable TV, DVD, VCR, Compact Disks, MP3s etc...).
posted by lordrunningclam at 1:23 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
air conditioning
posted by JohnR at 1:26 PM on May 9, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by JohnR at 1:26 PM on May 9, 2012 [2 favorites]
Dude - GPS. I used to get lost constantly.
posted by NoRelationToLea at 1:26 PM on May 9, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by NoRelationToLea at 1:26 PM on May 9, 2012 [3 favorites]
Oh, and planets around other stars. Until about 10 years ago nobody had found one.
posted by lordrunningclam at 1:27 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by lordrunningclam at 1:27 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
The sequencing of the human genome, for good or ill.
posted by Currer Belfry at 1:27 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Currer Belfry at 1:27 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
Every day I thank god for Lycra/Spandex.
posted by HandfulOfDust at 1:27 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by HandfulOfDust at 1:27 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
lordrunningclam, by the twitter pic in your profile you're looking good for your age! ;^)
posted by XMLicious at 1:34 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by XMLicious at 1:34 PM on May 9, 2012
In addition to Static Vagabond's "The Big Bang", almost all of cosmology has been completely transformed in the last few decades. And what it says is amazingly cool.
Yes, big bang, or the fast hot inflation, since "big bang" is kind of a terrible name, is the start. All the protons forming an opaque, light-emitting plasma, packed in a small, dense, but growing universe. Once it grows enough and the plasma cools and turns transparent, and all that glow is free to travel through space without being absorbed. We can look out and see that very glow coming from all directions, on light that's 14.477 (?) billion years old. When you turn on your television and see static, a few percent of that noise is that glow from the first part of the universe cooled off and turned clear.
Those protons formed a whole lot of hydrogen, and a little helium and a teeny bit of Lithium. It was not evenly spread, and so the gravity made it clump together, and eventually those clumps are so dense that the Hydrogens are forced together into Helium in stars. When stars run out of the easy-to-"burn" hydrogen, they make Helium into Boron, and so on, each time getting less and less efficient nuclear fusion reactions, until Iron. Making iron is the first step where the reaction *steals* energy instead of releasing it, and the star loses all its outward push against gravity, and the star collapses down to a tiny ball which then explodes, releasing all those heavy elements out into the universe.
Those are mixed with other gas nearby, and the cycle repeats a few times. The metals can form a rocky planet like ours. We are probably where the star cycle happened three or four times before our sun and solar system formed.
All the iron in your blood comes from the very same nuclear reaction that murdered a star that was here before our sun was.
And all of this was discovered after your grandparents were born.
posted by cmiller at 1:37 PM on May 9, 2012 [7 favorites]
Yes, big bang, or the fast hot inflation, since "big bang" is kind of a terrible name, is the start. All the protons forming an opaque, light-emitting plasma, packed in a small, dense, but growing universe. Once it grows enough and the plasma cools and turns transparent, and all that glow is free to travel through space without being absorbed. We can look out and see that very glow coming from all directions, on light that's 14.477 (?) billion years old. When you turn on your television and see static, a few percent of that noise is that glow from the first part of the universe cooled off and turned clear.
Those protons formed a whole lot of hydrogen, and a little helium and a teeny bit of Lithium. It was not evenly spread, and so the gravity made it clump together, and eventually those clumps are so dense that the Hydrogens are forced together into Helium in stars. When stars run out of the easy-to-"burn" hydrogen, they make Helium into Boron, and so on, each time getting less and less efficient nuclear fusion reactions, until Iron. Making iron is the first step where the reaction *steals* energy instead of releasing it, and the star loses all its outward push against gravity, and the star collapses down to a tiny ball which then explodes, releasing all those heavy elements out into the universe.
Those are mixed with other gas nearby, and the cycle repeats a few times. The metals can form a rocky planet like ours. We are probably where the star cycle happened three or four times before our sun and solar system formed.
All the iron in your blood comes from the very same nuclear reaction that murdered a star that was here before our sun was.
