Foo - what is the most important invention from post 1700's?

This was a quested posed to me today, I like it. I said it was the ball bearing what do you think?

Indoor plumbing, hands down...

form a hypochondriac's point of view, it has to be anitbiotics. :)

About 100 years ago, ~60% of deaths in the western world were caused by infectious diseases; now it's ~3% :)

Mechanical refrigeration has always seemed to be a biggie to me. I don't think the Western lifestyle would be very feasible without it, at any rate.

Steam engine or U.S. Constitution.

Rush... :D




Seriously though, I would have to say modern cycling technology.

How about electricity? Or the internal combustion engine? Airplanes? Plastic? Synthetic fabrics that reduce our need for animal skins? Wait, wait...I've got it. The electronic dartboard!

stretch denim :p

rock 'n' roll!!

Imagine if we still had to listen to Tom Dorsey stuff

Soap?

How about electricity? Or the internal combustion engine? Airplanes? Plastic? Synthetic fabrics that reduce our need for animal skins? Wait, wait...I've got it. The electronic dartboard!
I'd go with electricity. While the others Namenda said are important, without electricity there contribution would be minimal to non-existant.

I think electricity or the mechanical engine (be it steam, internal, jet what ever). One drove the electrical age, the other the industrial revolution. Suppose without the steam engine we wouldn't have generators to speak of for electricity (unless you count hydro and wind generators).

Vulcanized rubber, anesthesia, radio, dentistry, and....ice cream!

Has no one said transistor?

The scientific method essentially by Galileo Galilei and Issac Newton as applied by others from this time - from their methodologies all these other things flowed.

The widget inside a can of Guinness :D:D:D:D

I think it was voted best invention of the 20th century!

form a hypochondriac's point of view, it has to be anitbiotics. :)
arent they more Discoveries than inventions?

In honor of Mr. Hangover himself (free pizza, that would be you), I nominate Tylenol as the greatest invention since 1700.

The controlled production, regulation & distribution of electricity. It's impossible to think of one thing in our lives that electricity hasn't impacted and would be (as) available without it.

Has no one said transistor?

ding! ding! ding!

this is my answer whenever i've been asked this question.

but there would be no transistors without electricity :(

but there would be no transistors without electricity :(

Oh, there'd be plenty of transistors without electricity. They just wouldn't do a whole helluva lot. :D

OK I'm being a party-pooper but internal plumbing of sorts has been around since the Roman Empire. Soap has been around since the dawn of time too. Soap can be accidently made by dripping animal fat on the remains of a wood fire. Icecream has been around since the Romans as well beleive it or not.

Now I'm not sure if I have the timeline right myself but I believe that the most important modern invention is actualy a concept rather than a product. Its the idea of a production line that realy changed things for better or worse.

Regards, Anthony

Well, you didn't shoot down the electronic dart board, so I guess you left me something. I'll try not to have any more fun, as it appears you just can't stand it...

Indoor plumbing, hands down...

Definitely pre-1700's (http://www.the-home-improvement-web.com/information/clawfoot-tub-history.htm)

I'll swing another vote for electricity. Maxwell is probably the most under-respected scientist of the last 300 years. The antibiotics suggestion was a good one, but I don't think anything has changed our lives as much as electricity has. Transistors did not enable computers, they enabled smaller computers. Electricity gave us on-demand light, heat, and work. Work generally stopped when the sun went down before electric lighting became viable. Ball bearings made a lot of things easier, live longer, or more efficient, but they didn't directly change the way we live.

As an aside, the availability of the internet is having an obviously huge effect on society (bikeforums, anyone?), but some sociologists don't feel that we have even fully adapted to the changes TV makes in our lives yet (something like 60 years after its invention). It really is hard to fathom how we'll go about our daily lives in 50 years. It occasionally boggles my mind just to think that only 15 years ago, email was generally considered more a novelty than a tool.

