Best invention of the 20th century

[Theo1]

Best invention of the 20th century!

I noticed that there is a thread for most pointless invention, how about one for the Best?

I will start by saying the transistor, i would like to hear some other views; it's your opinion so you can't be wrong!
I will do a poll at the end so even if its the same as someone else's feel free to comment it again or agree! THE MORE THE BETTER

 

[NobodySpecial]

The roller blind - because otherwise it would curtains for everybody !

 

[Evo]

The roller blind - because otherwise it would curtains for everybody !

LOL

The electric refrigerator for the home.

 

[NobodySpecial]

The electric refrigerator for the home.

There is a good argument that this and the (clothes) washing machine is what really liberated women.
It's fine for Emily Pankhurst to get the vote - she had a bunch of servants to do the day-day work - it's the fridge and washer become common that allowed women to have jobs outside the home.

 

[waht]

The TCP/IP protocol was the best invention. It revolutionized the way computers communicate with each other, and so, it naturally led to the rapid growth of the internet.

 

[Grep]

Good question. So many amazing inventions.

Right now, I'll go with contemporary birth control. I shudder to think of a world without them. I think it's pretty hard to overrate the importance of reproductive freedom for women.

 

[Theo1]

The TCP/IP protocol was the best invention. It revolutionized the way computers communicate with each other, and so, it naturally led to the rapid growth of the internet.

Nice, this is an interesting one, is this basically the invention of the ‘wireless’ internet? Before this did they have to use wires for the internet, or was there just no internet? does it also help with communications in mobile phones?

 

[NobodySpecial]

Nice, this is an interesting one, is this basically the invention of the ‘wireless’ internet?

No it's the system of routing messages so you don't have to directly dial a specific computer to talk to PF - you just send a message to the nearest computer which sends it to another and so on until it arrives at PF. It's this packet-switching / routing that is the clever part of the internet. TCPIP is the particular standard that is used.

does it also help with communications in mobile phones?

Not TCPIP specifically but routed packet switched networks yes

 

[Theo1]

if the infomation is going to every computer woudnt you be able to just re-configure your own computer to steal infomation?...i know the security would be MASSIVE but is it possible
...sory for going off track, continue posting ideas, thx!

 

[Evo]

if the infomation is going to every computer woudnt you be able to just re-configure your own computer to steal infomation?...i know the security would be MASSIVE but is it possible

The information doesn't go to every computer, it travels through the routers within a provider's network.

 

[NobodySpecial]

if the infomation is going to every computer woudnt you be able to just re-configure your own computer to steal infomation

It only goes through the computers in the shortest path from your machine to the PF server.
In practice those machines are all likely to be owned by internet service providers / cable + telecoms companies so are totally untrustworthy

That's why when you go to your bank or a amazon checkout you see a little padlock and it says https - that means it's encrypted

 

[JaredJames]

Perhaps not the best, but the mobile phone has to be highly ranked.

I'd say the ability to be contacted 24/7 pretty much anywhere has revolutionised business and personal lives. Especially now with the smart phones.

 

[Evo]

When you do a traceroute, it shows you the path the data takes. Maybe that helps you envision it.

 

[DaveC426913]

You guys seem to be thinking only of the second half (or even quarter) of the 20th century.

What about:
- television
- powered flight

 

[Evo]

You guys seem to be thinking only of the second half (or even quarter) of the 20th century.

What about:
- television
- powered flight

I see you noticed the mistake.

 

[Proton Soup]

[STRIKE]heat engines. both external combustion (steam), then its internal combustion cousins (gas,diesel). these things changed our lives, starting industrial revolutions and conquering continents with railways. you could even drive a heat pump with one before electricity. and most of the electrons delivering this message to you were put in motion by heat engines (steam turbine) driven by coal in an electric powerplant.[/STRIKE]

derp. me no can read. will think of something else.

 

[NobodySpecial]

heat engines. both external combustion (steam), then its internal combustion cousins (gas,diesel). .