And all of this was discovered after your grandparents were born.
posted by cmiller at 1:37 PM on May 9, 2012 [7 favorites]
Cell phones. You can right now push a few numbers and talk to almost anyone on the planet, instantly (or as long as it takes to hand the phone to someone else).
posted by cmiller at 1:40 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by cmiller at 1:40 PM on May 9, 2012
The work of Norman Ernest Borlaug. Borlaug is often credited with saving over a billion people worldwide from starvation.
posted by blob at 1:54 PM on May 9, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by blob at 1:54 PM on May 9, 2012 [4 favorites]
The development and ongoing improvement of antidepressants such as Elavil (US approved 1961) and Prozac (US approved 1987), and antipsychotics such as Thorazine (1954) and Risperdal (1993), have revolutionized mental health care and treatment, enabling millions to live full & functional lives where previously that would not have been possible.
posted by castlebravo at 1:58 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by castlebravo at 1:58 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
The shipping container.
From a review of The Box: "It altered the economics of shipping and with that the flow of world trade. Without the container, there would be no globalisation.
Consider the economics. Loading loose cargo, a back-breaking, laborious business, onto a medium-sized ship cost $5.83 a ton in 1956. McLean calculated that loading the Ideal-X cost less than $0.16 a ton. All of a sudden, the cost of shipping products to another destination was no longer prohibitively expensive.
Instead of manufacturing goods locally, a company could afford to replace its overcrowded multi-storey factory in Brooklyn with one in Pennsylvania, where taxes, electricity and other costs were lower, and then ship its goods to New York in a container. Later the factory might move to Mexico; it is now probably in China."
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:02 PM on May 9, 2012 [6 favorites]
From a review of The Box: "It altered the economics of shipping and with that the flow of world trade. Without the container, there would be no globalisation.
Consider the economics. Loading loose cargo, a back-breaking, laborious business, onto a medium-sized ship cost $5.83 a ton in 1956. McLean calculated that loading the Ideal-X cost less than $0.16 a ton. All of a sudden, the cost of shipping products to another destination was no longer prohibitively expensive.
Instead of manufacturing goods locally, a company could afford to replace its overcrowded multi-storey factory in Brooklyn with one in Pennsylvania, where taxes, electricity and other costs were lower, and then ship its goods to New York in a container. Later the factory might move to Mexico; it is now probably in China."
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:02 PM on May 9, 2012 [6 favorites]
Advances in communications technology in general, and particularly wireless communications technology, which already practically reaches the Shannon Limit
Also advances in semiconductor technology,'Moore's Law'
posted by Golden Eternity at 2:02 PM on May 9, 2012
Also advances in semiconductor technology,'Moore's Law'
posted by Golden Eternity at 2:02 PM on May 9, 2012
There is almost always something pretty astounding - and often tiny but powerful - behind each Nobel Prize, and the foundation's website lists all of them.
posted by -harlequin- at 2:09 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by -harlequin- at 2:09 PM on May 9, 2012
The Elusive Architeuthis beat me to it, but I was going to say not only PCR but also the discovery of the thermophilic bacteria that made it possible
posted by House of Leaves of Grass at 2:19 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by House of Leaves of Grass at 2:19 PM on May 9, 2012
Plastics. Think of how many identical "disposable" plastic things you interact with every day. Think of how many essential medical things depend on cheap plastic (bags of saline for IVs, to take just one example).
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:38 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:38 PM on May 9, 2012
Closer to the turn of the century, but ammonia, which led to solving Europe's hunger crisis and chemical warfare.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:51 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:51 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Goodness, the answers coming in so far are wonderful. Any thread that mentions Norman Borlaug is awesome. Keep them coming!
posted by thebestsophist at 2:54 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by thebestsophist at 2:54 PM on May 9, 2012
My life, and the life of asthmatics the world over, would be pretty grim without Ventolin/Salbutamol, which was first marketed in 1968.
posted by HandfulOfDust at 2:57 PM on May 9, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by HandfulOfDust at 2:57 PM on May 9, 2012 [2 favorites]
The pill, the bicycle, and the washing machine. The bicycle is probably too early for your question, but these three changed more lives than you can imagine. I especially want to stress the washing machine as an invention, which freed up millions of work hours every week. It is so hard today to understand how half the adult population used to spend several hours doing something which now can be done in five minutes.
posted by Jehan at 3:05 PM on May 9, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Jehan at 3:05 PM on May 9, 2012 [3 favorites]
The Haber-Bosch process - responsible for as many or more lives than Borlaug.
