Questions for Debate:

1.) What is the most important invention ever invented? Why?

2.) How has it aided or harmed humanity historically?

1.) What is the most important invention ever invented? Why?

The printing press. It brought knowledge (eventually) into being widely available.
What was once the realm of only a few scholars now became available to all. It allowed universities and libraries to come into being. It allowed the sharing of knowledge among scientists. The list is endless.

2.) How has it aided or harmed humanity historically?

Isn't this the same question as "why?"

I am sure you will get varying answers for this question. And no one is going to be right and no one is going to be wrong.

My answer would be one of the following
1. Fire
2. the wheel

Well you asked for it.

1.) What is the most important invention ever invented? Why?

I'm highly prejudiced on this one. My prejudice is towards the computer as the greatest human invention so far, but actually, the greatest invention was the hooking of two computers together in a network. AARPANET showed us that you can do more than NJE and RJE over dedicated phone lines. The Xerox worldwide ethernet with graphical interfaces showed us how it ought to be done.

The network then became the computer, according to SUN Micro. That has come to pass with grid and utility computing, enabling the building of super hyper whoa bigtush computing power from thousands (or millions) of smaller computers processing in parallel.

The exponentional growth of computing power and network bandwidth has enabled fast communication in many forms for the scientific, medical and economic communities. I don't think the full potential of this has even been dreamed up yet.

2.) How has it aided or harmed humanity historically?

The benefits include greater discoveries in the scientific and medical communities. Probably the biggest harm has been the greater speeds of manipulating economies on nation scales. When the holder of a large amount of currency can dump the currency on the exchange markets in a moment, economies could and have come crashing down.

There are the problems of identity theft and other kinds of fraud. I think these problems have reachable solutions -- not sure about the economic problems.

One of the mixed benefit/harm outcomes has been manufacturing automation. Robots can boost production enormously but also suck up jobs. Along this thought is the greater effectiveness of soldiers with technical support. The technology is great, but war still sucks.

The invention that will trump computers and networks will be world peace and prosperity. I hope computers and networks will help bring this about. It would be way cool if everyone could own a home, have clean air and water, and have cheap energy in abundance. It'd also be cool if I could take my aging clunker to the nanite works and end up with a brand new ride from recycled molecules.

Just a little blue skying there.

where did a question/topic like this one come from??????

1.) What is the most important invention ever invented? Why? mine of course, allows me to live how I want.

2.) How has it aided or harmed humanity historically? no direct harm from any of mine yet, a few bring money into the US economy as most of my sales are not within the USA.

In regards to fire being an invention I would say it is not, the standard I personally would use is; it would have to qualify to receive a patent. I do not think you could get a patent on fire, but you could on the device to make the fire or method to keep it going like the firepit. Just as you can not get a patent on gravity.

I concur with the wheel. My GUESS is the first wheel was a fallen tree being rolled to a fire. Or a rock(wheel) being rolled to same fire... I love campfires (food, talk or silence) so I think the wheel and the device to start fires is beneficial to humanity. The campfire was the warm up to America's Debate.

1.) What is the most important invention ever invented? Why?

Sombody said fire, but thats wrong since fire wasn't invented, it was only discovered.

I would have to say that paper, or its earlier forms was probably the greatest invention. Without paper we had no way of reliably passing on information. The printing press for example is useless without paper... and the first printing press was probably sketched on paper


2.) How has it aided or harmed humanity historically?

Paper has given us books, and thus knowledge and education. It has given us money that freed us from the logistic nightmare of precious metals and led to increased trade, banking and commerce. It has given us something to wipe our selves with when we have visited the toilet and so probably reduced much irritation of the tender nether regions.
All inventions and ideas and philosophy have been written upon paper.Our glorious computers all began life as blueprints on paper. The word computer, in fact refers to a man who once sat with an abacus and a ledger, the ledgers being paper.
All art starts of as a sketch. All the greatest works of art began life as an idea scribbled on a piece of paper
We use paper to light fires, to print out photographs, to record births and deaths and tell us who we are and where we came from.

I think popeye47 is on the right track. The means to produce fire at will, I would say, was the most important invention ever for the human race. It enabled us to stay warm, scare away predators, cook food, and see things at night.

How it has harmed us? Fire is at once our best friend and our greatest enemy. Once it gets out of control, our lives, dwellings, animals and land are forfeit. Children playing with matches or lighters, or those falling asleep with a lighted cigarette have caused millions upon millions of dollars of damage and so many deaths over the years.

