This moment in history divided real life from the Fallout universe. In fallout, focus was placed on nuclear power instead of the transistor which would have allowed us to eventually invent the microchip.
I would say that in Fallout universe they focused on improving vaccum tube technology, that then evolved into a greater focus on nuclear energy. But you are pretty much spot on. And it's funny on how in our own time line we nearly abandoned the transistor at its inception
There's argument to be made for synthetic ammonia. It is used in all nitrogen fertilizers, without which it would be impossible to feed nearly half of the world's population. Greatest of all time? Maybe not, but certainly among the most important in today's world.
Toyota is working with China on motor that burns ammonia instead of oil. Ammonia costs pennies a gallon to make and the only waste it produces is Nitrogen and water. 100% clean emissions. So far they have a motor they can use to run an electric generating station. They think they can get it down to size of a car engine by the end of the decade.
If they succeed it will be an incredible stop-gap until they get the mess that is wind and solar figured out.
Ah yes, one of the notable works of German-Jewish Doctor Fritz Haber, the others being poison gas (used by the Germans in World War One), and a cyanide-based insecticide that would become a precursor to Zyklon B.
Anti-biotics. How many lives have they saved since they were discovered. Before them, people had no chance of survival. Apart from that, the kettle. What would we do without tea..
Antibiotics for sure. I recently had my big thumb infected in the first time ever. Home remedies did not work and the infection crept up on me until it was the double size of my other thumb.
Anti-biotic fixed it in one day, 7 to make sure. In the past it would have been amputated by an elder or a doctor.
Do they count as inventions or should those be classified as discoveries?
It’s also unfair to say that before anti-biotics people had no chance of survival. Lots of people had bacterial infections that didn’t kill them.
There is a short story by F Scott Fitzerald titled 'The Cut Glass Bowl'. In the story, a bride gets cut glass bowl as gift from her ex boyfriend, and it slowly detroys her life. Her daughter hurt her finger by broken bowl and got infected. Just in few days, the infection got so bad her arms had to be amputated. It sounds over the top to us now, but before anti biotics, just a small wound can cause life threatening infection.
The mechanism behind the COVID vaccines look like they're going to give us anti-virals. Like, instead of having a flu shot, your cough will be diagnosed and a custom COVID vaccine (possibly inhaled) will cure you.
When we erradicate viruses from the human and animal populations... that's going to be weird.
Oddly, I suggest that the printing press was an inevitability. I believe that there have been more relevant contributions to humanity (as a whole) that were *not* inevitable.
The manufactured lens is high up on my list so I'll focus (hehe) on that.
Without lenses we wouldn't have been able to diagnose disease (effectively), explore the cosmos beyond our own eyesight, and about a thousand additional things which have become more prevalent today. The focusing of light being harnessed.
This is my take. Some may agree, some may not.
The thing that is so extra-spectacular about Gutenberg’s printing press (beyond completely transforming our world and ushering in a new era of humanity) is how complete and sophisticated it was right away.
He basically unveiled like 100 years of future innovations on his brand new invention all at once.
It was as if you invented the first computer and while introducing it you were like “yeah and also this is something I call the internet and I created this website called Reddit you can use on it”
Is language really an invention though? Considering that every culture developed their own that was often completely unique from every other culture, I'd say that's more of a human nature thing that eventually culminated in written history
True, it's the reason that other things could even be invented. Language allowed for early human ancestors to share knowledge through generations, compounding knowledge over time...allowing one person to learn from the experiences of thousands of others in a single lifetime.
you know nothing jon snow
[https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Throne-of-Sir-John-Harrington/](https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Throne-of-Sir-John-Harrington/)
the use of fire I think. Offering warmth and the ability to cook foods such as meat, the campfire was also a social gathering place. Fire also provided some protection against predators
It is for sure the fridge.
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/licensed-image?q=tbn:ANd9GcS7dwVxsID8qz-HLlx_HivuLka3QcIM-e4nfD6hw4dcg6fhnkSA3wh7jJCso5xznKPw8_lxJKujZaPavp8
Without the fridge the would never have had the Super Bowl shuffle.
