Ideas that changed the world.

steddyeddy

Only recently we discovered (not After Hours) the existence of gravitational waves in space, proving Einstein right after all these years.

Women's day reminded us that women hadn't always got the right to vote and most women do.

The single biggest one might be the invention of the printing press which enabled the propagation and formation of all ideas.

Any more big ones?

Torricelli

Adblock Plus.

Your Face

Cultivation

LordSutch

Right, so you see that bus over there .... So how about we put some wings on it and stick a propeller on the front and then fly the thing with people in it, like a bus in the sky! And let's call it an aeroplane.

maudgonner

We'll put a computer on every desk and in every home...


The Magna Carta wasn't bad either.

gramar

steddyeddy wrote: »

Only recently we discovered (not After Hours) the existence of gravitational waves in space, proving Einstein right after all these years.

And how exactly does that change the world for the ordinary working man in the street?

SEPT 23 1989

Plastic

Lights On

The Fleshlight. The man who came up with that idea is a hero.

Your Face

gramar wrote: »

And how exactly does that change the world for the ordinary working man in the street?

Potential revolution in communications.

quadrifoglio verde

Boolean algebra, without which every modern electronic may not exist.
And most people have never heard if George Boole :mad:

The Backwards Man

Cabs on tractors. No more huddling around in donkey jackets when it's pishing the rain, everybody can lie in the Zetor listening to Declan Nerney.

Keane2baMused

Antibiotics

Duggy747

The internet and all the glorious porn it brought us...................I suppose the social and commercial side of the web too, but.................porn!

Also, the 80's! :pac:

Menas

The wheel is a mad yoke - great invention.
And honorable mention to the Loaf of bread.

steddyeddy

gramar wrote: »

And how exactly does that change the world for the ordinary working man in the street?

We don't know yet but the increased understanding of quantum mechanics led to the discovery of the laser, the transistor, the electron microscope, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Increases in our understanding of scientific phenomenon often have hugely unpredicted benefits for mankind.

LordSutch

Lights On wrote: »

The Fleshlight. The man who came up with that idea is a hero.

I presume you mean a flashlight/torch (and not a fleshlight)? although you might be into something there in the naughty department, a torch to light up the flesh?

gramar

Your Face wrote: »

Potential revolution in communications.

So it hasn't changed anything if it's only a potential revolution.

It took a 100 years to be confirmed and we all lived fairly happily not knowing one way or the other.

sligojoek

Incognito browsing.

RobertKK

Electrification.

AnonoBoy

Lying.

Remember before lying became a thing? It was so easy to catch people out on stuff.

Then... LYING.

Now I don't know what's going on half the time.... or do I? (See? I could be lying - it's so confusing!)

Ol' Donie

Television & Hollywood.

Imagine a world where everybody spoke in their own accents and didn't feel the need to say like every 5 seconds, and dressed in what they thought looked nice, not what some producer in California decided looked nice.

sabat

gramar wrote: »

And how exactly does that change the world for the ordinary working man in the street?

I'm not a theoretical physicist by profession but I assume this is the first step towards the availability of hoverboards for the mass market.

ClovenHoof

Art and Philosophy. Regardless of what TV presenters such as Bill Nye state.

Without imagination and creativity nothing else is possible.

Ri_Nollaig

Lights On wrote: »

The Fleshlight. The man who came up with that idea is a hero.

I heard he is a bit of a wanker...

Ol' Donie

sabat wrote: »

I'm not a theoretical physicist by profession but I assume this is the first step towards the availability of hoverboards for the mass market.

Will it give transporters?

I'd bloody love a transporter. Have to get a train in a while...sake...

harry Bailey esq

Sliced bread.

Boom_Bap

Combining dough, sauce, cheese and meat and oven baking.

1hnr79jr65

Atomic bomb, without it being dreamed of we wouldnt have likes of north korea threatening everyone.

JustShon

The micro chip, we wouldn't be having this discussion otherwise. I wouldn't have a job either.

Harry Palmr

Self awareness - Before this breakthrough we were just hitting rocks together and killing Antelope.

pickarooney

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

Boolean algebra, without which every modern electronic may not exist.
And most people have never heard if George Boole :mad:

Didn't he invent a new form of transport which everyone at the time aplauded?

The Boole Bus

Your Face

gramar wrote: »

So it hasn't changed anything if it's only a potential revolution.

It took a 100 years to be confirmed and we all lived fairly happily not knowing one way or the other.

That statement and mode of thinking on a thread about ideas that changed the world. You have at once both amused and worried me.
That is not a compliment.

Mesrine65

Menas wrote: »

honorable mention to the Loaf of bread.

Beer, liquid bread.

bear1

Democracy/Evolution/Human Rights

suicide_circus

Flour/Bread. The milling of flour turned an easy to grow predictable crop cereal into an easy to make, easy to digest, high carb tasty food. Pasta and noodles are basically the same thing. It's kept billions of people alive with enough energy to progress our various civilisations.

valoren

Menas wrote: »

The wheel is a mad yoke - great invention.
And honorable mention to the Loaf of bread.

And it's application to the......Bicycle.

suicide_circus

JustShon wrote: »

The micro chip, we wouldn't be having this discussion otherwise. I wouldn't have a job either.

McCaine's emoloyee, eh?

storker

There are so many worthy candidates in the fields of technology, medicine and social advances, but I'd have to go with Gummy Bears.

JustShon

suicide_circus wrote: »

McCaine's emoloyee, eh?

You bet! Living the dream, all the chips I can eat.

UrbanSprawl

Hats off to whoever invented fire..

Antar Bolaeisk

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

Boolean algebra, without which every modern electronic may not exist.
And most people have never heard if George Boole :mad:

Presumably an intentional pun?

Arpanet/Internet has probably been the greatest idea/invention in the last century.

sbsquarepants

Meldonium.
It enabled hot chicks to play tennis.
Yay for meldonium:D

osarusan

The idea to stay in the same place and grow food, rather than be nomadic.

Mesrine65

Black powder

ScumLord

"We're all going to heaven lads"

"There is only one god"

Tigger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adK-S7v12IY

The flying mouse

mobile telephones, cant live without them now.

ixoy

Alan Turing's work helped hugely to advance the modern computer, not to mention the many people alive because of his work with Enigma.

Your Face wrote: »

That statement and mode of thinking on a thread about ideas that changed the world. You have at once both amused and worried me.

Except this is a thread about ideas that have changed the world, not which ones will be. It has not changed anything yet beyond a potential means of observation so I think it's quite right not to place here yet. Might be different in 20 years!

jester77

Headphones, a license to ignore everyone around you

gramar

Your Face wrote: »

That statement and mode of thinking on a thread about ideas that changed the world. You have at once both amused and worried me.
That is not a compliment.

The existence of gravitational waves has been confirmed. How as of now has that changed the world?

Boom_Bap

The lighbulb is the best idea, it became the international symbol for an idea.