Greatest Inventions Ever

[fester30]

After six months deployed halfway around the world from my family, I feel I can say the best invention ever is Skype.  Used to be we got one or two calls per week to home that lasted about five to ten minutes.  Now, I can get on the internet any day of the week, and videochat with them!  It's awesome!  It is why I say, even if they find a way to get cheap, efficient, clean energy from controlled clashes of matter and antimatter, Skype will still be the greatest invention ever.

What is your greatest invention ever?

[Tank]

After six months deployed halfway around the world from my family, I feel I can say the best invention ever is Skype.  Used to be we got one or two calls per week to home that lasted about five to ten minutes.  Now, I can get on the internet any day of the week, and videochat with them!  It's awesome!  It is why I say, even if they find a way to get cheap, efficient, clean energy from controlled clashes of matter and antimatter, Skype will still be the greatest invention ever.

What is your greatest invention ever?

Written language. Without writing humanity can not accurately record and later disseminate knowledge. Without it we would live in a linguistic 'ground hog day' perpetually reinventing the ideas of the previous generation and not being able to build on that learning, which would make progress impossible. Without the written word we could not 'stand on the shoulders of giants.' as Newton put it. Imagine trying to remember and disseminate quantum theory or special relativity without the written word. It would be impossible.

I would also rate Skype as a magnificent use of technology, but with a webcam!

[Asmodean]

Ye ol' humble plow... And the wheel. Must not forget the wheel.

[Cecilie]

Being half blind I would have to say glasses are the greatest invention ever.

[Asmodean]

Being half blind I would have to say glasses are the greatest invention ever.

Yeah... Forgot about that...  

*add to list*

[fester30]

Written language. Without writing humanity can not accurately record and later disseminate knowledge. Without it we would live in a linguistic 'ground hog day' perpetually reinventing the ideas of the previous generation and not being able to build on that learning, which would make progress impossible. Without the written word we could not 'stand on the shoulders of giants.' as Newton put it. Imagine trying to remember and disseminate quantum theory or special relativity without the written word. It would be impossible.

I would also rate Skype as a magnificent use of technology, but with a webcam!

Ahh see but with Skype I don't need the written language anymore to get through to my wife long distance.  Skype wins!

[fester30]

Being half blind I would have to say glasses are the greatest invention ever.

My wife would say that the following could only come from my mind but...
Glasses could be the greatest for two reasons.  One would be yours, of course (good call because I wear glasses).  But glasses also can MAKE you blind... in a good way.  No really... follow me for a moment on this.  Okay.  So, you're at a bar, and there's an average or even ugly member of the opposite sex that seems to be trying to talk to you.  Your first inclination might be to shoo this person away like the dog they are, but then you may have shooed away your only chance at some action later that night.  Your other option is to drink about ten GLASSES of beer and just enjoy the fact that the person was attractive while you were getting it on.  In our case, they might even be attractive in the morning if we left our other glasses on the nightstand.

[Tank]

Written language. Without writing humanity can not accurately record and later disseminate knowledge. Without it we would live in a linguistic 'ground hog day' perpetually reinventing the ideas of the previous generation and not being able to build on that learning, which would make progress impossible. Without the written word we could not 'stand on the shoulders of giants.' as Newton put it. Imagine trying to remember and disseminate quantum theory or special relativity without the written word. It would be impossible.

I would also rate Skype as a magnificent use of technology, but with a webcam!

Ahh see but with Skype I don't need the written language anymore to get through to my wife long distance.  Skype wins!

Ahh but you see without the written word, to record and disseminate knowledge, Skype could never have existed. Gutenberg wins!

[Tank]

Being half blind I would have to say glasses are the greatest invention ever.

I didn't know that. Short sighted?

[Cecilie]

Being half blind I would have to say glasses are the greatest invention ever.

I didn't know that. Short sighted?

Yep.

[fester30]

Ahh but you see without the written word, to record and disseminate knowledge, Skype could never have existed. Gutenberg wins!

Touche!

Then again you could say the same about the computer.  It's like saying you can't say the car is the greatest, because it wouldn't exist without the wheel or the engine.  People who invented the wheel or letters couldn't have known what they were getting themselves into, therefore inventing letters doesn't definitely lead to Skype.  When man invented metallic wire, the telephone wasn't exactly inevitable.

Draw?  naa you win, because even with Skype I still write my wife a letter a day (I'm a romantic sap).

[Tank]

Ahh but you see without the written word, to record and disseminate knowledge, Skype could never have existed. Gutenberg wins!

Touche!

Then again you could say the same about the computer.  It's like saying you can't say the car is the greatest, because it wouldn't exist without the wheel or the engine.  People who invented the wheel or letters couldn't have known what they were getting themselves into, therefore inventing letters doesn't definitely lead to Skype.  When man invented metallic wire, the telephone wasn't exactly inevitable.

Draw?  naa you win, because even with Skype I still write my wife a letter a day (I'm a romantic sap).

Well the title is Greatest Inventions (plural) so we could go for the top 100.

I'd argue that the lens was one of the greatest inventions/discoveries ever. It lead to spectacles, microscopes and telescopes. Using glass to distort the visible element of the electromagnetic spectrum allowed humanity to discover it's place in the cosmos in a way it had never truly appreciated before. The microscope revealed the world of the microbe, the true owners of Earth, and heralded the explanation of one of the main causes of disease. The telescope revealed just how unimportant humanity is in a universal sense. It reined in our ego a little and created a perspective on time and our real place in the universe. But both combined to show us that there was a lot more out there to discover than we could ever have imagined. The humble lens widened our horizons from the parochial to the near infinite.

[Asmodean]

Well the title is Greatest Inventions (plural) so we could go for the top 100.

Here is a top 10 by importance, but not sorted, as I see it, inventions and discoveries, good and bad:

Wheel
Alphabet (written language)
Penicillin
Plow (More generally, organised farming)
Clothing
Metallurgy
Gunpowder
God
ICE
Printing press

[Tank]

Well the title is Greatest Inventions (plural) so we could go for the top 100.

Here is a top 10 by importance, but not sorted, as I see it, inventions and discoveries, good and bad:

Wheel
Alphabet (written language)
Penicillin
Plow (More generally, organised farming)
Clothing
Metallurgy
Gunpowder
God
ICE
Printing press

Took a moment to figure out ICE but I would agree. But then surly salt and food preservation would be the generalised discovery?

[Asmodean]

Took a moment to figure out ICE but I would agree. But then surly salt and food preservation would be the generalised discovery?

Internal combustion engine. Being too lazy to type it out just leads to needing to clarify... And me, I never learn

Personally, I'd lump food preservation with organised farming, but yes, a valid point.