The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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Number6
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The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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Getting away from politics, I was thinking about what the greatest invention humans have made over the course of history. I've made a list of what I believe to be the 10 most important. Some may seem broad but that's because one invention can influence many different inventions like how the wheel made not only transportation better but it also is seen in things like the waterwheel and gears. Please feel free to add or subtract to this list.

Here's my top 10:

1. The plow
2. Math
3. Writing, including paper production and the movable type press
4. The wheel
5. Religion
6. The boat and sail
7. The engine, including the steam and internal combustion engines
8. Time keeping
9. Electricity
10. Computers

Any comments or additions?
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Drak
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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Hmmm


I’ll add

Antibiotics and vaccines
Television and film
Telephone
Batteries
Airplane
Nails and screws
Lights
Contraceptives


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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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The domestication of fire.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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While not an invention the development of language was probably the most impactful.

I would say religion was not a great development. Important yes, great no. Religion has been extremely divisive.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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The light bulb.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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By far the greatest invention of the modern era is the semiconductor. Nothing else comes close.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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Fire is fundamental to everything. It's the first time a chemical reaction was used as a domestic appliance. It enabled a species that evolved in a desert climate to move farther north. It started the use of energy which is still evolving today. It inspired people to look for other natural processes to exploit, leading to metal making and better tools, at which point the Neolithic became the Iron Age. It established the concept of energy as fundamental to physics.

The wheel is important, but not fundamental. The Mayans, supposedly, never had the wheel. At least that's what people say. The professor is the expert here, my degree is in movies. Their calendar is shaped like a wheel, but apparently no chariots or carts.

The computer uses energy, which is traceable to fire. Electricity is not fire, fire is oxidation and electricity is moving charges. However, fire is how we get most of our electricity. This apparently came up in the Jewish religion with regard to using electricity on the Sabbath, culminating in Richard Feynman noting in his autobiography that the board of Rabbis had asked him whether electricity was fire. He said no, but the rabbis decided that we don't know where those electrons have been, do we, so it's best to say yes anyway.

I'm not going to count religion as an invention since it seems hard wired into human thought. The early cave paintings were likely divination, not art for art's sake. Etc.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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It is interesting how many of these things tie together, one following from another. Heinlein used to say you railroad when it comes time to railroad. Every invention or development listed ties directly to development of civilization. Which can be viewed as good or bad depending upon one’s point of view.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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bird wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 11:54 am It is interesting how many of these things tie together, one following from another. Heinlein used to say you railroad when it comes time to railroad. Every invention or development listed ties directly to development of civilization. Which can be viewed as good or bad depending upon one’s point of view.
That's true. The pyramids were built without a railroad, though they sure could have used one.

After gold was discovered in California the US had some expanding to do, and fast, and suddenly it became a good idea to hire business people to lay tracks all the way across the continent. That boosted the demand for steel. The rail and steel trusts were the first ones, to be joined later by the Standard Oil trust when they needed better fuel for locomotives.

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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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ZoWie wrote: Sun Mar 05, 2023 9:49 pm The domestication of fire.
Interesting, but I would include the chimney with fire. The chimney, like the oven, allowed the heat of fire to be controlled. The chimney changed early society, at least in Western Europe, as tribes lived in long-houses where they'd eat, sleep, and take shelter and a fireplace provide the heat necessary for them. As buildings became multi-storied, the chimney allowed tribal leaders to live in rooms away from tribal members reinforcing their status and power. This schism helped bring about the concept of different classes of people, primarily royalty versus peasants.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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bird wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 6:33 am While not an invention the development of language was probably the most impactful.
I agree, language was impactful and I would put it with writing as an early communication medium.
I would say religion was not a great development. Important yes, great no. Religion has been extremely divisive.
Although I'm an atheist, I'm not blind to the fact religion has played an important role in human history. IMO, religion encouraged early human curiosity about the world around them. In order to explain things like the sun, the moon, the stars, the seasons, plants, animals, fire, storms, etc.., they would either give them supernatural explanations or attributes associated with "Gods." One of the things religion did was to allow some humans to gain control/influence of these supernatural beliefs to control groups of people as well as nations.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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ZoWie wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 12:14 pm That's true. The pyramids were built without a railroad, though they sure could have used one.

After gold was discovered in California the US had some expanding to do, and fast, and suddenly it became a good idea to hire business people to lay tracks all the way across the continent. That boosted the demand for steel. The rail and steel trusts were the first ones, to be joined later by the Standard Oil trust when they needed better fuel for locomotives.

A culture is like an organism. Everything connects, and over generations, it evolves.
In the late 70s, the BBC produced an excellent and entertaining program called Connections featuring James Burke. The series looks at how the technology we used today began long ago through a series of connected inventions, innovations, and events. Burke takes the viewer on a journey from the past to the present. For example, from memory, he shows how the development of the sail on a boat eventually led to the atomic bomb. For me, watching it back then was an eye opener for me because like most people I hadn't thought or considered how things we use today came about. If you can find a DVD of Connections at you local library or on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XetplHcM7aQ
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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Number6 wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 1:35 pm I agree, language was impactful and I would put it with writing as an early communication medium.


Although I'm an atheist, I'm not blind to the fact religion has played an important role in human history. IMO, religion encouraged early human curiosity about the world around them. In order to explain things like the sun, the moon, the stars, the seasons, plants, animals, fire, storms, etc.., they would either give them supernatural explanations or attributes associated with "Gods." One of the things religion did was to allow some humans to gain control/influence of these supernatural beliefs to control groups of people as well as nations.
Yes, at first people saw the gods in everything, the plants, the sun, the animals... Then there were the family of gods in the heavens that manipulated everything... then the monogod, Yahweh or Mohammed, a singular god.

