If forced to, which Three Inventions would you Eliminate from Human History?

[Radrook]

Actually, just one..... ELECTRICITY

The question is a why?

 

[Ada Lovelace]

Elimination of the invention of nucflea weapon


Elimination of nuclear power from human history would have us resolving WWII without the use of it on Hiroshima and Nagasaki thus preserving those lives which included mostly civilians from dying in that way.

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Wikipedia

It would prevent the Cold War with its nuclear Arms race between the Soviet Union and the USA and its Allies.

Cold War - Wikipedia

Nuclear arms race - Wikipedia


It would prevent us from having nuclear power plants for electricity production and all other nuclear-power derived inventions such as the nuclear submarine.

Nuclear power plant - Wikipedia

Nuclear submarine - Wikipedia


Eliminate the problem of where to store radioactive waste from those power plants.
Radioactive waste - Wikipedia

Prevent the infamous Chernobyl Accident and subsequent radioactive pollution of the environment and the loss of life.

Chernobyl disaster - Wikipedia



Nuclear Technologies Timeline - Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century


Elimination of the Electric chair would not prevent capital punishment via hanging, fatal injection, or the guillotine. So I'm not sure what would be accomplished by it. Care to clarify?

I listed it because I'd just read an article about Arkansas' plan to execute 8 men in 11 days, in what has been described as an "assembly line of death" and was sickened. Though they plan on executing by lethal injection, I thought of the electric chair because it was invented exclusively to execute. It's barbaric. Nerve gas would have been a more fitting inclusion with my list, but you asked for just three inventions so that's what I gave, with one additional provided for levity.

 

[Radrook]

I listed it because I'd just read an article about Arkansas' plan to execute 8 men in 11 days, in what has been described as an "assembly line of death" and was sickened. Though they plan on executing by lethal injection, I thought of the electric chair because it was invented exclusively to execute. It's barbaric. Nerve gas would have been a more fitting inclusion with my list, but you asked for just three inventions so that's what I gave, with one additional provided for levity.

So you disapprove of any invention that is specifically designed to execute the death penalty? Is it fair to conclude that you are against capital punishment itself regardless of how it is done? The Guillotine was invented to render a quicker more humane death and now it is considered barbaric.

 

[Ada Lovelace]

So you disapprove of any invention that is specifically designed to execute the death penalty? Is it fair to conclude that you are against capital punishment itself regardless of how it is done? The Guillotine was invented to render a quicker more humane death and now it is considered barbaric.

Yes; yes; correct, but the guillotine was primarily used in France and its use discontinued decades ago when they abolished capital punishment. You asked for merely three inventions, not a comprehensive list.

 

[Armoured]

Yes; yes; correct, but the guillotine was primarily used in France and its use discontinued decades ago when they abolished capital punishment. You asked for merely three inventions, not a comprehensive list.

It was the official method of execution in Germany too.

 

[Ada Lovelace]

X-ray machine
Clock
Telescope

Why do you wish these items hadn't been invented?

 

[Ada Lovelace]

It was the official method of execution in Germany too.

West Germany abolished capital punishment in the 1940s, and I don't think East Germany used the guillotine as the mode of execution in the duration before they officially abolished it as well, so that's why it didn't make the short list of inventions I wish could be eliminated from human history. The electric chair has been used in my own lifetime in America, and I haven't left my teens yet. The reason it's troubling to me isn't due to the number of people it's been used on, but the fact that the sole reason it was invented was to execute. As I wrote above, nerve gas would be a more fitting choice for my list, but the difference is that it consists of organic chemicals that have been weaponized, rather than a device that was constructed by man.

 

[Willie T]

Actually, just one..... ELECTRICITY

The question is a why?

Because massive global incursion would be impossible. The world would remain fairly isolated and localized.

 

[Radrook]

Because massive global incursion would be impossible. The world would remain fairly isolated and localized.

True! We definitely would have been slaughtering one another at a far slower pace.

 

[Tina W]

Why do you wish these items hadn't been invented?

I think these 3 things help humanity the least. X-ray machine doesn't do much good, looking at stars through a telescope is more like a hobby, it's not necessary for human survival, and clocks make people a slave of time. It makes everyone in a hurry and no one has time to just relax anymore.

 

[Radrook]

I think these 3 things help humanity the least. X-ray machine doesn't do much good, looking at stars through a telescope is more like a hobby, it's not necessary for human survival, and clocks make people a slave of time. It makes everyone in a hurry and no one has time to just relax anymore.

Aren't the medical uses that X rays such as diagnosing lung cancers and detecting internal bone damage in accidents as well as radiation therapy good? What would you replace that with at the time that it was discovered?

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Elimination of the invention of nucflea weapon


Elimination of nuclear power from human history would have us resolving WWII without the use of it on Hiroshima and Nagasaki thus preserving those lives which included mostly civilians from dying in that way.

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Wikipedia

It would prevent the Cold War with its nuclear Arms race between the Soviet Union and the USA and its Allies.

