Most important invention ever ?

[Tim Bowen]

Originally Posted by rhinocaster

Quite seriously it was the printing press.

Shared knowledge has led to everything (Good and bad) that we have.

Just prior to the turn of the century, the Biography Channel offered a documentary called Biography of the Millennium: 100 People - 1000 Years. Above such notables as Galileo, Shakespeare, Copernicus, DaVinci, Darwin, Edison, and Newton, the #1 spot was occupied by an unassuming craftsman by the name of Johannes Gutenberg. He held one simple distinction: he invented the printing press.

Having previously worked within the graphics industry for a couple of decades, if I ever see another printing press in this lifetime, it'll be too soon. However, the significance of this invention can't possibly be underestimated or diminished. This guy was the progenitor of modern information flow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg

[Nick JD]

Vaccines, antibiotics, and the thing that ties up bread bags.

[octatonic]

I have to say Asthma medication- because otherwise I'd be quite, quite dead.

For everyone else- the mechanical clock, airplane, electricity grid, modern plumbing and the Internet all rate pretty highly.

[winny pooh]

Originally Posted by Jakedog

The condom.

I can say one thing with absolute confidence though. And that is, that if there is a God, he loves stupid people best. I can tell because he made more of them, than anybody else.

Jake

+1 ha ha

[Gareth John]

Hamburger, Fries, Milkshake...the list is endless

[Westerly Sunn]

Originally Posted by surfoverb

Walking

I was gonna say Shoes! Agriculture would be a really big one... It made free time for all that other stuff...

[gibsonjunkie]

The Internet. Before that, porn was relegated to the back room of the firehouse for movie night - or a stack of magazines hidden in the closet...


I would say the wheel, but not the guy who invented it - but the guy who invented the second wheel - THAT was genius!!! (I think Jonathan Winters first told that joke).

Seriously, I think Gutenberg gets my vote too. Europe suffered through a thousand years of neglect and decay and the printing press was responsible for the Renaissance and mankind moving forward.

[Pvee]

Vaccines, Penicillin, Computers and the parts that make it possible.

And the Thermos bottle.!!
It keeps hot things hot, when it's cold, and cold things cold when it's hot, but how do it know.!!!!!!!

[e-merlin]

Time travel. Oh, wait! You guys don't have that yet.

Ok, how about the gutter. Without 'em we'd have no place to wallow nor a place to sink.

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by Pvee

And the Thermos bottle.!!
It keeps hot things hot, when it's cold, and cold things cold when it's hot, but how do it know.!!!!!!!

You may or may not know...
Thermos is a brand name- the name of the device is a Vacuum Flask.

There is how it works:

A vacuum flask is a bottle with hollow walls.
The narrow region between the inner and outer wall is evacuated of air.
It can also be considered to be two thin-walled bottles nested one inside the other, and sealed together at their necks.
Using vacuum as an insulator avoids heat transfer by conduction or convection.
Radiative heat loss can be minimized by applying a reflective coating to surfaces.

The contents of the flask reach thermal equilibrium with the inner wall; the wall is thin, with low thermal capacity, so does not exchange much heat with the contents, affecting their temperature little.
At the temperatures for which vacuum flasks are used (usually below the boiling point of water), and with the use of reflective coatings, there is little infrared (radiative) transfer.

[bobthecanadian]

My initial thought is carbonation.

Some others on the list would be

natural preservatives

the refrigerator

Beethoven

Women

digital tuner

metronome

[63dot]

agriculture

[surfoverb]

Originally Posted by Westerly Sunn

I was gonna say Shoes! Agriculture would be a really big one... It made free time for all that other stuff...

Clearly habitual bipedal motion gave early hominds a huge advantage but since that's more of an adaptation than invention I'll have to go with orthopedic shoes.

[fltpkr]

The wheel. Without it, and it's application in one form or another to so many subsequent inventions (including the printing press) life would be radically different.

[Crotalus Atrox]

Wow, what are you guys thinking? Everybody knows it's the Popeil Pocket Fisherman.

Either that or the Ktel Record Selector.

Or Chia Pets.

[ajgus]

Sex in general. I mean think about it...who were the first two people to do that. Cause you know when they first started they were like "I think we might have something here...lets see where this goes..."

[jcayer]

Originally Posted by SMPTE

The transistor.

+1 ...

[Wally]

I'll vote with Telakaster....the cutting edge(knife,axe). Without it, there would have been little progress. From the use of crude cutting edges comes clothing, food, shelter, and weapons. Without those, there would be no wheel, printing press, IC, transistors, tubes.....whatever. We would still be pulling fruit from trees and ants from the ground. The only areas where humans could live would be in the few 'tropical paradises'.
Sex is not an invention. It is an instinct. Humans practiced sex before we ever learned to use tools. and..practice, practice, practice.....

[ajgus]

Yeah, but if not for sex there would be no inventions.

[Flat357]

Originally Posted by Wally

Sex is not an invention. It is an instinct. Humans practiced sex before we ever learned to use tools. and..practice, practice, practice.....

