Greatest inventions?

ShooterSF

Redrocket wrote: »

"Fleshlights"

Dammit. Just about to say that.

A big (lonely) +1

me-skywalker

walshb wrote: »

Excluding the wheel, which was always there, what is the worlds greatest
invention, not discovery, invention.

I am going with Concrete, or the production of concrete.
Any others?

Man made, being the real criteria!

Man does not create/invent he discovers!

Mr.Lizard

The printing press.

Snowie

the condom it give you aids

BeerWolf

Obviously the computer.

Additionally, the toilet paper!

Paddy Samurai

GAAman wrote: »

Drive thru off licenses

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You unwittingly gave me a great idea for a new invention.

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HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! AND HEY! PRESTO! I'M FINISHED!!!...........One Drive Thru Brothel!
(Our motto "in and out in 60 seconds,satisfaction guaranteed")


No!...no lads and lassies,theres no need to thank me,just join the queue.

Opening offer:free shake,with every Big Mac or Snack Box.

JangoFett

walshb wrote: »

Excluding the wheel, which was always there, what is the worlds greatest
invention, not discovery, invention.

I am going with Concrete, or the production of concrete.
Any others?

Man made, being the real criteria!

I think the greatest invention is the internet

My favourite is the cinema...the whole, movies, big screen, the layout of the cinema, the junkfood, the whole shibang, I love it!

Black Swan

Men!:D

ratinakeg

redout wrote: »

The Toilet must be it..........

Try do a poo in one of these;




It's hell!:eek:

Hazys

Religion

chopperbyrne

http://www.bobpitch.com/anon/Queenie_doner_kebab.jpg

Doner Kebab for me.

walshb

me-skywalker wrote: »

Man does not create/invent he discovers!

Man discovers, develops, produces; but also, man invents!

Alessandra

Internet.

ShooterSF

Hmm on a money making level (both cash and land) God surely has to be one of the best. Or gods originally (though I don't know if they were as successful).

Water John

Digging up an old thread, just to pay tribute to one of the great inventors, Trevor Baylis, who has passed away. The inventor of the wind up radio among many other things.

muckbrien

Water John wrote: »

Digging up an old thread, just to pay tribute to one of the great inventors, Trevor Baylis, who has passed away. The inventor of the wind up radio among many other things.

Wouldn't be near the top of the list in fairness though

A windup radio

Donald Trump

muckbrien wrote: »

Wouldn't be near the top of the list in fairness though

A windup radio

The original WUM?

(Wind Up Merchant)

shaunr68

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Doner Kebab for me.

GLaDOS wrote: »

Toilet roll

These two for me! :eek:

Junkyard Tom

Most inventions are developments or conglomerations of previous developments except for one thing:



The Stove Pipe Hat.

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly

Fire & Botox.

muckbrien

Ice cubes

Capt'n Midnight

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

Most inventions are developments or conglomerations of previous developments except for one thing:



The Stove Pipe Hat.

There is of course an even better invention, curtsey of the Myles na gCopaleen Research Bureau, who else ?

Should one find one's self in the midst of a storm in the vicinity of under maintained chimneys there is the present and real danger of a falling chimney , but fear not dear reader, the presence of a spring within your headgear will safely divert the impending doom, a small step in the march of progress.

Full pictures in The Best Of Myles.

Junkyard Tom

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

There is of course an even better invention..

And how could we ever disregard Isaac Newton's genius expressed in his invention of the cat-flap? A door within a door?

Marvellous.





Shamelessly plagiarising Douglas Adams

4068ac1elhodqr

Graphene.

Disruptive, and limited only by imagination, as of yet probably only <1% utilised.
Future applications could include wearable tech, cars, planes or housing...

It's a single carbon layer of atoms that are bonded together in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice.
x200 stronger than steel, flexible, bulletproof, water proof/purifying etc etc

Just a few hours ago the white coats discovered misaligned (1.1º) layered sheets of it can perform superconductivity, handy.

Water John

University of Manchester, I think.
Really super stuff.

Wibbs

Fire. Tools that make other tools. Smelting of metals. Trade. Writing. Art. Religion(which leads to philosophy and science). Specialisation in tasks. Agriculture. Irrigation. Mathematics. Chemistry. Pottery. Textiles. Paper. The printing press. The combustion engine(internal and external). Harnessing of electricity. Transistors. That's enough to be going on with...

cantdecide

Cute cat videos on Youtube.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Ameer Kind Maiden wrote: »

Graphene.

Disruptive, and limited only by imagination, as of yet probably only <1% utilised.
Future applications could include wearable tech, cars, planes or housing...

It's a single carbon layer of atoms that are bonded together in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice.
x200 stronger than steel, flexible, bulletproof, water proof/purifying etc etc

Just a few hours ago the white coats discovered misaligned (1.1º) layered sheets of it can perform superconductivity, handy.

Yeh, so why hasn’t that caught on more? I read about it years ago.

Del2005

Ameer Kind Maiden wrote: »

Graphene.

