I’ve never thought about this question before, so I’m pretty excited to see what kinds of responses people came up with!
And I’m curious to see what you think, so please reply in the comments after reading through these!
What invention is so good it can’t be improved upon?
Here’s what AskReddit users had to say.
1. Most likely.
“I’ve heard the Pin setter machine in bowling Alleys has never had a redesign.
It was perfect already.”
2. Good thing we have it.
“P-trap.
A simple and elegant way to prevent odor from coming into your house via sink, toilet, etc.”
3. XLR.
“The XLR cable.
Until they can beam something directly into your head, we kind of hit a dead end for perceived sound. The simplicity of what a cable can do by allowing both AC and DC power to flow through so you can power and draw signal from a microphone.
Plus the fact it’s so simple to remove the noise you get from outside interference makes it even more genius.”
4. It’s perfect!
“The paper clip.
Last major patent was in the 1880s.”
5. Use the bones!
“Those bones they use for tanning leather.
People have tried using all sorts of different materials but bone always works best apparently.”
6. After all these years…
“The brick.
It has been made of mud, then mud with straw, then mud with clay, then finally with clay alone. That is as far as progress has taken the brick, in the (guess) 8,000 years since it was invented, and it is still in use today.
Someone, lost in the obscurity of ancient history, realized that you couldn’t build really strong stone structures with irregularly-shaped small natural stones, and hewing huge lumps of stone into regular shapes was just ridiculously hard work.
That person also observed that mud that fell into a fire was left hardened when the fire died down. So they figured that if you shaped mud into regular shapes, big enough to carry one in each hand, you would have all the advantages of small irregular stones and large geometrically-carved stones, but with none of the drawbacks of either.
This thought must have taken a second to dawn on the inventor. The practical work to prove the concept must have taken a weekend, at most. Perhaps a week or two to get the shape just right. And here we are, thousands of years later, and the d*mn thing has barely changed at all.”
7. Perfection.
“Pizza.
You can change it up, you can ruin it, and you can fold it half like a crazy calzone munching madman, but you can’t beat perfection.”
8. Can’t beat ’em.
“Most professional classical music instruments are already in their final stage like piano and violin.”
9. That name, though.
“The spoon is a pretty incredible invention.
It can often sub as a fork or a knife, and it has a great name.”
10. Works just fine.
“The basic sewing needle.
It really hasn’t changed in thousands of years.
There is no need for change.”
11. We all need them.
“Windshield wipers.
My engineering professor always lectured us on how perfect the design is and how and new changes made are strictly aesthetic and don’t work any better.”
12. Steam turbine.
“The steam turbine.
It is such a useful way to convert heat into electricity that it would not be surprising to see one strapped to a fusion reactor (if one ever get built).”
13. What would we do without it?
“Gonna have to disagree with the TV remote.
It needs sharp pointy bits so people know when they’re sitting on it.
Also, less of those buttons that serve no purpose but to confuse grandparents.”
What do you think are inventions that are so good they can’t be improved upon?
Talk to us in the comments.
We’d love to hear from you!