Which means they're getting closer and closer to the correct number all the time!
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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Mohammed is not a deity. The Deity in the Quran is Allah, Mohammed is his prophet.

I always wonder about lists like this, I think I would have to put on there public sanitation, which may have saved more lives especially in the early 20th century than medical breakthroughs.

Also, although I think I will not live long enough to realize its significance, I would put space travel and colonization on that list. The other thing that I suspect will change human history - though I may not live to see the Singularity - is AI. And, of course, there's genetic engineering. The jury is not out on any of those things as to whether the final outcomes will be all good, but they will be significant. It may have been a mistake to tell interstellar species how to find Earth -- read "the Dark Forest" by Cixin Liu ... but Pres. Carter's voice is on the Voyager Probe, telling other alien species how to find Earth and how to come on down ...

Oh and one more thing. The Mayans did know about the wheel! They put it on toys. What is really strange is they never put it to large scale use.

Image

Orthodox Rabbis, whose opinion I do not care about, claim that turning on electric lights for the Sabbath is the same thing as kindling a fire, which is mentioned in the Torah. Bizarrely, they do not turn off elevators in Israel in the Sabbath, but because some Rabbi said you cannot press the button for your floor, in most hotels, they are simply said to stop on every floor ...
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

Post by ZoWie »

Thanks for the clarification on the Mayans and the wheel, with an illustration and everything.

I think some elevators in New York do that stopping at every floor too.

Our electric oven has a Sabbath Mode that does something, though I've never had any reason to find out what.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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bird wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 11:54 am It is interesting how many of these things tie together, one following from another. Heinlein used to say you railroad when it comes time to railroad. Every invention or development listed ties directly to development of civilization. Which can be viewed as good or bad depending upon one’s point of view.
This is the closest i could come up with when it comes to meaning.

https://www.blackgate.com/2016/07/15/wh ... -railroad/
In other words, when it’s time to railroad, everybody railroads. It explains in part why so many inventors seem to file patents within weeks or months of each other, and why so many different people are credited with being the first one to invent something.
Some inventions advance us further and faster than others. Wax blubber and oil gave us light. The light bulb forever changed the way we live and sped an advancement like no other invention.

On one hand it gave us more time for leisure. On the other hand it turned night into day and gave us a 24hr. work week.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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Beer and Wine because it allowed man to travel and not have to worry about the water making you ill.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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Glennfs wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 6:15 pm Beer and Wine because it allowed man to travel and not have to worry about the water making you ill.
Rumor has it, for America is was rum. Could be why Washington had wooden teeth.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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bradman wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 6:20 pm Rumor has it, for America is was rum. Could be why Washington had wooden teeth.
Good point, years ago I read a book about how spirits, tea, coffee and pop was the framework for modern man
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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bradman wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 6:20 pm Rumor has it, for America is was rum. Could be why Washington had wooden teeth.
I get your point with tooth rot, but the wooden teeth thing is a myth. More like ivory or human teeth.
Rather than wood, Washington’s many false choppers were made out of varying combinations of rare hippopotamus ivory, human teeth and metal fasteners. He got his first set before the Revolutionary War, and may have also undergone a “tooth transplantation” procedure—perhaps even using teeth purchased from his own slaves—in the mid-1780s with the help of his personal dentist and friend, Jean-Pierre Le Mayeur.
https://www.history.com/news/did-george ... oden-teeth
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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Drak wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 6:23 pm I get your point with tooth rot, but the wooden teeth thing is a myth. More like ivory or human teeth.



https://www.history.com/news/did-george ... oden-teeth
As nasty as it is G Washington bought teeth from enslaved people. Or so I heard
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

Post by bird »

ProfX wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 4:08 pm Mohammed is not a deity. The Deity in the Quran is Allah, Mohammed is his prophet.

I always wonder about lists like this, I think I would have to put on there public sanitation, which may have saved more lives especially in the early 20th century than medical breakthroughs.

Also, although I think I will not live long enough to realize its significance, I would put space travel and colonization on that list. The other thing that I suspect will change human history - though I may not live to see the Singularity - is AI. And, of course, there's genetic engineering. The jury is not out on any of those things as to whether the final outcomes will be all good, but they will be significant. It may have been a mistake to tell interstellar species how to find Earth -- read "the Dark Forest" by Cixin Liu ... but Pres. Carter's voice is on the Voyager Probe, telling other alien species how to find Earth and how to come on down ...

Oh and one more thing. The Mayans did know about the wheel! They put it on toys. What is really strange is they never put it to large scale use.

Image

Orthodox Rabbis, whose opinion I do not care about, claim that turning on electric lights for the Sabbath is the same thing as kindling a fire, which is mentioned in the Torah. Bizarrely, they do not turn off elevators in Israel in the Sabbath, but because some Rabbi said you cannot press the button for your floor, in most hotels, they are simply said to stop on every floor ...
Googling the monotheism question gets you into the discussion between (I hope I use the correct term but I probably won’t) Judaism, if the religion were termed that at that time and Zoroastrianism.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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Glennfs wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 6:22 pm Good point, years ago I read a book about how spirits, tea, coffee and pop was the framework for modern man
i'd question whether or not they had a full grasp on how dangerous water supplies could be.
But ya, household inventories in the early America seem to always have a good supply of rum. From what i understand it wasn't uncommon for kids to partake in that supply.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

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Glennfs wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 6:25 pm As nasty as it is G Washington bought teeth from enslaved people. Or so I heard
See, even after offering an olive branch you still fuck it up.
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Re: The 10 Greatest Inventions in Human History

Post by Glennfs »

bradman wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 6:31 pm i'd question whether or not they had a full grasp on how dangerous water supplies could be.
But ya, household inventories in the early America seem to always have a good supply of rum. From what i understand it wasn't uncommon for kids to partake in that supply.
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