Best Invention of the 20th Century

Phil Ayesho

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This is an easy question to answer. The best invention of the 20th century is also the most significant invention of the past several millenia...

The birth control pill.

Freeing half the world's population from the chains of their own reproductive biology so that they can actually have the richer and more varied lives they would choose is the single largest change in human society in over a thousand years.
 

Pendlum

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This is an easy question to answer. The best invention of the 20th century is also the most significant invention of the past several millenia...

The birth control pill.

Freeing half the world's population from the chains of their own reproductive biology so that they can actually have the richer and more varied lives they would choose is the single largest change in human society in over a thousand years.

You could argue that the condom does that AND helps prevent STDs.

As for me, the micro transistor is up there (since tubes just don't cut it. :roll:) but it is hard to pick one for this century, since it has developed so rapidly, many inventions rely on older ones. That plane is great, but it would never have enough power to carry anyone long distances without say a combustion engine to start, then some turbines. But of course neither of those wouldn't do you any good without the ability to refine fuel. Etc.

Though I could definitely pick the best invention of all time. :tongue:
 

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so the current ranking:

1. antibiotics *so you live long enough to get sex*

2. birth control *so you can have a life after you have sex*

3. transistors *umm TV & computers & video games & cell phone, so you have something to do when you can't/aren't having sex*

4. bubble hash *makes 1 & 3 more fun, makes 2 very necessary*
 

MickeyLee

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You'll be cursing antibiotics when those super bugs come out!

should i move bubble hash to the top of the list? i mean i certainly won't be as stressed about super bugs with enough bubble hash.

i would be really hungry.... was the idea of pizza delivery invented in the 20th century? i need to change my vote.
 

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should i move bubble hash to the top of the list? i mean i certainly won't be as stressed about super bugs with enough bubble hash.

i would be really hungry.... was the idea of pizza delivery invented in the 20th century? i need to change my vote.

I don't know, probably not. Also, I have no idea what bubble hash is, I should probably look it up. :tongue:
 
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I would also have to say that the best invention of the 20th century is flight which enabled us to travel longer distances much faster and more efficiently than by ship, train, or car. It also directly led to humans transcending our planet's atmosphere and opened up a new frontier in space exploration in discovery.
 

Phil Ayesho

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You could argue that the condom does that AND helps prevent STDs.

Not the same at all- condoms have a high failure rate and they require the consent of the man to wear them. And men place a lot of pressure on women to not have to.

Sorry... Margaret Sanger was right. The pill handed total power over their reproduction to women.

Since the dawn of man biology had limited women's choices in life and defined the structure of human society.


Since then, everything has changed.


All transistors did was what tubes did without getting so hot.
Electronics and other inventions only had INCREMENTAL effect on humanity.

The difference made by the pill was fundamental and world wide.
 

B_VinylBoy

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If I'm being serious, I would say the computer.
Also the person who invented air conditioning and central cooling/heating should forever have their balls licked by the world's most beautiful and orally talented people. You wouldn't just happen to be the inventor of such a wonderful device, are you Nick8? :biggrin:
 

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If I'm being serious, I would say the computer.
Also the person who invented air conditioning and central cooling/heating should forever have their balls licked by the world's most beautiful and orally talented people. You wouldn't just happen to be the inventor of such a wonderful device, are you Nick8? :biggrin:

The problem is.... the computer wasn't invented in the 20th century. Charles Babbage, who died in the 1800s, was the father of the programable computer.

Air conditioning has a better, but not entirely exclusive claim. The AC you know and love was invented by someone you've heard of: Willis Carrier, whose company still bears his name. Air cooling and compressing of gas to chill air, however, has been around since the 1800s. Ancient Egyptians in the times of the pharaohs would take advantage of the Peltier effect of extreme desert temperature changes and create sheets of ice which they made from moulds laid in the ground, hanging the ice in the window of the prevailing wind to cool the house. This technique and others were used to provide central cooling and heating in wealthier homes. The Forbidden Palace had a rather sophisticated setup of cooling with misted water and fans in some rooms, just like modern swamp coolers. so I'm not sure if air conditioning counts as a 20th century invention.

Which brings me back to antibiotics. I did some looking around and antibiotics have been used since forever though people didn't know why they worked. Some plants, like sundews, were applied to wounds because they sped healing and reduced infection because of their natural antibiotic properties. The physicians in Egypt during the Islamic/Ottoman Empire used to mist wounds with alcohol and keep patients isolated as they noticed infections went down when they did so. Nobody seems to have figured out the cause of the infections, but they did occasionally stumble upon ways to mitigate it. So again, I'm not sure antibiotics count as a 20th century invention.
 

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Ok I'll correct myself...computers have actually been around for centuries, it's the electric computer invented in the 40's which I am refering to
 

B_Nick8

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Also the person who invented air conditioning and central cooling/heating should forever have their balls licked by the world's most beautiful and orally talented people. You wouldn't just happen to be the inventor of such a wonderful device, are you Nick8? :biggrin:

I didn't invent it, no.

I perfected it. :wink:
 

koval

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No. Regardless of how it happened it was an invention.

Both are partially right. Although Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotic properties of penicillin (penicillium notatum), it was the isolation of its nucleus (6-APA) that allowed for the invention of variables of penicillin through semi-synthetic variaties of this antibiotic. :biggrin1:
 

D_Farmoure Dickthanyew

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I can't believe nobody else thinks Lululemon Pants are the best. I mean I'm all for technology but everyone got along just fine in the 60's and 70's without cellphones or personal computers or DVD's or home movies of any sort.

But Lululemons are amazing because girls love to wear them, and guys love it when girls where them. There are very few things that make most of both sides that happy.