1.) What is the most important invention ever invented? Why?
I'll lay my money down on alphabetic writing. The earlier pictographic and logographic systems required years of training to master, but alphabetic writing could be learned by the masses, and when that finally happened, guess which society it happened to? It wasn't the Egyptians, it wasn't the Phoenicians, nor was it the Hebrews (their system came a little later). No, it was the Greeks who got the first really practical alphabetic writing system together, because they needed it for the trade that was the basis of their economy. And once everybody started writing, it was only a hop, skip, and a jump to "The Glory That Was Greece". I've been researching this issue of late, trying to figure out exactly how and why they came around to it, and so far I've had to dig into the details of keel design in Minoan and Phoenican ships, relative shipping weights of olive oil, wine, and grain, and all manner of other fascinating details. The earliest alphabetic writing system was Semitic, arising sometime between 2000 BCE and 1500 BCE. The Minoans grabbed it up and used one of the early non-vowel alphabets (Linear A, which has not yet been deciphered). The Mycenaens adapted it to the Greek language and produced Linear B, which was pretty good, but the Mycenaens didn't spread it around the population. Same thing with the Phoenicians. It was the Greeks who had to have near-universal literacy (well, not counting women and slaves). That in turn made publicly known laws possible (now everybody could read the law), which in turn made democracy feasible, and look where that got us.

Euclidian math, is the most important invention, it is the mental tool that gave rise to ever modern tool in creation. It has aided humanity by giving us the ability to compute and compare that leaves no question as to the validity of the conclusion. It has harmed humanity because it has lead us to the delusion that the abstractions of the mathamatician are the sum total of reality. Show me an invention that does not rely on euclidian math and I will show you a contrivance that does not work.

I should have looked at this topic before I answered the question in the other history topic, because I'll have to repeat myself.

The most important "invention" (using the term in a very broad sense), in my book, would have to be the development of agriculture. The profound shift in human society from hunting and gathering to herding and farming had more effect, I think, than any other development in human history. It was the major factor in the creation of civilization itself, I think, with all of its good and all of its bad.

Suppose I limit myself to what we think of as "modern" (post-Industrial Revolution) inventions. I would suggest that the modern invention which has had the most profound effect on modern society (at least in the "developed" world) would be the automobile. If an American of 1900 were suddenly transported to 1950, I think she would be astonished by how a plaything for the rich had become the single most important factor in how Americans lived, and how signs of the dominance of the automobile are seen everywhere except in the most rural or wilderness areas. (And we can all think of the good and bad things that our cars have brought us.) Running a close second would be telecommunications in general, I think.

1.) What is the most important invention ever invented? Why?

Up on the list should be penicillin. After it was discovered (circa 1929),
it quickly became known as "The Wonder Drug" because it saved literally
millions of lives.

2.) How has it aided or harmed humanity historically?

Penicillin (and other anti-biotics) is over-used nowadays, and that has led to
weakened immune systems in individuals, and has created a need for stronger
and more potent anti-biotics, which lead to weaker immune systems, and so
forth.

Many children grow up on anti-biotics. A child gets an ear infection, and rather
than letting nature take its course, anti-biotics are prescribed and the child gets
better, but his immune system has taken a hit (because the friendly bacteria that
are necessary for fighting off illness and infection are destroyed along with the
unfriendly bacteria). This, in turn, predisposes him to future infection and illness,
which will likely "require" anti-biotics, and so forth. That's why kids end up with
chronic illnesses. The over-use and abuse of anti-biotics.

1.) What is the most important invention ever invented? Why?

While I am with inventor in being appreciative of reaping rewards of new inventions, I am certain that my own inventions are not all that important in the grand scheme of things.

I would tend to side with those who mention various steps in the evolution of communication technology... agriculture (gave us time to talk); fireside chats; useful written language; paper and other useful media; Euclidian math (especially geometry/art); ink and stylus; printing press; movable type (Gutenberg); Boolean math (digital logic); telecommunications (telegraph, telephone, radio and cellphone); computer-mediated communication (Babbage, Turing, Noyce, Kilby, Cerf, etc.); desktop publishing (Kay, Jobs, Wozniak and Warnock); networked publishing (Berners-Lee, Andreesen, various corporate projects).