On preview - Lutoslawski beat me to it (got caught up in the wikipedia article!)
posted by clerestory at 3:06 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
On preview - Lutoslawski beat me to it (got caught up in the wikipedia article!)
posted by clerestory at 3:06 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
The ability to determine the sex of a baby before it is born.
posted by Melismata at 3:11 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Melismata at 3:11 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
I've been alive since 1962, and I can say, without a doubt, that the proudest moment of my life, and the most important for my species, was seeing those brave fuckers put a craft down on another celestial body. To this day, my comfort food DVD is "For All Mankind", I can't watch it without misting up. So many innovations sprang from getting us to the moon, it's not even funny.
posted by dbiedny at 3:16 PM on May 9, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by dbiedny at 3:16 PM on May 9, 2012 [3 favorites]
Also, changes in parenting styles have been revolutionary. My father, whose own father was born in the 1800s, never really talked or played with his father, who was brought up not to regard children as worth a great deal of attention beyond basic needs and discipline. Now, the active engagement with children and care for their personal and emotional development has created an absolute watershed in their quality of life, and by extension that of grownups. There are still many failings in parenting, I'm sure, but the past decades have been a relative golden age for childhood.
posted by Jehan at 3:22 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Jehan at 3:22 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
Fast food and franchising.
piggybacking on this somewhat; the modern factory farm.
posted by One Thousand and One at 3:28 PM on May 9, 2012
piggybacking on this somewhat; the modern factory farm.
posted by One Thousand and One at 3:28 PM on May 9, 2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourier_transform
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microelectromechanical_systems
Seldom seen, yet soooo amazing.
posted by TrinsicWS at 3:33 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microelectromechanical_systems
Seldom seen, yet soooo amazing.
posted by TrinsicWS at 3:33 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
Take a look at the innovations which came from Bell Labs:
A short list: cosmic background measurement, information theory, cell phone concept, telstar satellite, transistor, lasers, optical amplifiers, CVD, MBE, unix, C language, fractional quantum hall effect, the list goes on an on...
Who says monopoly money can't be put to good use...
posted by NoDef at 4:25 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
A short list: cosmic background measurement, information theory, cell phone concept, telstar satellite, transistor, lasers, optical amplifiers, CVD, MBE, unix, C language, fractional quantum hall effect, the list goes on an on...
Who says monopoly money can't be put to good use...
posted by NoDef at 4:25 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
I think the greatest achievement in the history of humanity stemmed the absolutely astounding idea (seemingly obvious in hindsight) that a disease could not merely be cured or immunized against, but actually removed from existence for all time!
posted by -harlequin- at 4:32 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by -harlequin- at 4:32 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
The theory of plate tectonics - continental drift was formally proposed 1912~1915, argued about until the early 50's, and evidence for it shown in the mid-late 50's. But it wasn't until the mid 60's that it was really nailed down & became the accepted theory.
posted by Pinback at 4:51 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by Pinback at 4:51 PM on May 9, 2012
Spread-Spectrum Frequency-Hopping Communication Technology (1941)
This, evolved, is your cell phone and wi-fi and a thousand other things.
posted by caclwmr4 at 5:13 PM on May 9, 2012
This, evolved, is your cell phone and wi-fi and a thousand other things.
posted by caclwmr4 at 5:13 PM on May 9, 2012
Fusion proteins: take a protein you have trouble working with and slap a easily purified, labeled, or stabilized tag on it. Presto, super awesome visualization of proteins. You can even watch cells doing their normal cellular thing in REAL TIME!
Or perhaps, simply Green Flourescent Protein in general.
Transfection and transformation of DNA encoding mRNA's and/or proteins we want to study into cells that express tons of said material was also a huge step forward in biology.
posted by Slackermagee at 5:25 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
Or perhaps, simply Green Flourescent Protein in general.