Definitely pre-1700's (http://www.the-home-improvement-web.com/information/clawfoot-tub-history.htm)


Yes the ancient Romans did divert river water through buildings to fill tubs and indoor pools. Amazing what you can accomplish with slave labor. And they had drain lines to send the water back out to the river. To me, this is no better than carrying buckets from the riverbank. I was referring to the indoor toilet. The first flushing toilet, per your link, was made in 1596. The inventor made a grand total of 2 copies. Not exactly widespread use, unless he invited all of England to his house when nature called. No more flushing toilets were invented and/or produced until 1775.

but there would be no transistors without electricity :(

electricity?

the Phoenicians had it. around 1000 BC.

plus, i don't consider "electricity" an invention. it's a natural force, harnessed by various inventions.

electricity?

the Phoenicians had it. around 1000 BC.

plus, i don't consider "electricity" an invention. it's a natural force, harnessed by various inventions.


Ref: Post #19

condoms

the bicycle

the bicycle

This is the first thing that came to my mind when I opened this thread :D

Cartridge fed centerfire guns using smokeless powder and non corrosive primers. Medical marvels are all fine and well, as are new methods of transportation and modern luxurys, but nothing has had as much impact on the world as easily produced modern weapons.

condomsyeah, and the pill!

Te elevator deserves honorable mention. Though I tend to agree that the most important was the mechanism to economicly generate, control, store and distribute electric power.

The printing press was certainly a biggie, but I think it predates the 1700's.

Semiconductor.

I would have preconceived notion it would be the wheel :o

Internet porn

The elevator deserves honorable mention
essentially its just a system of pulleys.

archimedes invented the pulley thousands of years ago.

Pedantic people need to die :P
THERE WERE NO ELEVATORS THOUSANDS OF Years ago. I don't consider elevators to be that big. I'd rather run up and down stairs :p

THERE WERE NO ELEVATORS THOUSANDS OF Years ago. I don't consider elevators to be that big. I'd rather run up and down stairs :p
i didnt say there were elevators thousands of years ago. Im just saying they are basically an addition to an existing invention, kinda like adding a clock to a coffee maker :D..

And yeah, elevators have made the world even more lazy.

Technically speaking almost everything is an addition to something that already existed.

Newton';s apple? please apples and other objects have been falling for numerous of millenia. The dinosaurs and cavemen have drawn stories about this.

Plastiques and what not ? Alchemists have been around for millenia.


I personally believe the harnessing of energy in a controllable and distributable fashion is probably single handedly one of the most change invoking inventions of that era.

Newton';s apple? please apples and other objects have been falling for numerous of millenia. The dinosaurs and cavemen have drawn stories about this.



he discovered gravity (meaning he was the first to explain what it was) , he didnt invent it!

I personally believe the harnessing of energy in a controllable and distributable fashion is probably single handedly one of the most change invoking inventions of that era.
and yes, i totally agree with that one.

Hey free pizza,

>>>The widget inside a can of Guinness

What on the Lord's Green Earth IS that thing?

Hey free pizza,

>>>The widget inside a can of Guinness

What on the Lord's Green Earth IS that thing?

Someone may know more about this than i do, but ill give it a shot.

Like most kegs, Guinness needs CO2 to be poured, but it also needs Nitrogen (which most beers dont).
The cans of Guinness (not guinness extra stout) have little balls inside them containing nitrogen (next time you are in a beer store, pick up a can/bottle of guinness and shake it lightly and you'll feel it)

So to get cans of guinness to taste as close as possible to guinness from a tap, they put those nitrogen balls into the cans, and when you open the can, the pressure difference between the can/atmosphere causes the ball to explode, releasing nitrogen into the guinness, making it taste somewhat similar to guinness on tap, even though its not even close to the same goodness.

The bottles have the same thing, except the ball looks like a rocket, thats why they call them "bottle rockets"

Killkenny and Boddingtons cream ale have the same widget.

essentially its just a system of pulleys.

archimedes invented the pulley thousands of years ago.

Yes there were types of elevators pre 1700's. The original poster was more than likely thinking of the elevator brake. That is what otis invented that gave us the elevators we have today. My vote is the bicycle

Ok, being a Mel Brooks fan I have to say



"Liquid Prell" :D




Anyone here get the reference???

...
I personally believe the harnessing of energy in a controllable and distributable fashion is probably single handedly one of the most change invoking inventions of that era.

Yup, that's what I was about to write




yeah, and the pill!

:rolleyes: I'm guessing you've never had to take those...

I took the blue pill
and then this rabbit came out
and then this really weird dude started talking in a monotone about the matrix and how he had to save it and what not .

http://seespanrun.com/relevant/clapper.jpg