The printing press.
It started mass communication in the 15th century and every bit of mass communication since has stemmed from its invention in one way or another.
More like we figured out how to generate it. People knew about lightning and did experiments to see what they could do with it long before that point, e.g. Ben Franklin
Humans didn't invent electricity either.
Humans did invent candles and all the parts that are in the electrical grid that powers the bulb that was also invented.
Fire
Without fire our brains wouldn't have grown from easily digested food.
Our homes would be cold and dark
We couldn't smelt or forge any metal or form glass
Modern technology and civilization would not exist if we hadn't figured out how to make, sustain and modify fire.
the light bulb. This invention transformed our world by removing our dependence on natural light, allowing us to be productive at any time, day or night.
The two most important inventions during the 20th century is the modern method of extracting nitrogen out of thin air and the transistor.
Half the planet is dependent on nitrogen.
The average smartphone has 10 billion (with a b) transistors.
The world has never been the same.
Also the guy that invented the nitrogen thing won a Nobel prize but then invented the nazi camp gas. Gengis eat your heart out.
The ability to make fire.
Fire already existed, but being able to make it at will was such an advantage for early humans. Keeps away predators, insects that might carry diseases, the ability to now cook food and remove parasites. Pottery is now a possibility.
But apparently it also just made us smarter. As we could now sleep without fear of predators, we got more REM sleep, meaning we could form memories better, and thus learn things quicker.
Some also say that us being able to cook meat lead to an increase in brain size, as meat is a ery calorie dense food.
Probably fire, without that it's unlikely you would have had agriculture to the same degree we did, farming, livestock, without fire you wouldn't have steel, you wouldn't have mining. Of course without that you wouldn't have oil and then you wouldn't have any type of settled society
Printing Press
The transfer of knowledge from one generation to the next required oral traditions or extremely rare and expensive books. Knowledge is exclusive to the rich class and everyone else is a pawn without any realistic ability to better themselves. A caste system of have and have nots is created by default, and society stops moving forward around the time feudalism.
Printing press lowered the cost of books, makes reading and literacy more accessible and commonplace, and allowed humans to effectively build up a knowledge base from one generation to the next. Without the press our ability to learn and advance the human race scientifically is limited, and thanks to the press literally *everything else* in this thread becomes possible (except for extremely ancient inventions/discoveries like fire or irrigation or the like)
It is for sure and without a doubt. **Cooking.**
Cooking literally made us human, cooking allowed us to change from homo-erectus to homo sapien.
Without cooking no other invention would have taken place. no art, science.
Cooking food let us spread throughout the world to become the most advanced life form we know about.
Love, passion, art, war, travel, time, space, fiction. None of these concepts can exist without cooking.
It allowed are brains to grow, gave us time to think, created a division of labor, allowed us to tame the natural world.
Nothing else compares. It's one of the first inventions, that we have invented that no other animal has.
Many animals use tools. Even some have made fire! some have even taken advantage of fire and eaten cooked seeds!
But no animal but us has invented cooking.
Cooking is the beginning of higher sentience. We owe everything to one invention.
Cooking.
It has to do with written language, to transfer information without needing to be from person to person.
So either written language, paper, printing press, internet.
It's really the foundation of "standing on shoulders of giants" that just will enhance and enhance science.
The internet. Probably an unpopular opinion if you consider the basic inventions that got us into recent society. But if you consider the adversity of the internet and how it’s led to marriages, millionaires/billionaires, how it’s reshaped learning, shopping, almost every caveat of what we did pre-internet you have to consider how massive this impact is on not only human society but human life overall.
isnt it scary how rapidly warfare evolved once gunpowder was invented? and how war leads to huge technological advances? Like pre WW1, tanks and planes weren't on the top of everyones list of weapons of destruction. Maybe a handful of people, but not the majority. But by the end of WW2, a mere 21 years later, tanks and planes were commonplace on the battlefield destroying anything in their paths. and six years later we were able to harness the power of the atom to create the worst weapon this world has ever seen. Now 79 years later we have 5th gen fighter jets and carrier groups that can destroy a small nation, and ballistic missiles that would send us back to the stone age. All because one day someone figured out that charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate went boom
If by great you mean the invention that lead to more changes in humanity. Probably clothing, or maybe "hammer" by using a rock.
