I just read this. Wow.
(Thanks to Reuters for the laugh.)
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Greatest Innovations of All Time
What do you think are the greatest innovations of all time? No, don't read any further; write your own list first. As many or as few as you like. (I did 10, b/c I'm boring that way.)
Now read this article from Business Week.
I'm not sure I agree with all their selections. Granted, they're Business Week, so their list was somewhat business-y focused. I'm an engineer, so my list was more engineer / science-y focused. Although I had several innovations related to language. Here's my list:
wheel
steam engine
transistor
optics
paper
moveable-type printing press
language
computer
internet
boats
Unlike Business Week, my list is in no particular order. Now the explanations:
Wheel: enabled us to move much farther (and spread information) much more quickly.
Steam engine: sparked the Industrial Revolution.
Transistor: according to my boss (a physics PhD), possibly the most influential innovation in electronics.
Optics: ok this one's a little harder to explain. I mean the first time someone realized we could bend light by manipulating a medium...glass, water, whatever. Gave us the ability to see the very small and the very far away.
Paper: gave us a more permanent way of recording information than oral tradition.
Moveable-type printing press: because of this, literacy went way up. Hence so did the general public's understanding of...well...everything.
Language: if we can't communicate, whatever knowledge we have is trapped in our own heads.
Computer: after the printing press, probably the next big way to share / capture information. Huge help in doing big scary math stuff quickly.
Internet: communication again. We can find information and learn so much more quickly than in the past.
Boats: why not cars or trains? I consider those outgrowths of the wheel and steam engine. Impressive, but not as innovative on their own. Boats required a learning of fluid dynamics and enabled us to expand our horizons beyond where we could walk.
So pretty much everything on my list enhanced information sharing or enabled us to learn more about our universe, increasing our wonder of what's "out there." My opinion is, our desire to constantly explore and increase our knowledge is part of what makes us uniquely human. And our ability to communicate that knowledge is what enables us to continue to build that knowledge base generation after generation.
I apologize if this post is a little disorganized. I just wanted to dash something off; what I'm really interested in is your opinion. What do you think were the most important innovations? (How did you define "most important," by the way?) And why?
Now read this article from Business Week.
I'm not sure I agree with all their selections. Granted, they're Business Week, so their list was somewhat business-y focused. I'm an engineer, so my list was more engineer / science-y focused. Although I had several innovations related to language. Here's my list:
wheel
steam engine
transistor
optics
paper
moveable-type printing press
language
computer
internet
boats
Unlike Business Week, my list is in no particular order. Now the explanations:
Wheel: enabled us to move much farther (and spread information) much more quickly.
Steam engine: sparked the Industrial Revolution.
Transistor: according to my boss (a physics PhD), possibly the most influential innovation in electronics.
Optics: ok this one's a little harder to explain. I mean the first time someone realized we could bend light by manipulating a medium...glass, water, whatever. Gave us the ability to see the very small and the very far away.
Paper: gave us a more permanent way of recording information than oral tradition.
Moveable-type printing press: because of this, literacy went way up. Hence so did the general public's understanding of...well...everything.
Language: if we can't communicate, whatever knowledge we have is trapped in our own heads.
Computer: after the printing press, probably the next big way to share / capture information. Huge help in doing big scary math stuff quickly.
Internet: communication again. We can find information and learn so much more quickly than in the past.
Boats: why not cars or trains? I consider those outgrowths of the wheel and steam engine. Impressive, but not as innovative on their own. Boats required a learning of fluid dynamics and enabled us to expand our horizons beyond where we could walk.
So pretty much everything on my list enhanced information sharing or enabled us to learn more about our universe, increasing our wonder of what's "out there." My opinion is, our desire to constantly explore and increase our knowledge is part of what makes us uniquely human. And our ability to communicate that knowledge is what enables us to continue to build that knowledge base generation after generation.
I apologize if this post is a little disorganized. I just wanted to dash something off; what I'm really interested in is your opinion. What do you think were the most important innovations? (How did you define "most important," by the way?) And why?
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