But if I would have to select only one to be more important than the others, it would have to be something people simply could not survive well without. I'm thinking along the lines of sharp rocks, flint, rope, shelter, etc. I think the sharpened rock would probably be my pick, because it would be pretty hard to invent anything else without one. If all the other inventions were taken away, and all we had left was nature, the people who mastered sharp rocks would be better equipped to survive, because they could use sharp rocks to re-invent other stuff faster.

2.) How has it aided or harmed humanity historically?

Sharp rocks were among the first communication tools (carving) and medical tools. Stone tools were among the early tools of agriculture and transportation. Sharpened flint led to control of fire. But sharpened rocks also led to spears; bows and arrows; crossbows; cannon; muskets; guns; missiles; nukes. Very nasty. But sharpened rocks themselves are neither good nor evil-- like most technologies, they merely express what people tell them to express. (Stone tools don't kill people, people kill people, etc.)

I'm not much of a technological determinist. The medium is not the message, except maybe when the medium is new and novel. After the shine wears off, the message is the message, and the messages really haven't changed much in a really long time (although their relative popularities fluctuate). The desire to spread a message pretty much drives the invention of new media/tools to express it. However, it does seem that each generation of new inventions increases the magnification of both the good and the evil in human nature. Maybe we're not really polarizing, but technology seems to bring social issues into focus.

Of course, I assume we're talking about human inventions. If we expand to discuss the inventions of nature (or nature's God, depending on your world view), I'm very species-centric. Humankind as an invention of nature is truly amazing-- I cannot think of anything in the physical world that could prove nature an even better inventor.

1.) What is the most important invention ever invented? Why?

2.) How has it aided or harmed humanity historically?



I would vote a tie between the wheel and the lever. The wheel because it allows humans increased mobility over what they were designed to have, not to mention the variety of other uses made of it. The lever gives humans more physical strength than they were designed to have. Add these two "inventions" with the intelligence humans were designed for and you have the makings of a pretty impressive evolution of a species.

Mmmh, there are so many inventions that changed humankind and I have seen a lot of good suggestions by other posters. The wheel certainly was a big step, but to make a counterargument to this one: the Mayas never knew the wheel yet they had a wonderful culture that still amazes people even today. Agriculture surely was one giant leap towards civilization. Whitout it the human race would never have developed the way they did. The use of fire had that same impact. But also important are the first manmade tools, like spearheads, knives etc made of flint. Those early tools laid the foundation of nearly everything else. The invention of writing (Linear was another huge step. Without it we would have to rely on the spoken word (oral tradition), and what is known about oral traditions is that it tends to corrupt over a period of time. Without writing it is almost impossible to organize a state effectively. Other inventions worth mentioning are the printing press, penecillin and the steamengine (although the first steamengine was invented in the first century AD by Heron (a Greek!), it propelled us centuries later into the industrial revolution! But there are probably many more that I forgot to mention.

But I would like to point out to other inventions that probably a lot of people tend to forget: the alcoholic beverages wine and beer! (although I must acknowledge it is not so powerful as agriculture and writing for example.)
During the Middle Ages water in larger cities tended to be dirty, rotten and unfit to drink. Drinking it resulted a lot of times in sickness or even death! Because water was not really to be trusted a lot of people drank beer and, if you were rich, wine. Beer and wine were for a long time an essential part of the human diet and were regarded as 'healthy' (nowadays almost an absurd statement!).

So lets have another drink, its may treat!

I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that you meant gear and lever. During the 17th century they had screws, wenches, gears and levers...etc. The problem was that they were not very precise. Iron and wood were the primary tool making materials at that time but with the advent of calculas and metalurgy it became possible to make more precise tools. This was possible because the priciples of Euclidian Math were expanded to measure parabolic curves and the first use of it was in measuring the course of a comet. They had known how to draw a parabolic curve in general detail but it took the precision of calculas to provide the mental tool that turned these concepts into functional tools.

I actually think a lot about things like this - especially the thought process that leads to invention. I mean, we know that necessity is the mother of invention, but sometimes the thought process from necessity to invention is muddled, to say the least.

The invention of the wheel was probably pretty easy - rolling logs or rocks . . . And the invention of methods for starting fire (rather than waiting for a convenient lightning bolt or a volcanic eruption . . .)

A poster mentioned wine and beer. The invention process for wine is pretty straightforward - someone invented a bowl, stored some fruit in it, and forgot about it - and when he remembered, he decided to eat the fruit and drink the liquid rather than ditch it and go pick some more.