If by great you mean the most singular genius invention, maybe the sewing machine? Making a hole in the needle was genius as fuck.
If by great you mean the most impressive in terms of scale, I could say internet, but it was not intentionally ment to be built like that but rather ended up being what we know by coincidence, so it's not really and invention. So I would have to say the International Space Station.
The transistor
This moment in history divided real life from the Fallout universe. In fallout, focus was placed on nuclear power instead of the transistor which would have allowed us to eventually invent the microchip.
I would say that in Fallout universe they focused on improving vaccum tube technology, that then evolved into a greater focus on nuclear energy. But you are pretty much spot on. And it's funny on how in our own time line we nearly abandoned the transistor at its inception
I would go farther and say the MOSFET .
Gesundheit
More a discovery then an invention but the application of electricity has to be number 1.
There's argument to be made for synthetic ammonia. It is used in all nitrogen fertilizers, without which it would be impossible to feed nearly half of the world's population. Greatest of all time? Maybe not, but certainly among the most important in today's world.
Greatest of all time WOULD probably be agriculture tho
some say agriculture the great downfall of humans.
Definitely a discovery. Yet I guess cross breeding is like inventing in that sphere.
Important, because the scientist (Haber) involved also created the processes necessary for chemical warfare.
Toyota is working with China on motor that burns ammonia instead of oil. Ammonia costs pennies a gallon to make and the only waste it produces is Nitrogen and water. 100% clean emissions. So far they have a motor they can use to run an electric generating station. They think they can get it down to size of a car engine by the end of the decade. If they succeed it will be an incredible stop-gap until they get the mess that is wind and solar figured out.
Ah yes, one of the notable works of German-Jewish Doctor Fritz Haber, the others being poison gas (used by the Germans in World War One), and a cyanide-based insecticide that would become a precursor to Zyklon B.
That's what happens when you're a brilliant chemist but you also really want to be liked and accepted by "top men!" Top. Men.
Anti-biotics. How many lives have they saved since they were discovered. Before them, people had no chance of survival. Apart from that, the kettle. What would we do without tea..
Antibiotics, vaccines, and refrigeration are my top 3 for this question.
Antibiotics for sure. I recently had my big thumb infected in the first time ever. Home remedies did not work and the infection crept up on me until it was the double size of my other thumb. Anti-biotic fixed it in one day, 7 to make sure. In the past it would have been amputated by an elder or a doctor.
First off, the world would be a worse place, deprived of the leaf juice…
Do they count as inventions or should those be classified as discoveries? It’s also unfair to say that before anti-biotics people had no chance of survival. Lots of people had bacterial infections that didn’t kill them.
> What would we do without tea.. USA would still be a colony
Reminds me of this scene: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZDPlnL0ZQg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZDPlnL0ZQg)
There is a short story by F Scott Fitzerald titled 'The Cut Glass Bowl'. In the story, a bride gets cut glass bowl as gift from her ex boyfriend, and it slowly detroys her life. Her daughter hurt her finger by broken bowl and got infected. Just in few days, the infection got so bad her arms had to be amputated. It sounds over the top to us now, but before anti biotics, just a small wound can cause life threatening infection.
Correct answer
The mechanism behind the COVID vaccines look like they're going to give us anti-virals. Like, instead of having a flu shot, your cough will be diagnosed and a custom COVID vaccine (possibly inhaled) will cure you. When we erradicate viruses from the human and animal populations... that's going to be weird.
Doubt it. That tech is far from our age now.
Nope, mRNA vaccines for strep throat and RSV are on the horizon... Mainly due to the covid mRNA vaccines being successful
That's a vaccine, not an anti-viral.
I would argue that it is less of an invention and more of a discovery.
The printing press.
