Top 5 inventions ever

[Integral]

The useful harnessing of fire, being able to produce fire on demand, was certainly an invention somewhere.

You guys are copping out with these bland choices. Agriculture? Writing? Come on! Those are the easy ones. I personally restricted my choices to inventions after the Middle Ages, just to give the thing a bit more flavor.

-Integral

 

[JohnRM]

Have you even been reading this thread? Everyone has already said that, and I explained how it still involved invention anyways.

No, I've been away for a few days. I don't have time to go through each and every post.

The invention is the gas grill, not fire.

The invention is the charcoal, not the fire.

The invention is the zippo lighter, not the fire.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

The invention is rubbing sticks together.

 

[JohnRM]

The invention is rubbing sticks together.

No, that too is a discovery. Nobody invented sticks. Nobody invented rubbing. Nobody invented fire. Someone discovered that rubbing two sticks together will create heat and smoke, and potentially spark a fire.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Processes are inventions as much as objects are.

 

[JohnRM]

Processes are inventions as much as objects are.

Keep telling yourself that. To some extent, you're absolutely correct, but with regard to rubbing two sticks together, you're wrong.

 

[bhsup]

Am I the only one who thinks concrete is a top fiver??

 

[JohnRM]

Am I the only one who thinks concrete is a top fiver??

It is definitely up there, but not in my top ten.

 

[mrt144]

1. Lutherans
2. Transistor
3. Amphetamines
4. Calculus
5. Stock Market

 

[scherbchen]

gotta be one of the bland ones...

- agriculture (3 field crop rotation to be precise)
- writing (keeping of records, that's a biggie)
- internal combustion engine (cars, tanks, planes... come ON!)
- basic processing engine (whatever the term is for the first computer, the one that was as big as long island)
- compass? I'm stumped there, my navigational knowledge is nill... anything that allows you to traverse vast bodies of water and make it back

here is another top 5

- Völkerwanderung, dunno the english term for that. tribes moving all over indo-europe for -sometimes- no apparent reason.
- Grammar. Imagine the numerous languages present in -not yet existing- european states prior to a published book on grammar. If my memory serves there were 25 million *french* at the time of the french revolution, 6 million of those could converse in french, 3 million could read and write it.
- classical latin and vulgar latin. the origin of the romance languages, first lingua franca and a focus point for europeans during the renaissance.
- charles darwin: of the origin of species (feel free to insert any other groundbraking popular book that opened eyes to science, however ill-perceived or wrong it was)
- any religious movement up unto and including the lutheran reformation.

very euro-centric, apologies

 

[Masquerouge]

compass? I'm stumped there, my navigational knowledge is nill... anything that allows you to traverse vast bodies of water and make it back

Probably not compass then... I'd say fresh vegetables and a complete misunderstanding of how big the Earth really is

 

[Mulholland]

Am I the only one who thinks concrete is a top fiver??

Fired blocks were a precursor to concrete or even clay in general. I think the modern world could have gotten by if concrete were skipped as an invention.

 

[Mulholland]

here is another top 5

- Völkerwanderung, dunno the english term for that. tribes moving all over indo-europe for -sometimes- no apparent reason.
- Grammar. Imagine the numerous languages present in -not yet existing- european states prior to a published book on grammar. If my memory serves there were 25 million *french* at the time of the french revolution, 6 million of those could converse in french, 3 million could read and write it.

Grammar is an innate process used by all humans, even if they have never read a book on grammar. The topic is very lengthy so I won't go into it. But grammar is certainly not an invention.

Migration is also an innate biological drive and not an invention. Laws that govern societies on the other hand are.

 

[scherbchen]

Probably not compass then... I'd say fresh vegetables and a complete misunderstanding of how big the Earth really is

heh

nah I'm talking pre-Colombus even.... getting from Sicilly to Africa for example, or from Normandie to the British Isles. But.. then again... you can probably pass that navigating by the stars, as I said... nill competence in anything navigational or regarding anything bigger than my bath tub, but you get my gist

 

[scherbchen]

Grammar is an innate process used by all humans, even if they have never read a book on grammar. The topic is very lengthy so I won't go into it. But grammar is certainly not an invention.

Migration is also an innate biological drive and not an invention. Laws that govern societies on the other hand are.

regarding grammar: you misunderstood me. I should have clarified. I don't mean grammar per se as an invention but a published grammar intended to unite (or supress or clarify or etc) the respective nation's idioms. Take Spain for example. Talk to any romance linguist and he will tell you that the miracle year of Spain was ... duh... 1492. Not only because of the union of Aragon and Castille, not only because of the finished Reconquista, not only because of the discovery of the Americas, not only (and yes, big step in Spanish history) of the expulsion of the jews but ALSO because the first Spanish grammar was published.

Basically -depending how you look at it- the beginning of Castellano becoming the Spanish national language or the end.

So you are right, not grammar per se but published and somewhat authorized/decreed grammar.

regarding migration:I don't see how it is a biological imperative, be that as it may, it doesn't really matter.... I wanted to point out the repercussions it had on pre-medieval Europe. Again, my bad, I should have clarified.

EDIT: damnit! *the* is hard to type -.-

 

[Mirc]

- Agriculture
- Fire
- Writing
- Electricity
- Mathematics

 

[Gogf]

1. Language, or primitive forms thereof
2. Agriculture
3. Fire
4. Organized civilization
5. Writing

 

[Gogf]

Am I the only one who thinks concrete is a top fiver??

Well, VRWC, I'm going to have to emphatically disagree with you here. When you consider the other choices—language, fire, agriculture, writing, the wheel, democracy, science, the printing press, metallurgy, etc.—concrete doesn't even come close to contesting a spot in the top 25.

 

[.Shane.]

In no order....

Fire
Wheel
Printing Press
Germ Theory

Can come up w/ a 5th that is outstanding as any of those.

 

[Gogf]

In no order....

Fire
Wheel
Printing Press
Germ Theory

Can come up w/ a 5th that is outstanding as any of those.

You rank the printing press above agriculture?