Most Important Discovery/Invention Ever

[SpoiledPrincess]

Let's not make this thread a 'which country is the best at inventions' thread. It's just a thread to say which invention/discovery, inventions/discoveries you think were most important. Give reasons or not it's your choice.

I'm going for writing, without writing science, philosophy, medicine, no field of learning would have progressed, no other inventions would have been possible with no method of tracking research.

 

[lorne]

Soap, hands down and under the sink wins. With the discovery of proper sanitation we extended our lives and medical abilities allowing longer lives. With longer healthier lives researchers can study longer and unaffected by contamination to invent and develop new and live changing things, without longer safer lives arts of all kind would be restricted and sometimes not have developed at all. Sciences have been able to move beyond basic mechanical reasoning and into electronic and develop the thought of biological. Without soap we would all stink and probably be in some form of dark ages.

 

[thoreau]

I'm going to say the printing press. This invention allowed for the wide disemination of books and literature and therefore ideas. Without the necessity for monks or clergy men to painstakingly transcripe various text to make copies of any particular volumes the printing press increased literacy rates and gradually expanded the knowledge base of civilization.

 

[Shelby]

I'm going to vote for vaginas. Talk about intelligent design!

 

[unique_exposure]

Cyclical ritual, which lead to tracking of time.

 

[rob_just_rob]

Hard to argue with fire.

 

[softly]

Internet and cell phones.

 

[Principessa]

Penicillin and other antibiotics. Millions of lives have been saved and quality of life improved because of a bit of bread mold. Truly amazing in it's original simplicity given it's numerous end uses.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

The wheel and the internal combustion engine.

Sorry to be such a fucking traditionalist - I just happen to think it is true.

Edit - that's inventions - I have to agree with Fire and Penicillan for 'discoveries' - that and my own g-spot :biggrin:

 

[Guy-jin]

Domestication.

 

[Principessa]

Domestication.

Really? Cause rumor has it you aren't quite house broken yet. :tongue:

 

[horsehungtim]

I'm voting for the Cotton Gin. People went from picking fibers by hand, to saving time with machines.

 

[Catchoftheday]

I woll goal fir spill chickers on compooters - vary impotent four people wot carnt spell proper like wot I can

 

[PussyWellington]

I'm going to say the printing press. This invention allowed for the wide disemination of books and literature and therefore ideas. Without the necessity for monks or clergy men to painstakingly transcripe various text to make copies of any particular volumes the printing press increased literacy rates and gradually expanded the knowledge base of civilization.

I agree. I also think the measurement of time (the clock) had a huge impact on peoples lives. The day was now able to be divided into work,rest and play.

 

[2322]

Hmmm.....

Symbology.

Without symbolism, we would not understand characters used in writing stand for abstract concepts which, in turn, stand for concrete concepts.

Take the following:

Mary rides a bicycle.

To comprehend this sentence we have to know that each letter is a symbol for performing a certain sound of speech. Yet we also, in turn, have to know what thought that speech conveys. Simply knowing how to pronounce a word does not convey the meaning of the word. So we must also understand that the speech is also a symbol for a specific thought.

We can understand speech without understanding writing and we can understand writing without understanding speech yet, as writing derives from speech, we cannot create writing without understanding the concept behind the letters, words, and their sequencing. There has to be a key to meaning or else there's just gibberish. That key is symbology.

 

[Hand_Solo]

Writing, even in the form of pictographs, allows knowledge to be accumulated and passed down from generation to generation.

 

[B_Think_Kink]

The light bulb, electricity, condom, birth control in general.

 

[rob_just_rob]

On further reflection, Bronze Working.

Those of you who have played Civ4 know what I'm talking about.

 

[dong20]

I recall in the last thread about this very thing I cited the scientific method because almost every invention stems from using it.

In close second place is trifle.

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

the wheel
agriculture
printing press
nuclear fission
alphabet
the internet
the computer
e-meters
gunpowder
chemistry
metallurgy
representative democracy
virology
plastics
television
electricity
steam power

those have all been pretty important.