Just when you get good at it , the wife tells you that you don't need any more practise

BTW... Tool... is English slang for our favourite little toy

[Wally]

Invention...2) A new device or process developed from study and experimentation.
Instinct...1) the innate aspect of behavior that is unlearned, complex and normally adaptive
ajgus, you are correct. Without instinctive behavior, humans would not have survived long enough to create anything. Also, those instinctive behaviors probably drive us to improve our methods of gaining 'clothing, food, shelter' in order to impress the opposite sex and therefore have more sex...and practice, practice, practice....even if perfection is unattainable.
I would wager that the first human male that discovered the use of a sharp edge gathered unto himself and his tribe more clothing, food and shelter; this impressed those around him, and he was rewarded with more sex which he practiced, practiced and practiced....
and so we find ourselves today as evolved humans still practicing, practicing practicing our instincts.

[vintage52]

Disposable syringe - invented by a New Zealander.

And of course the spliting of the Atom by another fine New Zealander....but then of course, I might be just fission....

[Hockey Rocker]

Plastic.

[bug music]

Originally Posted by jimd

I'm going to have to say beer.

Originally Posted by getbent

oral sex. Whoever was thinking that stuff up was having a PRETTY GOOD DAY.

Ladies and Gentlemen... It looks like we have a tie !

- Jay

[Flat357]

Originally Posted by bug music

Ladies and Gentlemen... It looks like we have a tie !

- Jay

If it was between the 2 , then Beer would be much more important
Without one , the other is unlikely to happen he he

[WisconsinStrings]

speelcheckers

[Colt W. Knight]

metalergy

[Tim Bowen]

Originally Posted by Crotalus Atrox

Wow, what are you guys thinking? Everybody knows it's the Popeil Pocket Fisherman.

Either that or the Ktel Record Selector.

Or Chia Pets.

Absolutely right, these are the correct answers.

Honorable mentions:

* The Party Ring ("Sho' is BAD!")
* Mr. Microphone ("Hey baby, I'll be back to pick YOU up later!")
* The Pet Rock (actually, they're quite lovable once you get to know 'em.)
* Ronco Veg-O-Matic ("It slices! It dices!" It... can mow your lawn?)
* Any culinary products designed by George Foreman

[jelly tele]

+1 to condom. or birth control in general for that matter

add-

the internet
its like the printing press on a twelve pack of redbull, plus tpdri wouldnt exist without it

[giginthesky]

the keyring? imagine all those keys loose in your pocket.

[garytelecastor]

First off-Bent; You are a true hounddog!!!!!

Second-Significant I have to vote for gunpowder.

[slauson slim]

My old girlfriend - British - said mankind's greatest investions were dishwashers, penicillin and tampons..........

[Michaell]

Like Willie Brown said to Eugene in Crossroads

" Muddy Waters invented electricty!"


seriously,

I see your point about the pen ( pun intended )

The printing press comes to mind for me.

then after that I'd say Dunlop 6100 fretwire

[skeksis]

I'd put my vote in for Agriculture... sure it was 'invented' 10k years ago, but without it you don't get sedentism, 'civilization', and economic-minded specialists with a motivation to recombine stuff and improve/innovate/discover.

[Wally]

I reiterate....the blade for cutting, scraping, chopping, etc....
The proof is in the saying that we use to refer to the best of whatever field we talk about....
THE CUTTING EDGE...of whatever...communications, agriculture, economics...
there is a reason why we use that phrase. The cutting edge was the first tool that mankind came to understand and that led us out of simple gathering.

Without it, there is nothing else.
That said, after a hard day using that tool or any of the ones that followed, a cold beer and some oral sex complete the package. Cutting edge pleasures that have endured, for sure.

[Gareth John]

Bluetack.

[surfoverb]

Originally Posted by Wally

I reiterate....the blade for cutting, scraping, chopping, etc....
The proof is in the saying that we use to refer to the best of whatever field we talk about....
THE CUTTING EDGE...of whatever...communications, agriculture, economics...
there is a reason why we use that phrase. The cutting edge was the first tool that mankind came to understand and that led us out of simple gathering.

Without it, there is nothing else.
That said, after a hard day using that tool or any of the ones that followed, a cold beer and some oral sex complete the package. Cutting edge pleasures that have endured, for sure.

I disagree...Most, if not all hominids had cutting tools and some like H. Erectus had very advanced lithic technology and they're all exstinct. H. Erectus almost certainly had clothes for they lived in extreme cold climates and have been found with bone 'needles' and awls. Also there are today tribes of hunter gatherers living with the same cutting tools that have been used for thousands of years.

The plow is much more 'important' than the hand axe in terms of 'modern man'.

[maestrovert]

Originally Posted by Wally

I reiterate....the blade for cutting, scraping, chopping, etc....
The proof is in the saying that we use to refer to the best of whatever field we talk about....
THE CUTTING EDGE...of whatever...communications, agriculture, economics...
there is a reason why we use that phrase. The cutting edge was the first tool that mankind came to understand and that led us out of simple gathering.

Without it, there is nothing else.
That said, after a hard day using that tool or any of the ones that followed, a cold beer and some oral sex complete the package. Cutting edge pleasures that have endured, for sure.

Yes indeed, a good knife is an absolute necessity....without it, i doubt that human survival is possible even today....

However there's only one tool capable of replicating itself....

lookie here !

[sixstringbastard]

After serious contemplation and soul searching I'd have to say that the greatest invention is......

Beer

Followed closely by Buffalo Chicken Wings

[Five Finger Fender Fiend]

Beer, Oral sex AND the remote control for the TV!