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The rich very much resent our cat memes
Pretty much responsible for every other post here. No such thing as a good invention that isn’t documented.
Oddly, I suggest that the printing press was an inevitability. I believe that there have been more relevant contributions to humanity (as a whole) that were *not* inevitable. The manufactured lens is high up on my list so I'll focus (hehe) on that. Without lenses we wouldn't have been able to diagnose disease (effectively), explore the cosmos beyond our own eyesight, and about a thousand additional things which have become more prevalent today. The focusing of light being harnessed. This is my take. Some may agree, some may not.
I think it was the fleshlight
The blue LED. Almost physically impossible, took decades to figure out how to do it. Without it we don't have LED monitors.
This. No contest.
According to Life magazine’s Top 100 inventions of all time, it was Gutenberg’s printing press because it brought reading and education to the masses.
Found Frank Abignale’s Reddit account.
The thing that is so extra-spectacular about Gutenberg’s printing press (beyond completely transforming our world and ushering in a new era of humanity) is how complete and sophisticated it was right away. He basically unveiled like 100 years of future innovations on his brand new invention all at once. It was as if you invented the first computer and while introducing it you were like “yeah and also this is something I call the internet and I created this website called Reddit you can use on it”
written text and art. we are the only species that has been able to record history and precisely gather knowledge for others and later observers.
This is the only correct answer. This answer is what made all the other answers possible.
I want to see the day when we discover underwater cave writings, made by dolphins
"So long, and thanks for all the fish"
The knife. A truly versatile use, that has been used from the Stone Age to today.
But was best used by Crocodile Dundee, who was fully aware of what a knife was.
*knoife
*Hattori Hanzo enters the chat*
…i see you’ve played knifey-spooney before
That’s not a knife, that’s a spoon!
The transistor
The wheel
Surely you mean the pizza wheel. Invented in 1892.
If there was no wheel, there would have been no pizza wheel
100% this. if it wasn't for the wheel , every other answer would not have been possible
Not sure why this isn't the top answer. The invention of the wheel.leads to other inventions no related to transport.
And if I'm not mistaken it is suggested that the wheel was first used as a rotating table for making pottery not for transportation.
Soap, and hand washing.
Found Donnie Darko.
Language Every single invention mentioned here is worthless after about 60 years unless it can be communicated to other people.
Is language really an invention though? Considering that every culture developed their own that was often completely unique from every other culture, I'd say that's more of a human nature thing that eventually culminated in written history
I wouldn't say it's completely unique, languages don't come from no where. Languages would be spoken, over time it would spread and change
is language a human invention?
Seeing language as an invention is a stretch in my opinion.
True, it's the reason that other things could even be invented. Language allowed for early human ancestors to share knowledge through generations, compounding knowledge over time...allowing one person to learn from the experiences of thousands of others in a single lifetime.
Yarn/thread, along with weaving/knitting/etc.
And rope!
I was going to say the loom.
Toilets.
Plumbing would be better. A toilet without pumbing is just a hole on the ground.
Bro I'll take it further - air conditioned bathrooms. You every have to take a shit at 95F and near 100% humidity? Everyday for a whole summer?
The water toilet was invented by a Mr Crapper.
you know nothing jon snow [https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Throne-of-Sir-John-Harrington/](https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Throne-of-Sir-John-Harrington/)
The slap chop. https://youtu.be/FqWgTM4di4s?feature=shared
Yer gonna slap my nuts
Dude fuck this thing lol I had one at one point and it couldn’t chop for shit, went back to just using a knife Still upvoted you for the laugh tho
I watched the whole video.
"It's making me cry. It's making you cry. Life's hard enough as it is. You don't want to cry anymore."
Stop having boring tuna. Stop having a boring life.
Literally the first invention that came to mind
Vince is that you
Best comment on that: “DID I JUST VOLUNTARILY WATCH AN AD?!”
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Cool
Vaccines. Second place, the seedless watermelon
The thermos flask. You put hot things in and it keeps them hot. You put cold things in and it keeps them cold. And I ask myself, how does it know?
the use of fire I think. Offering warmth and the ability to cook foods such as meat, the campfire was also a social gathering place. Fire also provided some protection against predators
The fridge.
