Ideas that changed the world.

Your Face · 09-03-2016 02:30PM

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 · 09-03-2016 02:33PM

Menas wrote: »

honorable mention to the Loaf of bread.

Beer, liquid bread.

bear1 · 09-03-2016 02:39PM

Democracy/Evolution/Human Rights

suicide_circus · 09-03-2016 02:43PM

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 · 09-03-2016 02:44PM

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 · 09-03-2016 02:46PM

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 · 09-03-2016 02:46PM

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 · 09-03-2016 02:48PM

suicide_circus wrote: »

McCaine's emoloyee, eh?

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

UrbanSprawl · 09-03-2016 03:05PM

Hats off to whoever invented fire..

Antar Bolaeisk · 09-03-2016 03:08PM

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 · 09-03-2016 03:08PM

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

osarusan · 09-03-2016 03:13PM

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

Mesrine65 · 09-03-2016 03:17PM

Black powder

ScumLord · 09-03-2016 03:22PM

"We're all going to heaven lads"

"There is only one god"

Tigger · 09-03-2016 03:27PM

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

The flying mouse · 09-03-2016 03:27PM

mobile telephones, cant live without them now.

ixoy · 09-03-2016 03:56PM

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 · 09-03-2016 03:59PM

Headphones, a license to ignore everyone around you

gramar · 09-03-2016 04:00PM

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 · 09-03-2016 04:01PM

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

sryanbruen · 09-03-2016 04:07PM

Water... how can we live without it?

Peregrine · 09-03-2016 04:12PM

Quantum mechanics
Calculus
Relativity
Boolean algebra
Quaternions

Sliced bread

osarusan · 09-03-2016 04:21PM

Religion.

Your Face · 09-03-2016 04:23PM

gramar wrote: »

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

I was going to explain it to you. However I suspect that effort would be in vain.
So here is a video of a cute puppy:

Notice how no matter how hard the puppy tries, he just doesn't seem to understand how to stand up, a basic function for a mammal.

Wibbs · 09-03-2016 04:33PM

ClovenHoof wrote: »

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

Without imagination and creativity nothing else is possible.

+1000 Did Bill say it wasn't? I'd be surprised if he did. One could argue art begat science. In that when modern humans - and we appear to have been the first to do so - abstracted reality onto a cave wall or piece of bone, we changed what it is to be human, we became observers and recorders of reality and from that sought explanations for it. It may have started out as magic and religion, but they're just early attempts at explaining reality, science just happens to be the better at it. Science also comes from the making of things. Experiment over time leads to innovation. The first complex "superglue" we know of was invented by Neandertals and it requires an heated anaerobic environment of very precise conditions and temperatures to make.

UrbanSprawl wrote: »

Hats off to whoever invented fire..

Seems to have happened at least half a million years ago and from it came one of the biggest ideas of all; cooking. Cooking opened up huge options for food and actually changed how we physically look and act.

Another early one, at least 3 million years back; tools. Other animals use tools of course, where we got the lightbulb moment was when we started to make reproducible recognisable tools for specific purposes. That also changed our evolution and led to more externalisation of ideas and concepts. The first of these and the longest used tool in human history(around two million years, up to the neolithic "new" stone age) was the hand axe.

Trade. Without it we'd have never grown in numbers as a species, nor would ideas have transmitted so readily.

Writing. Game changer right there. A way of remotely transmitting inner thoughts over time and space. Mathematics another game changer.

As was mentioned already and one of the biggest innovations in recorded history; the printing press, which was the internet of its day. And it kicked off within a human lifetime.

Glass would be another one. Maps. The mechanical clock/escapement. The engine, external and internal combustion. Electricity.

gramar · 09-03-2016 04:54PM

Your Face wrote: »

I was going to explain it to you. However I suspect that effort would be in vain.
So here is a video of a cute puppy:

Notice how no matter how hard the puppy tries, he just doesn't seem to understand how to stand up, a basic function for a mammal.

Must be a gravitational wave that's keeping him down.

ScumLord · 09-03-2016 04:54PM

Wibbs wrote: »

One could argue art begat science. In that when modern humans - and we appear to have been the first to do so - abstracted reality onto a cave wall or piece of bone, we changed what it is to be human, we became observers and recorders of reality and from that sought explanations for it. It may have started out as magic and religion, but they're just early attempts at explaining reality, science just happens to be the better at it.

I would definitely see religion as science beta, they essentially do the same job, especially if you look at older cultures like the egyptians were it's hard to separate science, religion and art. They studied the stars because they gave them information about seasons and when floods were likely to come, it influenced every part of their lives, even down to when and where to build. At that point it could have gone either way, they were such experts at their craft they must have been utilizing something close to what we would see as science. It's interesting how close we've come to a scientific world and how we always seemed to settle on gods. There does always seem to be a person chasing power involved in keeping the hierarchy.

Trade. Without it we'd have never grown in numbers as a species, nor would ideas have transmitted so readily.

It's probably the reason we're the only hominid left too. People give out about consumerism but trade is a core human behaviour and probably one of the reasons we're such a nice animal relatively speaking. Violence is a part of every creature on this planet, so it's not unusual we're violent too. Trade is the reason humans can get along without fighting every time we meet.

Earthhorse · 09-03-2016 05:07PM

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

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

I think you meant:

if (George.Boole)
          {:mad:};

suicide_circus wrote: »

McCaine's emoloyee, eh?

His parents just don't understand his love of chips.

Adyx · 09-03-2016 06:21PM

gramar wrote: »

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

The OP didn't say gravitational waves changed the world, he said they proved Einstein was right (with his General Theory of Relativity). Thus, the OP is saying the General Theory was world changing - which of course it was. And an idea doesn't have to have direct effect on the "working man on the street" for it to be world changing.

Permabear · 09-03-2016 07:22PM

This post has been deleted.

Ideas that changed the world.

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