All C18-C19 inventions though

 

[Proton Soup]

All C18-C19 inventions though

i don't sprechen your deutsch

 

[Mech_Engineer]

1. Penicillin (1928)
2. Electric Air Conditioner (1902)
3. Nuclear Reactor (1942), Nuclear Weapons (1945)

 

[Mech_Engineer]

heat engines. both external combustion (steam),

... invented 1690

then its internal combustion cousins (gas,diesel).

...invented early-1800's

 

[Proton Soup]

... invented 1690



...invented early-1800's

doh! yeah, my brain be fuzzy atm.

 

[edward]

We had a lot of little things invented that we normally wouldn't think of that made life a bit more tolerable Disposable Diapers for one.

 

[edward]

One most of us use most every day is the common bar code.

 

[DaveC426913]

One most of us use most every day is the common bar code.

Have our lives really been radically transformed because of this though?

Certainly transistors are the winners in the last half century. The entire modern world pretty much runs on them.

Just not sure if they beat out television. TV was pretty big in terms of mass media - but it's really just a riff on radio.

 

[JaredJames]

Have our lives really been radically transformed because of this though?

Depends, how long would it take to check out 100 plus items in a super market without it?

How would the postal services (at least in the UK) track parcels so efficiently?

 

[DaveC426913]

Depends, how long would it take to check out 100 plus items in a super market without it?

As someone who is old enough to remember this: not all that much longer.

How would the postal services (at least in the UK) track parcels so efficiently?

A little less efficiently than they did beforehand.

These are incremental changes. Convenience.

Compare to transistors that have created whole new industries - and then whole mega-industries just to service those industries - that have been created by modern electronics.

And the output of those sub-industries has defined our Age:

It ain't called The information Age for nothin'.

 

[NobodySpecial]

A little less efficiently than they did beforehand.

Not sure that's actually mathematically possible

 

[Proton Soup]

ok, i think i have a slightly less retarded answer now. I'm going to go with control theory. which isn't strictly a single "invention", but the work of several people. still, it comes presented to engineers as a mostly unified framework (at least for linear systems), and most of the work was done in the 20th century. it was control theory that allowed much of the modern inventions to come to flourish. with control, you get efficient design, efficient manufacture, predictable outcomes, and safe operation. and i would further claim that efficiency, predictability, and safety are hallmarks of modernity. much of what we take for granted about the world around us now comes thanks to control.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_theory

 

[Mech_Engineer]

Sorry, I don't think Control Theory counts:

Although control systems of various types date back to antiquity, a more formal analysis of the field began with a dynamics analysis of the centrifugal governor, conducted by the physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1868 entitled On Governors.[1]
...
This generated a flurry of interest in the topic, during which Maxwell's classmate Edward John Routh generalized the results of Maxwell for the general class of linear systems.[2] Independently, Adolf Hurwitz analyzed system stability using differential equations in 1877, resulting in what is now know as the Routh-Hurwitz theorem.[3][4]

 

[JaredJames]

As someone who is old enough to remember this: not all that much longer.

There's a shop near me that the staff used to remember the prices of every item (Aldi) and they could go through an entire cart load of items quicker than tesco staff ever could. Truly amazing to watch. However, they are now on barcodes so it's a feat of nature you never get to see anymore.

I don't think this applies to everyone though and was something of a unique case for such a big shop to have staff that could do this, and I certainly don't see how reading and typing up 100 prices is only slightly slower than scanning the barcodes.

A little less efficiently than they did beforehand.

These are incremental changes. Convenience.

As above

Compare to transistors that have created whole new industries - and then whole mega-industries just to service those industries - that have been created by modern electronics.

And the output of those sub-industries has defined our Age:

It ain't called The information Age for nothin'.

I never said I don't agree with the transistor or that the barcode is better than it (it ain't, transistors truly are one of the greats), but I also don't think the barcode is such a minor invention.

EDIT: A lot of things these days are designed for our convenience more than anything and some really are good inventions.