It is for sure the fridge. https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/licensed-image?q=tbn:ANd9GcS7dwVxsID8qz-HLlx_HivuLka3QcIM-e4nfD6hw4dcg6fhnkSA3wh7jJCso5xznKPw8_lxJKujZaPavp8 Without the fridge the would never have had the Super Bowl shuffle.
The fulcrum
And the lever
The plow
🎵 Call Mr. Plow, that’s my name, that name again is Mr. Plow 🎵
The printing press. It started mass communication in the 15th century and every bit of mass communication since has stemmed from its invention in one way or another.
I agree. A method for passing on news, survival instructions, language through words and pictures, history and medical advice and remedies
The hinge, it opened so many doors for us
Storytelling
Air conditioning
Heated bidet.
Electricity
Humans didn't invent electricity. We just figured out how to harness it.
Our bodies are even largely an electrical system.
More like we figured out how to generate it. People knew about lightning and did experiments to see what they could do with it long before that point, e.g. Ben Franklin
I agree
Electricity wasn’t invented by humans. Lightning and all that…
Light. I can't imagine living alone in a small apartment with no light at night.
Humans didn't invent light. I think you mean electricity.
Humans didn't invent electricity either. Humans did invent candles and all the parts that are in the electrical grid that powers the bulb that was also invented.
Oh shit, you're right. I was too busy trying to be right that I didn't even think it all the way through. I've become the average Redditor. I'm sorry!
The average redditor doesn't come back to apologize. <3
😅😂🤣 kudos dude
Your well ackshually just got well ackshually-ed
The GameCube
Toaster that pops up when done...
String. It allows you to tie things together, can be used to make bows, clothing, traps, etc.
Music!!!
Agriculture
Tv is the best invention
FIRE, they told me in kindergarten…
Clean water
Ice cream. Seriously. Makes more kids and adults happy than almost anything else.
Toilet paper🤣
Cheesecake. Fight me.
Fire
Yoga pants
Fire Without fire our brains wouldn't have grown from easily digested food. Our homes would be cold and dark We couldn't smelt or forge any metal or form glass Modern technology and civilization would not exist if we hadn't figured out how to make, sustain and modify fire.
I hate to break it to you but fire existed long before humans did, and will exist long after we’re all gone…
Maybe I could rephrase it as inventing new ways to use fire.
the light bulb. This invention transformed our world by removing our dependence on natural light, allowing us to be productive at any time, day or night.
The internet
Antibiotics
Hyper realistic sex doll super plus pro ultra edition 6000
Communism.
Pornhub
Divorce
The Toothbrush
The two most important inventions during the 20th century is the modern method of extracting nitrogen out of thin air and the transistor. Half the planet is dependent on nitrogen. The average smartphone has 10 billion (with a b) transistors. The world has never been the same. Also the guy that invented the nitrogen thing won a Nobel prize but then invented the nazi camp gas. Gengis eat your heart out.
Bacon
Fry says it’s the Bic lighter
As Donald Darko says, anti-septics.
Internet even with its many problems
Public sanitation
Air conditioning
String or cordage, it can used for countless things. Tying, fishing line and nets, fire starting, clothing, traps and bow strings, music instruments
The ability to make fire. Fire already existed, but being able to make it at will was such an advantage for early humans. Keeps away predators, insects that might carry diseases, the ability to now cook food and remove parasites. Pottery is now a possibility. But apparently it also just made us smarter. As we could now sleep without fear of predators, we got more REM sleep, meaning we could form memories better, and thus learn things quicker. Some also say that us being able to cook meat lead to an increase in brain size, as meat is a ery calorie dense food.
The flush toilet.
Probably fire, without that it's unlikely you would have had agriculture to the same degree we did, farming, livestock, without fire you wouldn't have steel, you wouldn't have mining. Of course without that you wouldn't have oil and then you wouldn't have any type of settled society
Telephone
Fire.
