On Edge
The problem with very new technology is that sometimes you can’t tell whether it’s the best invention ever, or the worst.
That period of uncertainty is characterised by a phobia of hindsight… will I look like an idiot for using this in five years time?… five months time… five days time…
And even if it is a good invention, it doesn’t mean that it will work. Take the Betamax/VHS wars, no one could have predicted the fall out from two competing formats.
Technological anxiety.
Here’s a list of what R&D Magazine calls the ‘10 most brilliant inventions of 2007‘. You’ll notice that a lot of them have military functions, or are based upon advertising… brilliant.
Compare those, then, with this list of the ‘10 greatest inventions of all time‘. A far more sensible list… I have yet to find a military application for plumbing. Those inventions actually help people, they make our lives better.
If put on the spot, I’d probably choose the printing press as an all time high point, closely followed by antibiotics in second place. But they’re both getting on a bit, how about something more recent? Computers, the Internet… Mp3s? I don’t know… maybe this:
justine on
Wow. That’s one cool fork.
Is it me, or is there one major flaw with that first item on the first list? “Air conditioner that controls superbugs” right. so, hypothetically, someone could go and turn the dial the wrong way and BOOM, everyone’s gonna be ill….plus, where’s the point in just controlling them? a) they’re not supposed to exist in the first place and b) why don’t they invent one that destroys them completely?
I may be incorrect about this, but i swear that that air conditioner is pretty useless, if you think about it.
You’re right, there is potential for evil overlord air conditioners.
Ha, with my army of superbugs you puny humans will crumble…
The shameful thing is, we don’t need an evil overlord, we let superbugs spread by themselves.
By the way, e-mail notification is still not happening, and i know not why! *gasples* whatever shall i do?
Oh my god, you have to tell me where I can get one of those pizza cutter forks.
/b
Oh, they should be available in all good pizza cutting fork shops.
Like, duh!
I recently had the pleasure of seeing a gutenburg bible in New York City, it was very impressive. A refrigerator or freezer should be pretty high on the list, same thing with Eli Whitney’s cotton gin. How about sliced bread? or something as simple as automatic windows in cars, so you don’t have to roll it down to ask for some grey poupon.
No. Not sliced bread. It tastes like shit. All it’s good for is toast.
Why can’t you just cut it yourself?
Mmm, toast, now there’s and invention.
Oh I hope that blood test patch thing becomes available soon. I have a major fear of needles and I’m way overdue for a bit of blood work.
I hear you Joe, needles are pretty grim instruments of discomfort.
I did see some preliminary sketches for a sub-dermal implant that could send wireless information about you bloods to a nearby computer… designed for people with diabetes and such.
Obviously that borders on biometrics and as such could be missused, but then again, needles have been misused much throughout history too…
Wait a sec… wouldn’t you just use your hands for the pizza? Also.. antibiotics are definitely getting on in years… most of the “superbugs” we have to contend with were created through misuse of antibiotics.
As for great inventions, I’d put the electric shear waaaaay up there.
“wouldn’t you just use your hands for the pizza?”
There’s always one.
I prefer to go stright to the face as far as pizza is concerned.
I usually don’t like to touch my food but pizza is one of those foods that’s impossible to cut without f***ing it up.
Crust first for me.
dibs on first bite.
i like the cheesy part.
*arrives too late to find only a few bits of crust and a lonely bit of pineapple*
I don’t like forks with fulcrums.
I just don’t see the point.
Fo’ shizzle.
Reminds me of this book I pulled out of a free book bin a while back: one of the best pieces of non-fiction I think I’ve ever read. Right up there with Frank Zappa’s autobiography. Link
Oh, that looks superb.
My mate Sean used to run the local second hand bookstore and would ring me when anything like that appeared… he’s since left for Australia, and I’m left befert of interesting textbooks and histories or common tools…
We have some cool technology at work.
Very select applications, so useless in general society.
I am often amazed at how simple some of the solutions are, how clever and easy.
Unfortuently, often, when I comment on how clever something is, the reply I get is “Not really, it is just a simple device”. Apparently, simple isn’t clever.
I think the basic air-con system is a very important invention. Air-con doesn’t just heat or cool, it changes the humidity, helps increase productivity in otherwise uncomfortable environs, makes most large buildings inhabitable.
Not the greatest invention, but up there.
Oh, and eating pizza is the only reason I bother keeping my hands.
A fork to eat pizza?
Atrocious.
The *only* reason?
Surely not…
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