Sure, flying on airplanes is great and so is medicine and all that, but I gotta say that AIR CONDITIONING is the greatest human invention of all time…
I just don’t know how I’d deal without out…but that’s just me…
What do you think is the greatest human invention?
Here’s what folks on AskReddit had to say.
1. Yup.
“The printing press.
For my money, this is it. For the first time, the rapid distribution of knowledge and information could be achieved.
And those who did not adopt the printing press at it’s inception, still have not recovered.”
2. Electrification.
“Transistors.
More broadly, electrification.
Nearly every human achievement and aspect of how we live modern life stands in some way on its shoulders.”
3. I can see!
“Corrective lenses/glasses.
I (and millions of others) would be so screwed without them.
And the next step….lasik!!! Best decision I ever made!”
4. MATH.
“Mathematics.
It gave us the ability to better understand and define our universe.
Not to mention almost everything humans invent and create requires math.”
5. A big one.
“Water treatment.
The sanitary sewer has done so much to improve human life and health.”
6. Changed everything.
“I would argue that the Internet, allowing for nigh instant communication and sharing of information to the vast majority of the inhabited globe has done more for the development of modern technologies than one could ever possibly grasp.”
7. Scrub up!
“Soap!
Just soap has saved more lives than any other invention.”
8. Where would we be without it?
“The Pizza Cutter.
People talk of ‘the best thing since sliced bread’, or ‘the greatest invention since the wheel…
The Pizza Cutter is a wheel – that slices bread.”
9. Lifesaver.
“As a type one diabetic I’d have to say insulin.
Without it I’d have d**d at age ten.”
10. Think of the possibilities.
“Harnessing fire.
With a controlled heat source, many things became possible.”
11. Have a drink.
“Al**hol.
It’s a known fact the brewing of beer is actually what made it so humans could build large cities. Before brewing beer and making al**hol, water born illnesses were a major problem.
But of course after you make water al**holic, or brew something, it k**ls all of the bacteria or whatever in water that would get you sick.
Civilizations were literally built on al**hol, it was the only method they had to sterilize water, before modern times and methods.”
12. Hear me out.
“Dogs.
No, hear me out.
I mean, we didn’t invent them, in the way that we’ve invented modern domestic pigs, cows, chickens etc, but the archaeology proves that we’ve been co-evolving with them for almost as long as we’ve been human, so in a very significant way we invented them while they also invented us.
Canis domesticus wouldn’t exist without humans, and while wild ancestral canids would be fine without us, adapting to live alongside canis domesticus is likely one of the best things we ever did and vice versa.
Got a dwelling (cave) that’ll still be yours if you go out hunter-gathering because you have a loyal friend to guard it? Thank a dog. Got a herd of domesticated animals that won’t just wander off, so you can get meat, milk, wool and leather? Thank a dog.
Or maybe you’re fully vegan and know you can survive the winter because mice and bunnies haven’t eaten your vegetable patch/orchard harvest/grain store? Again, that’s thanks to millennia of good bois and girls, just choosing to hang out with humans.
And yes, contemporary dog-fashion is an obscenity and a sin, and no we haven’t always treated our best mammalian friends well. But seriously. One of my great hopes for humanity is that one day, maybe, we can evolve to be good enough to deserve them.”
What do you think is the greatest human invention?
Talk to us in the comments and let us know.
Thanks a lot!
