What is the most useful invention of all time?

[GothQueen12]

Some of the things invented by men

Updates

+1 y

Well, I would like to thank you guys for your responses and for putting this question on the front page.

[Bellatris]

Writing (and subsequently the printing press). Without the written word we would never have been able to pass on all the other great ideas we came up with to the widest number of people possible. Other developments like mathematics, the wheel and steam engines are all fine and dandy, but if knowledge of the discoveries remain within a small geographical area among a relatively small number of people, then they're pretty useless, aren't they?

[Hannah_le]

The phonee cuz When I go out I tend to get lost a lot and I use google maps which saves me not to panic😂. Mm as well i look up formulas for math and then easily know the subject or overall reading on science or something. Just helps me daily in ways.

[yofuknutz]

The smartphone to be more accurate

[Anon621]

Transportation. Without transportation you would have to walk from point A to point B, no transportation means packages would have to be delivered on foot, and also other methods of transportation such as pipes for water and gas if those things did not exist then you would have to spend days finding lakes and cooking food over a bonfire instead of an oven.

[abc3643]

Plow. It allowed for the creation of societies. Before the plow, we were just nomadic hunter gatherers.

[abc3643]

To understand why it's the plow, you should watch the 1978 documentary series "Connections: An Alternative View of Change" in which BBC science journalist James Burke explains how inventions and discoveries build upon themselves.

He starts in the first episode by reminding us of the 1965 Great Blackout - an electrical blackout that covered all of the northeast United States. He then asks, what if it never ended... What do you do?
Ultimately, civilization falls apart and only begins to rebuild once you have the plow because the plow permitted agriculture and the ability to survive without having to move to find food. With agriculture, civilizations begin but you don't have agriculture without the plow.

That first episode, called "The Trigger Effect" is described like this in Wikipedia:
===
"The Trigger Effect" details the world's present dependence on complex technological networks through a detailed narrative of New York City and the power blackout of 1965. Agricultural technology is traced to its origins in ancient Egypt and the invention of the plough. The segment ends in Kuwait where, because of oil, society leapt from traditional patterns to advanced technology in a period of only about 30 years.
=====

You can watch that entire first episode for free on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XetplHcM7aQ

It isn't until about 25 minutes in that he gets to a farm and says that it all begins with the plow.

[abc3643]

Wow, it's eerie how Burke starts the series at night at the plaza at World Trade Center before 9/11.

[kingofthellamas]

I was going to post but then recognized it would be better to say, look up Tim Harford and 50 things that made the modern economy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04b1g3c/episodes/downloads

[Leavesbound]

Writing. Everything significant that we know about our history took place after writing was invented. Before that it's almost all speculation.

Agriculture

Electronics

Medicine

Computers/Internet

[clampfan101]

Well, almost all inventions wouldn’t even exist without many of the earlier ones. 🤔
For example we couldn’t have invented any vehicles without first inventing things like, I dunno... The wheel? lol
One could argue the most useful inventions are the oldest, being so often core essentials in technological advancement.

[invalid1]

The most useful invention of all time is induction principles in general. (electric motors, generators)

By my lord Michael Faraday may he rest in peace.

There's nothing in technology without it.

[abc3643]

There's 11,000 years of technology before that.
Don't get me wrong - I have a physics BS so know exactly who Faraday was - but the induction is a minor piece that cannot stand alone. You need the rest of electromagnetic field theory. But that's not an invention - that's a discovery.

[invalid1]

According to my knowledge Faraday experimented the relationship between megnatic field and electricity practically.
According to this, then nothing is an invention, everything is discovery.

[invalid1]

And I have no problem agreeing to that.

[abc3643]

"According to this, then nothing is an invention, everything is discovery."

An invention involves an artifact... something that exists because humans exist.
A discovery is learning a fact about the nature of reality; that fact exists independent of humans.

For instance, Faraday's work led to the discovery of induction, but induction happens everywhere throughout the universe because it is a fundamental part of the universe.

[invalid1]

You're right. That's discovery not an invention. Then whatever this invention called will go as my answer to this question.

The invention of Cooper winding and coil arm in a machine in order to to convert energy. 😁

I should have studied damn physics. Fuck engineering.

[Levin]

Soft close toilet seat.

And the sellotape dispenser

.

[jshm2]

Mathematics.

Mathematics was the mot useful invention. It falls under the bracket of things that don't exist (it's not physical) but we believe in irrationally. You could call it a basic framework for belief.

[NathanDavis]

headphones for sure

people on mute

[MCheetah]

The grocery store and/or refrigerator. I couldn't imagine being happy having to hunt my own food by myself. Thank god for farmers!

[Iron_Man]

The air-conditioning do you realize how hot it would be without that?

[GothQueen12]

Some might say that air-conditioning is the reason it is so hot

[Iron_Man]

Huh?

[DJB72]

Either the Wheel or Betty White.

I know Sliced Bread is the best thing since Betty White, but I think it's the Wheel over all.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Computer Code, I would say electricity, but without coding languages, the number of times I would use electricity would deminish by 99.9%

[Deathraider]

The lever. With the lever, knowing the basics about torque allows for the easy lifting of objects with lots of mass with relatively little force.

[genericname85]

not sure if it's an "invention" or rather a discovery. but i'd say electricity.

[DamnSam]

Probably Science... without it most what we use every day wouldn't exist...

[Likes2drive]

Probably the wheel and light bulb or inside plumbing

[Browneye57]

It's either the wheel, or electricity. Both make the world go 'round.

[EssenceOfLight]

Industrial steel smelting. Our world would look entirely different without mass production of steel

[ItsMeItsMe1989]

Electricity wasn't invented, it was discovered. However, just to piss people off, I'll say, electricity

[RileyKing]

lightbulb or iphone, nothing comes close to them electronics wise

[msc545]

Good question! Kind of a toss-up between the wheel and the lever, but I think it is the wheel.

[msc545]

Also, more modern things like the semiconductor, the printing press, and flight.