Transfection and transformation of DNA encoding mRNA's and/or proteins we want to study into cells that express tons of said material was also a huge step forward in biology.
posted by Slackermagee at 5:25 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
Mass spectrometry which made all kinds of analytical chemistry things possible, most notably proteomics.
Computer numeric control
3D Printing (the impact of which is just starting to be felt)
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 5:26 PM on May 9, 2012
Computer numeric control
3D Printing (the impact of which is just starting to be felt)
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 5:26 PM on May 9, 2012
The discovery of LSD. It certainly wins the prize for "transformative technology".
posted by alms at 5:34 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by alms at 5:34 PM on May 9, 2012
The calculator. The digital clock/watch.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:40 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:40 PM on May 9, 2012
According to the 2000-Year-Old Man, the greatest invention of all time is Saran Wrap. Who am I to agrue?
posted by Dolley at 5:55 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by Dolley at 5:55 PM on May 9, 2012
I think the impact of Walmart has been pervasive and has wrought major changes in the business world.
posted by forthright at 6:18 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by forthright at 6:18 PM on May 9, 2012
The 1938 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure dramatically expanded the use of pre-trial discovery in civil litigation. The result was a significant drop in the number of civil lawsuits that went to a jury trial. It ended the "trial by ambush" system where parties had to do their own investigation (with private investigators). It also has resulted in an explosion of costs expended in conducting discovery. The effect of the 1938 FRCP on law practice in the US was absolutely revolutionary.
posted by allnamesaretaken at 6:39 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by allnamesaretaken at 6:39 PM on May 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
Extremely cheap, high throughput DNA sequencing, which has been outpacing Moore's Law by about a factor of four for the past four years.
posted by penguinicity at 6:55 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by penguinicity at 6:55 PM on May 9, 2012
allnamesaretaken reminds me -- the GI Bill radically redefined education in America. The government made college possible for most of a generation of men, and they all realized that it was a pretty good thing to do. Their kids grew up expecting to go to college, and their kids are now utterly bewildered at the idea that it's not just high school->college->career. Three generations ago, that was the province of the 1 percent.
posted by Etrigan at 7:03 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by Etrigan at 7:03 PM on May 9, 2012
The Interstate Highway System
Tollway transponders (IPass/EZ Pass)
posted by SisterHavana at 7:06 PM on May 9, 2012
Tollway transponders (IPass/EZ Pass)
posted by SisterHavana at 7:06 PM on May 9, 2012
Surprised they haven't shown up yet, but the revolution in anti-depression and anti-anxiety meds during the past 20+ years as well as the mainstreaming of (psycho) "therapy" for the masses. Clearly, a mixed bag in some ways, but the transformation has been astounding. (Plus, they seem to pretty much keep this place functioning, or so it often seems - quite an achievement.)
posted by 5Q7 at 7:31 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by 5Q7 at 7:31 PM on May 9, 2012
The airplane!
Also:
The car
The assembly line
Penicillin (for good or ill)
The Pill
The WHO's smallpox vaccination campaign in the '60s. (not quite an invention, but the idea that the world could and did band together to eradicate a preventable disease was revolutionary)
Roundup and roundup-resistant crops
High fructose corn syrup
The U.S. interstate system (for good or ill)
Marxism
The state of Israel
Mustard gas
Nuclear power
posted by elizeh at 7:34 PM on May 9, 2012
Also:
The car
The assembly line
Penicillin (for good or ill)
The Pill
The WHO's smallpox vaccination campaign in the '60s. (not quite an invention, but the idea that the world could and did band together to eradicate a preventable disease was revolutionary)
Roundup and roundup-resistant crops
High fructose corn syrup
The U.S. interstate system (for good or ill)
Marxism
The state of Israel
Mustard gas
Nuclear power
posted by elizeh at 7:34 PM on May 9, 2012
Ritalin and similar ADHD drugs.
posted by spinifex23 at 7:37 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by spinifex23 at 7:37 PM on May 9, 2012
Also:
Women's suffrage
Civil Rights movement
Genocide (not a new concept, but technology made it possible on a scale never before seen)
The "domino" effect
The Cold War/detente
Modern journalism
posted by elizeh at 7:38 PM on May 9, 2012
Women's suffrage
Civil Rights movement
Genocide (not a new concept, but technology made it possible on a scale never before seen)
The "domino" effect
The Cold War/detente
Modern journalism
posted by elizeh at 7:38 PM on May 9, 2012
Digital photography & filming, including the ability to capture, edit & share at near-zero cost, plus the fact that just about every person in a developed nation now carries around a camera in their pocket or handbag, all the time.
