What was the greatest invention of all time?

[Kenny'sID]

Sure it is, it was invented by GOD.

If we're going to go down that road, and the way the question was worded, we can, I'd say...people, for better or for worse. The ones who do all our inventing.

There are just so many great things that we invented. I want to say the personal computer/internet, but the question deserves much more thought than I put into it.

 

[Nithavela]

Granted that neither spoken or written language are inventions in the sense of , say, the printing press but they still were inventions by multiple people over periods of time. We are even coming to realize that spoken language is even present in a primitive sense in the animal kingdom. Perhaps this thread needs a narrower definition of "invention"?

Written languages are inventions.

For example, we know exactly who invented the korean writing system or the kyrillic writing system.

But spoken languages arise and change without anyone actually doing the creative work.

An invention is something purposefully or accidentally created by a person or a group of people.

A discovery is something that is already in existance and is discovered by someone, like natural laws or continents.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

The greatest invention is the one we most can't do without.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

the needle

 

[JackRT]

A discovery is something that is already in existance and is discovered by someone, like natural laws or continents.

You mean like that unnamed Siberian who discovered the Americas some 15,000 years ago?

 

[Nithavela]

You mean like that unnamed Siberian who discovered the American some 15,000 years ago?

Something can actually be discovered multiple times by different people. Some things are even forgotten and then re-invented.

 

[nonaeroterraqueous]

The domestication of grains, and wheat, in particular.

 

[Dave-W]

The flush toilet. (discovered in the ruins of Solomon's palace)

 

[Tolworth John]

they still were inventions by multiple people over periods of time

Sorry but language is an innate abiullity of people.
Even deaf children isolated from sociey developed their own sign language.

 

[Radagast]

Zero. The symbol used in calculation and the idea of using it in calculations.

The Babylonians did OK in their base-60 system without an explicit zero.

Writing. Or maybe language. One or the other for sure.

Writing would be one of the big ones.

But seriously, the wheel or the lever.

The domestication of grains, and wheat, in particular.

The wheel, lever, and grain are big too.

the needle

That might be the winner. We wouldn't have gotten far without the needle.

Some of the other inventions helped people get beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, but without the needle, even being a hunter-gatherer in a cold climate would have been impossible.

Here are some from about 12,000 years ago:

 

[sunshineforJesus]

The computer

 

[Chesterton]

Hands down, the single greatest invention ever is the egg timer. There would be ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to time eggs without something specifically made to time eggs. I would not want to raise children in such a world.

Hands down, the other single greatest invention ever is the curb, those things that make a street stop being a street. Without curbs, you wouldn't know where the street was and where it wasn't. It would be anarchy. Cars would just drive anywhere and injure children while they're eating eggs on the sidewalk.

 

[FIRESTORM314]

The computer

Manchester University I believe
the Brits beat the yanks

 

[Tom 1]

Hands down, the single greatest invention ever is the egg timer. There would be ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to time eggs without something specifically made to time eggs. I would not want to raise children in such a world.

Hands down, the other single greatest invention ever is the curb, those things that make a street stop being a street. Without curbs, you wouldn't know where the street was and where it wasn't. It would be anarchy. Cars would just drive anywhere and injure children while they're eating eggs on the sidewalk.

I have to agree. And those socks with ‘L’ and ‘R’ on them so you don’t put them on the wrong feet. How does anyone manage to live without them?

 

[JackRT]

Sorry but language is an innate abiullity of people.
Even deaf children isolated from sociey developed their own sign language.

There have been a few reported cases of "wild children" who were literally raised by animals from a very early age. If they are taken back into human company past the age of four or five they never learn to speak beyond single words or very short phrases. Language does not appear to be innate but requires some degree of human association in the very early years.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Odd. This very thing has become the bain of the world.... (a great and serious trouble worldwide for all people everywhere) ......

Before men destroyed so much, food grew much better for people. Naturally. God made. (not m*ns*nt* corporate chemical made)

The domestication of grains, and wheat, in particular.

 

[JackRT]

Step into any food market and look around. The vast majority of these foods, both plant and animal, have been genetically modified some going back 10,000 years or more. In terms of both yield and nutritional value these foods are generally superior to their wild ancestors. If we had to depend on wild foods only the human race would be a very tiny fraction of its current population.

 

[JackRT]

yeshuaslavejeff --- why did you rate my post above as "funny? It certainly was intended in all seriousness. Is this a form of disagreement or even mockery?

 

[Chesterton]

There have been a few reported cases of "wild children" who were literally raised by animals from a very early age. If they are taken back into human company past the age of four or five they never learn to speak beyond single words or very short phrases. Language does not appear to be innate but requires some degree of human association in the very early years.

your. post. wrong.

 

[Dave-W]

If we had to depend on wild foods only the human race would be a very tiny fraction of its current population.

Is that necessarily a bad thing?