Best invention

meditraitor · 16-02-2005 04:50PM #1

Maybe this was here before, but not bothered looking,, so what do ye reckon is the best human invention..mm

Electricity mmmmm , maybe it should be catagorised as a discovery

, what I meant was harnessing it, this involves many different things(capacitors etc)

writing- not really a discovery or invention just an evolution in communication skills

I dont know what atari jaguar is personally(maybe im alone in that) but it seems to be used often in polls, I put it in as an answer for the messers to latch onto,, worked alright

WhiteWashMan · 16-02-2005 05:13PM

writing.

without it, we would only ever have had the ability pass on a finite amount of knowledge.
everything else stems from that knowledge.

Creature · 16-02-2005 05:15PM

I'm curious, who invented electricity? Mr. Electricity?

bizmark · 16-02-2005 05:18PM

Thomas Edison

i agree with writeing

pickarooney · 16-02-2005 05:19PM

WhiteWashMan wrote:

writing.

without it, we would only ever have had the ability pass on a finite amount of knowledge.
everything else stems from that knowledge.

But it would have sped up the invention of the dictaphone and camcorder considerably

Glowing · 16-02-2005 05:20PM

Well, surely language came before writing, so should that not be the best 'invention'?

16-02-2005 05:22PM

electricity wasnt invented, it was just harnessed.

tSubh Dearg · 16-02-2005 05:22PM

I think fire was a pretty cool invention

CuLT · 16-02-2005 05:23PM

I can't believe that the Internet and Computers aren't there.

irlirishkev · 16-02-2005 05:25PM

The internet surely deserves a mention.. as does the toilet I would have thought.

K.

Big Ears · 16-02-2005 05:26PM

CuLT wrote:

I can't believe that the Internet and Computers aren't there.

We wouldn't have either without electricity .

Pigman II · 16-02-2005 05:27PM

The Mouse scroll button.

WhiteWashMan · 16-02-2005 05:30PM

Glowing wrote:

Well, surely language came before writing, so should that not be the best 'invention'?

so, lets take all the knowledge of , oh, lets say everything written down on the internet shall we.

now. you go and learn that, and using your language, teach me.

as i said, with language, you can only pass on a finite amount of information.
with writing, you can pass on everything.

including how to harness electricity, and build a toilet.
from writing stemmed mathmatics, stemmed engineering, stemmed the internet, and now we have PORN!

see, writing. it rocks!

Tobias Greeshman · 16-02-2005 05:35PM

I cant believe people would disregard the wheel as the best ever invention!

Where would be without it!

pickarooney · 16-02-2005 05:39PM

everything would be mounted on skis

WhiteWashMan · 16-02-2005 05:42PM

trust_no_one wrote:

I cant believe people would disregard the wheel as the best ever invention!

Where would be without it!

well, i can tell you, that without writing, we wouldnt even be back to the drawing board, thats for sure!

besides, the wheel was designed by people stupid enough to live in the andes mountains.

anyone who lives up there deserves to stuck up there is say!

Creature · 16-02-2005 05:43PM

bizmark wrote:

Thomas Edison

Lol

I'd have to vote for the standard CRT monitor, using the internet would be a lot harder without it.

16-02-2005 05:44PM

pickarooney wrote:

everything would be mounted on skis

That would be so cool

MizzKattt · 16-02-2005 05:48PM

condoms

kinkstr · 16-02-2005 05:51PM

Pigman II wrote:

The Mouse scroll button.

We wouldnt have that without the wheel

spunkymunky · 16-02-2005 05:54PM

Medicine?
I know it gets us back to work sooner but has its pluses

Shabadu · 16-02-2005 06:04PM

How about the club or similar rudimentary weapon? According to Desmond Morris that's what got us out of the trees and turned us into omnivores who learned carnivorous traits; this is believed to be one of the main reasons we evolved, no other species has ever crossed over like that. It also resulted in needing larger brain size and capacity and long childhoods.

If it sounds interesting read the Naked Ape by Morris, great book.