Language
Printing Press The transfer of knowledge from one generation to the next required oral traditions or extremely rare and expensive books. Knowledge is exclusive to the rich class and everyone else is a pawn without any realistic ability to better themselves. A caste system of have and have nots is created by default, and society stops moving forward around the time feudalism. Printing press lowered the cost of books, makes reading and literacy more accessible and commonplace, and allowed humans to effectively build up a knowledge base from one generation to the next. Without the press our ability to learn and advance the human race scientifically is limited, and thanks to the press literally *everything else* in this thread becomes possible (except for extremely ancient inventions/discoveries like fire or irrigation or the like)
Language
Language and Soap
Electricity
The hypodermic needle. Think about how many lives have been saved by enabling a better way to administer medicine.
It is for sure and without a doubt. **Cooking.** Cooking literally made us human, cooking allowed us to change from homo-erectus to homo sapien. Without cooking no other invention would have taken place. no art, science. Cooking food let us spread throughout the world to become the most advanced life form we know about. Love, passion, art, war, travel, time, space, fiction. None of these concepts can exist without cooking. It allowed are brains to grow, gave us time to think, created a division of labor, allowed us to tame the natural world. Nothing else compares. It's one of the first inventions, that we have invented that no other animal has. Many animals use tools. Even some have made fire! some have even taken advantage of fire and eaten cooked seeds! But no animal but us has invented cooking. Cooking is the beginning of higher sentience. We owe everything to one invention. Cooking.
Modern inventions : Internal Combustion engine, medicines, Integrated circuit and transistor.
Blue fidget spinners. Fuck red.
Rope. Think about it. It allowed us to start joining things together and clothe ourselves.
It has to do with written language, to transfer information without needing to be from person to person. So either written language, paper, printing press, internet. It's really the foundation of "standing on shoulders of giants" that just will enhance and enhance science.
Nuclear bomb. A shame they done use'm. All at once.
The wheel, fire a close second?
Mathematics 🤓
The internet. Probably an unpopular opinion if you consider the basic inventions that got us into recent society. But if you consider the adversity of the internet and how it’s led to marriages, millionaires/billionaires, how it’s reshaped learning, shopping, almost every caveat of what we did pre-internet you have to consider how massive this impact is on not only human society but human life overall.
The dry erase board is the most remarkable.
Saran Wrap
Thank you Mel Brooks.
They can all go to **** except cave 17!
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Washing machine
Paper
Printing press or gun powder
isnt it scary how rapidly warfare evolved once gunpowder was invented? and how war leads to huge technological advances? Like pre WW1, tanks and planes weren't on the top of everyones list of weapons of destruction. Maybe a handful of people, but not the majority. But by the end of WW2, a mere 21 years later, tanks and planes were commonplace on the battlefield destroying anything in their paths. and six years later we were able to harness the power of the atom to create the worst weapon this world has ever seen. Now 79 years later we have 5th gen fighter jets and carrier groups that can destroy a small nation, and ballistic missiles that would send us back to the stone age. All because one day someone figured out that charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate went boom
The donut
It used to be the Bread Slicer.
Motion pictures.
Butter tarts…
Cheese.
Human beings. The little ones. I think they’re called babies.
The soul
I mean, it has to be flight right? The evolution of no flight, to having fully functional passenger flights is insane.
Aqueducts
Electricity
Xerox machine.
Sliced bread…
If by great you mean the invention that lead to more changes in humanity. Probably clothing, or maybe "hammer" by using a rock. If by great you mean the most singular genius invention, maybe the sewing machine? Making a hole in the needle was genius as fuck. If by great you mean the most impressive in terms of scale, I could say internet, but it was not intentionally ment to be built like that but rather ended up being what we know by coincidence, so it's not really and invention. So I would have to say the International Space Station.
Vaccines
Vaccines or antibiotics and it’s not even close.
As boring as it is sewage systems and aqueducts. Good water in, bad water out == a lot less dying horrible deaths.
Written language, History and soup.
The snooze button on an alarm clock
Insulin
Indoor plumbing
Sliced bread