Cold War - Wikipedia

Nuclear arms race - Wikipedia


It would prevent us from having nuclear power plants for electricity production and all other nuclear-power derived inventions such as the nuclear submarine.

Nuclear power plant - Wikipedia

Nuclear submarine - Wikipedia


Eliminate the problem of where to store radioactive waste from those power plants.
Radioactive waste - Wikipedia

Prevent the infamous Chernobyl Accident and subsequent radioactive pollution of the environment and the loss of life.

Chernobyl disaster - Wikipedia



Nuclear Technologies Timeline - Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century


Elimination of the Electric chair would not prevent capital punishment via hanging, fatal injection, or the guillotine. So I'm not sure what would be accomplished by it. Care to clarify?

Without nuclear technology, you effectively cripple our society in such a way that the the loss of medical equipment alone would doom millions of people.

With great knowledge comes great responsability in how you apply said knowledge.
Sadly, oftenly irresponsible people tend to be in power.

Also, I don't see how not discovering nuclear technology, would have prevented the US (or "the west") clashing with the Soviets (or "communism")...

 

[Radrook]

Without nuclear technology, you effectively cripple our society in such a way that the the loss of medical equipment alone would doom millions of people.

With great knowledge comes great responsability in how you apply said knowledge.
Sadly, oftenly irresponsible people tend to be in power.

Also, I don't see how not discovering nuclear technology, would have prevented the US (or "the west") clashing with the Soviets (or "communism")...

I agree that there are medical benefits that we would be deprived of if nuclear power had never been discovered.
Nuclear medicine applications - ANS


The clash with communism would have occurred anyway. However, the tension of the Cold War where MAD, or Mutual Assured Destruction served as a deterrent to a military conflict perhaps involving a third world war would have been missing.
Mutual assured destruction - Wikipedia

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

The clash with communism would have occurred anyway. However, the tension of the Cold War where MAD, or Mutual Assured Destruction served as a deterrent to a military conflict perhaps involving a third world war would have been missing.
Mutual assured destruction - Wikipedia

Or... the nukes made sure that there was no further escallation.
I think it's safe to say that because of the nukes, both sides were extra carefull not to "push too far".

Without the idea of "attacking there, would be suicide for the both of us" - who knows what would have happen.

Not that I'm pro-nuke or something... I'm just saying, it doesn't seem that obvious to me that it would have been "less bad" without the nukes. It might just as well have been the other way round.

 

[Strathos]

Guns
Nerve gas
Nuclear bombs

 

[PinkDragon]

It's simple. Religion. It goes under inventions since they invented it so they could explain things they didn't understand in the bronze age. I don't see the need for it now.

 

[LutheranGuy123]

Aren't the medical uses that X rays such as diagnosing lung cancers and detecting internal bone damage in accidents as well as radiation therapy good? What would you replace that with at the time that it was discovered?

Not only that, we use a lot of dyes that are only visible under X-rays for immunological analyses. There are easily-treated diseases that would be fatal if not for X-ray technology.

I think these 3 things help humanity the least. X-ray machine doesn't do much good, looking at stars through a telescope is more like a hobby, it's not necessary for human survival, and clocks make people a slave of time. It makes everyone in a hurry and no one has time to just relax anymore.

We've had clocks for a long time. Sundials are even mentioned in the book of Isaiah, so they predate Jesus by about 800 years. I don't think making any form of specific scheduling impossible would solve the problem of people being in a hurry. It would just make it impossible to conduct any form of business. It might actually make people more in a hurry b/c they have no idea how much free time they have before they need to be somewhere.

 

[LutheranGuy123]

It's simple. Religion. It goes under inventions since they invented it so they could explain things they didn't understand in the bronze age. I don't see the need for it now.

Did you seriously come to a Christian website just to criticize religion? I mean it's one thing to come here for debates and constructive discussion, but "haha religion is so dumb and obsolete" is just being childish. Even the Temple of Satan shows respect to other religions, and they literally exist as a protest against organized religion and bias against non-Christian religion.

 

[PsychoSarah]

These three, though it was a tough decision: TV, air conditioner, and car, in descending order of how easy it would be for me to give them up. I honestly very rarely watch TV anymore, preferring my computer as a source of entertainment, and computers are just too important to the function of our society to give up. Air conditioners we can do without, but it is not just us that would be sweltering in the heat; many greenhouses would have to be in different locations and have reduced stock, and zoos would have similar issues. There goes my highland nepenthes collection, sigh. Still got the heater, though, so my lowland nepenthes would be ok. Cars would be hard, sure, but if they had never been invented, we would have built businesses closer to where we lived (like we did before the invention of the car) and thus the walk wouldn't be too bad, but I would have to live away from my family to attend college, which would be hard.

 

[PinkDragon]

Did you seriously come to a Christian website just to criticize religion? I mean it's one thing to come here for debates and constructive discussion, but "haha religion is so dumb and obsolete" is just being childish. Even the Temple of Satan shows respect to other religions, and they literally exist as a protest against organized religion and bias against non-Christian religion.

I just told you my opinion.