Everything from CGI in movies, to communication technologies like Skype, as well as YouTube & Flickr, to news reporting & more have been affected by the move to image capture that doesn't require expensive consumables or post-processing.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:51 PM on May 9, 2012
Everything from CGI in movies, to communication technologies like Skype, as well as YouTube & Flickr, to news reporting & more have been affected by the move to image capture that doesn't require expensive consumables or post-processing.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:51 PM on May 9, 2012
The most important development in the latter half of the 20th Century that most people have never heard of was the development of Information Theory.
(I'm fudging just a tiny bit; Shannon's paper was published in 1948.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:04 PM on May 9, 2012 [3 favorites]
(I'm fudging just a tiny bit; Shannon's paper was published in 1948.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:04 PM on May 9, 2012 [3 favorites]
Roentgenography aka X-ray medical imaging which ushered in a totally non-invasive way to get a handle on pathology to inform medical therapy.
Not to mention computed tomography (based on X-Rays) and magnetic resonance imaging...
posted by scalespace at 9:39 PM on May 9, 2012
Not to mention computed tomography (based on X-Rays) and magnetic resonance imaging...
posted by scalespace at 9:39 PM on May 9, 2012
The Chorleywood process for making cheap white sliced bread. (Obviously it doesn't skice itself, but if it did, that would be very cool.)
posted by plonkee at 9:45 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by plonkee at 9:45 PM on May 9, 2012
The semiconductor transistor is what makes sooooo many of these innovations possible. Your computer, your phone, calculators, and so much more depend on this little component.
posted by azpenguin at 10:31 PM on May 9, 2012
posted by azpenguin at 10:31 PM on May 9, 2012
My grandfather (~1925-1997), a physician, said that the most revolutionary invention of his lifetime was... the photocopier. He said it dramatically changed the way offices (and businesses generally) were run.
posted by Clandestine Outlawry at 6:46 AM on May 10, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Clandestine Outlawry at 6:46 AM on May 10, 2012 [1 favorite]
The personal computer - it wasn't that long ago that computers filled up a whole room, and typing was done on a typewriter.
E-mail. When I worked at my first newspaper advertising job, we had computers, but no e-mail or Internet access. We got ads via phone or fax, and camera-ready art was sent via FedEx. This was in 1996-2000! When I mentioned this to my younger coworkers at my last advertising job (where we got pretty much everything, especially artwork, via email) they couldn't believe it. They probably thought I started work in the Dark Ages. (Then again, I thought the same thing when my older coworkers at my first newspaper job told me stories of typing in ads on their typewriters, before they got computers. Go figure!)
posted by SisterHavana at 9:52 PM on May 10, 2012
E-mail. When I worked at my first newspaper advertising job, we had computers, but no e-mail or Internet access. We got ads via phone or fax, and camera-ready art was sent via FedEx. This was in 1996-2000! When I mentioned this to my younger coworkers at my last advertising job (where we got pretty much everything, especially artwork, via email) they couldn't believe it. They probably thought I started work in the Dark Ages. (Then again, I thought the same thing when my older coworkers at my first newspaper job told me stories of typing in ads on their typewriters, before they got computers. Go figure!)
posted by SisterHavana at 9:52 PM on May 10, 2012
General anesthesia, without which most modern operations could not happen.
posted by yawper at 10:20 AM on May 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by yawper at 10:20 AM on May 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
I read an article about this some years back and one of the most surprising things it mentioned that I never would have thought of was the zipper.
posted by triggerfinger at 2:03 PM on May 11, 2012
posted by triggerfinger at 2:03 PM on May 11, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by desjardins at 12:43 PM on May 9, 2012