Disruptive, and limited only by imagination, as of yet probably only <1% utilised.
Future applications could include wearable tech, cars, planes or housing...

It's a single carbon layer of atoms that are bonded together in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice.
x200 stronger than steel, flexible, bulletproof, water proof/purifying etc etc

Just a few hours ago the white coats discovered misaligned (1.1º) layered sheets of it can perform superconductivity, handy.

That sounds like a fusion reactors. They promise the world and has been 10 years from being successful for 40 years.

buried

The combination of two turntables, a two channel mixer and a box of vinyl records

4068ac1elhodqr

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

Yeh, so why hasn’t that caught on more? I read about it years ago.

Was only isolated in 2004, Nobel prize in 2010, so is still an 'emerging disruptive prototype technology' e.g. Potential superconductivity was discovered just yesterday. Patent applications, private/gov funding and further research is the key to it's success.

If you want to buy graphene type products today and have deep pockets, can purchase Xiaomi Mi Pro HD earphones or YouTek Graphene Speed tennis rackets. Momodesign sells a graphene motorcycle helmet, Vittoria Corsa G+ produce graphene-infused tires that don't wear out as quickly, McLaren puts it inside its RM 50-03 luxury watch, and the BAC Mono supercar, which has graphene in its panels.

Lamborghini and MIT just announced a project to develop a graphene-enhanced super-capacitor electric vehicle. There are even airships that use graphene.

Perhaps the most exciting 'mass consumer gadget' use for graphene are the upcoming batteries from Samsung and Huawei's Central Research Institute. Promising to extend the battery life of an iPhone. The NanoCase will also soon be on sale. It will also help speed up 5G connections.

The first transistor was invented in the 1950s using silicon, and it took another 30 years before we had mass consumer microelectronics.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Glass. I don't need to explain why.

Shenshen

The alphabet.

Shurimgreat

If we were to go by century:

21st - iPhone/smart phone
20th - Aeroplane
19th - Combustion Engine
18th - Steam Engine

After this it gets a bit sketchy.

I think printing press was 15th century

Mint Sauce

Contact lenses. Such a release at times for us speccy folk.

na1

fidget spinner!

suicide_circus

Farming
Sanitation
Antibiotics

Beasty

May not be very eco-friendly, but the Saturn V rocket "launched" the exploration that could ultimately prolong the existence of the human race.

thierry14

Money money money

Tell me how

Shurimgreat wrote:

If we were to go by century:

21st - iPhone/smart phone 20th - Aeroplane 19th - Combustion Engine 18th - Steam Engine

I'm not sure the smartphone qualifies as greatest invention of 21st century (granted none of us can predict the future).

It's an upgrade on existing technology not truly revolutionary as such although it has been disruptive.

I suspect the remaining 82 years in this century will give us something to surpass it's significance.

Jimbob1977

The train.

It was one of the high points of the Industrial Revolution.

Paved the way for advances in cars and planes.

Imagine taking a few days to travel from Cork to Dublin by stagecoach. Now the 19th century citizen could complete the journey in 3 hours.

Now people and products could be transported quickly and cheaply from A to B.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Tell me how wrote: »

I'm not sure the smartphone qualifies as greatest invention of 21st century (granted none of us can predict the future).

It's an upgrade on existing technology not truly revolutionary as such although it has been disruptive.

I suspect the remaining 82 years in this century will give us something to surpass it's significance.

A revolutionary product doesn’t have to have revolutionary parts.

People seem to have forgotten the internet though. I personally think the 20C needs a few entries.

jester77

Underfloor heating, coming in from a cold day, throw off the shoes and that glorious feeling of warmth as you walk through the house.

donegal_man

The nail. One of our earliest and simplest technologies. Think of all the variations of it in use all around us.

Wheeliebin30

Harnessing Electricity.

Think an out life without it.

Always think the geniuses who invented such wonderful things are too easily forgotten.

Skylinehead

Beasty wrote: »

May not be very eco-friendly, but the Saturn V rocket "launched" the exploration that could ultimately prolong the existence of the human race.

You could go back further than Saturn V, trace it back to Mercury-Redstone, and then the Jupiter ballistic missiles that were the basis of that, and then even to the Nazi V2s that Wernher von Braun earned his rocket credentials on...and of course the Soviet R7 ICBMs that enabled Gagarin to go up in the first place. Weapons of mass destruction were the enabler for space exploration.

Capt'n Midnight

Del2005 wrote: »

That sounds like a fusion reactors. They promise the world and has been 10 years from being successful for 40 years.

Our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter..
- Lewis Strauss , 1954.

Capt'n Midnight

Shenshen wrote: »

The alphabet.

The Irish invented nothing.

The alphabet means letters and sounds. You can pronounce the letters and get the meaning from the sounds.

Or as the early Irish did you can put gaps of nothingness between groups of letters - and now everyone can understand meanings without having to verbalise them.

Water John

Slow sand filtration of potable water. Done in Scotland first, I think. This was the biggest health revolution. Bigger than vaccination.

matchthis

The aqueduct?