Also, am not condoning weaponry or modern warfare or anything.

Kingp35 · 16-02-2005 06:10PM

i cannot beleive nobody has said beer. Are we not irish???

Dr. Loon · 16-02-2005 06:14PM

Jr.Shabadu wrote:

How about the club or similar rudimentary weapon? According to Desmond Morris that's what got us out of the trees and turned us into omnivores who learned carnivorous traits; this is believed to be one of the main reasons we evolved, no other species has ever crossed over like that. It also resulted in needing larger brain size and capacity and long childhoods.

If it sounds interesting read the Naked Ape by Morris, great book.

Also, am not condoning weaponry or modern warfare or anything.

Agreed. Just think how far violence and weaponry has gotten us.

Blisterman · 16-02-2005 06:47PM

Well if the wheel wasnt invented, someone would have invented it.

Does that make any sense?

WhiteWashMan · 16-02-2005 06:53PM

Jr.Shabadu wrote:

How about the club or similar rudimentary weapon? According to Desmond Morris that's what got us out of the trees and turned us into omnivores who learned carnivorous traits; this is believed to be one of the main reasons we evolved, no other species has ever crossed over like that. It also resulted in needing larger brain size and capacity and long childhoods.

If it sounds interesting read the Naked Ape by Morris, great book.

Also, am not condoning weaponry or modern warfare or anything.

but surely, being the only creatures with opposable thumbs allowed us to bear weapons, and thats what made us different from other creatures.
im sure other animals have picked up branches (or clubs if you like) before.
hell, beavers do it all the time, they just build dams out of them!

anyway, i thought an omnivore ate both meat and vegitation. isnt it a herbivore that only eats vegitation?

Shabadu · 16-02-2005 06:56PM

Dr. Loon wrote:

Agreed. Just think how far violence and weaponry has gotten us.

I should have made it clearer that the club was for hunting food. Violence is one of the main reasons we evolved, whether or not you like what we've evolved into. As far as furthering human propogation it's both helped us and resulted in enormous human suffering.

Shabadu · 16-02-2005 07:00PM

WhiteWashMan wrote:

but surely, being the only creatures with opposable thumbs allowed us to bear weapons, and thats what made us different from other creatures.
im sure other animals have picked up branches (or clubs if you like) before.
hell, beavers do it all the time, they just build dams out of them!

anyway, i thought an omnivore ate both meat and vegitation. isnt it a herbivore that only eats vegitation?

Professor Morris would be able to answer this much more eloquently so please bear with my fumbling; basically our thumbs opposed from having to become proficient hunters. Omnivores only scavange flesh, carnivores hunt it. We transitioned from omnivores to omnivores with carnivore traits. It's complimacated.

woosaysdan · 16-02-2005 07:04PM

where would we be if someone didnt invent the smilies!!!

:rolleyes:

:mad:

:eek:

:cool:

WhiteWashMan · 16-02-2005 07:06PM

lions are pretty good at hunting.
they dont have opposable thumbs.

at least, my kitty doesnt ( i will not have everyone note that i dont own a lion, but a small grey tabby cat, and while i know that it isnt a lion or any other large hunting feline, i dont think the big cats have evolved that far from their cousins

)

this prof morris better have a good story to tell, or else im going to be little bit upset at this whole episode.
however, on the bright side, i can write about it and make it all better, becuase writing was the best invention!

Shabadu · 16-02-2005 07:18PM

WhiteWashMan wrote:

lions are pretty good at hunting.
they dont have opposable thumbs.

Yes, but lions have always been carnivores, we're omnivores with carnivore traits. Basically if lions started gardening maybe they'd get opposable thumbs. I'm so confused. Writing is my favourite invention, but surely the best is the one that sparked all that human creativity off? Basically Morris claims that;

Hunting tools+ loadsa protein = opposable thumbs = other tools = lots more learning for kiddies = longer childhood+ more education = necessity for family unit = love & human sensibilities.

only with lots of other stuff.

Best invention

Best invention ever 84 votes

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