Most important invention/development?

[Tavenier]

What was history's most important breakthrough in technology? I have added a few options that came to mind. There are probably lot's of others I could have included, but I am only hman and thought of these.

 

[Tavenier]

By the way, I have not included the very basic inventions/breakthroughs like control of fire, woodcutting, mining alphabet and so forth. These are more the discoveries of about the last 1000 years.

 

[Godwynn]

what about the printing press?

 

[SeleucusNicator]

Gunpower. No more pesky Central Asian invaders.

 

[Ribannah]

None of the ones listed. The most important inventions were agricultural.

 

[Xen]

Peniciline! no longer was man held at bay by -most- simple diseases!

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

Originally posted by SeleucusNicator
Gunpower. No more pesky Central Asian invaders.

Just a shame that it was not until c. 1868 that a weapon better than the Central Asian bows was invented (IIRC it was a special form of rifle).

 

[Xen]

better in what respect? for sheer power I would think that one fo the various long bows must have been more powerful, and as for speed of release, it depends on the person fireing...

 

[Bud2998]

Just imagine the world if airplanes were never invented. Airplanes have an enormous impact on our life today, especially in terms of warfare, trade, and transportation. It proved that humans aren't limited to the ground and tops of the seas, as well as doing something humans could only dream of for thousands of years. It is one of the most remarkable and major inventions, in my opinion.

 

[Xen]

yes planes are remarkable and such, but are planes even half as important as say railroads? or the steam engine? no

 

[SeleucusNicator]

Originally posted by Mongoloid Cow

Just a shame that it was not until c. 1868 that a weapon better than the Central Asian bows was invented (IIRC it was a special form of rifle).

Well, it was artillery, iirc, that finally ended the days of large Middle Eastern empires being at the complete mercy of nomads.

 

[Hitro]

Out of those steam power, followed by electricity.

 

[Archer 007]

Other. Printing Press.

 

[Marla_Singer]

Sanitation since it's the one of the main reason of the population boom of the beginning of the 19th century with also the agricultural revolution. Without that population boom, no industrial workers, thus no industrial revolution.

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

The Bow was superior overall in accuracy, distance, reload time and power than all the other weapons until the mid - late 19th Century.

 

[amadeus]

A spoken language.

 

[Perfection]

Definitly the Printing Press, it was the first step of the information revolution

 

[naervod]

Computer. It has revolutionized communication and the way information is sent more than anything else (except the printing press, but that isn't on the poll).

 

[Cimbri]

Electricity or Computers... or toilet paper...

 

[Archer 007]

Originally posted by naervod
Computer. It has revolutionized communication and the way information is sent more than anything else (except the printing press, but that isn't on the poll).

But the idea of the computer wouldnt have been thought of without the printing press. The printing press started mass communication.