Beer's a little more involved - especially the addition of the foam - so I'm sure it was a longer process than wine ("Hey, Og, where's that bowl of hops?")

But here's the one I think belongs on the list of top ten inventions, as well as being the one the thought process leading to it I cannot fathom. As far as I can see, it's the oldest form of prepared food in recorded history - bread.

I mean, think about it. Even in unleavened form, and even if someone were just experimenting (which I don't think all that likely, considering restraints on time and resources), how did someone ever come up with the idea of gathering cereal grains, grinding them up, mixing them with just a bit of water, and then heating it? I'm not certain about the timelines, but I think breadmaking even predates agriculture (although that seems sort of counterintuitive). Why else plant a field of wheat or barley or whatever?

Bread's pretty important in the overall scheme of things because it increased man's mobility - bread is highly portable and less perishable than meat or produce (imagine going on a three-day hunting trip with nothing but a bag full of berries - although after a day or two, perhaps one wouldn't care too much about poor hunting results).

1.) What is the most important invention ever invented? Why?

Language: oral, written, somatic. Without it, the question would be meaningless.

2.) How has it aided or harmed humanity historically?

Language is fundamental to culture. Culture is what gives rise to civilization. Civilization has not always been good but on the whole it is an improvement over the alternatives.

Gunpowder. Or more accurately, Westernised gunpowder in weapons.

Not only did this entirely change how wrafare was conducted, on a scale not ever seen before, but it also entirely rebuilt social order in Europe, as the peasantry became more effective warriors than the warrior class. It revolutionised industry, architecture, as every castle in Europe and the near-east needed to be rebuilt: it redrew the map of europe, swept away old powers and created new ones, and changed the scale of warfare entirely, not only on land but also at sea. It made national power a battle of technology and industry rather than manpower.

Gunpowder also allowed for new processes in mining, agriculture quarrying, and gave man an undreamed of power over the landcape.

It did all this in less then 80 years.

Vermillion, I agree it was gunpowder. I think gunpowder had the most broad-sweeping impact of any invention known to man. In the year 1500 there were approximately 500 independent political bodies in Europe. Gunpowder was the death of feudal institutions and the beginning of large centralized government. By WWI, there were only 25 independent political institutions in Europe. As Europe was the first to truly take advantage of the gunpowder revolution, it commanded nearly 85 percent of the world by 1914.

From Playfair: “While human force was the power by which men were annoyed, in cases of hostility, bodily strength laid the foundation for the greatness of individual men, as well as of whole nations. So long as this was the case, it was impossible for any nation to cultivate the arts of peace, without becoming much inferior in physical force to nations that preferred exercising the body, as rude nations do, to gratifying the appetites, as practiced in wealthy ones. To be wealthy and powerful long together was then impossible.”

Such changes in the power equation reshaped the map of Europe. Gunpowder broke down the hierarchial societies in which wealth primarily consisted of titles to land. In the closed feudal caste system, who you were mattered, not what you could do. Gunpowder led to a jump in the scale of fighting and had sweeping impact on the scale of polical organization itself. Gunpowder led to accomplishment based on merit. It even led to a major change in religious doctrine...ending the taboo on usury. The relationship between the rich and poor was altered, as it diminished the importance of physical strength in protecting one's property. It lifted living standards to an unprecedented extent, and tilted the power equation.

Questions for Debate:

1.) What is the most important invention ever invented? Why?

2.) How has it aided or harmed humanity historically?


Thank you for introducing bread. It's the choice I would have made. While I was growing up, cookbooks used to say it had probably been discovered by a "careless housewife," circa 6,000 years before the invention of the home oven that would have allowed her to bake it.

The earliest bread was baked in factories in Egypt which also produced beer. My personal suspicion is that the bread was a byproduct of the beer. Someone tried burning the waste, and something wonderful happened. A gift from the Gods was very likely the reaction.

The history of bread is well covered in Flour for Man's Bread by Storck and Teague, University of Minnesota Press. Another common reference you're apt to locate is 6,000 Years of Bread. Its Holy and Unholy History. (I have forgotten the author and publisher.) Both have been out of print for about 60 years now, so you will likely have to do an on-line search to find a library that still has a copy. Both books tie bread to the origins of the Christian religion.

Bread and beer led to the cultivation of crops, irrigation, surveying, early governments and civilizations, the watermill and windmill, and eventually the plow.

The Roman armies used portable mills and ovens to bake bread for their soldiers.

Crescent rolls are historically linked to bakers stopping an invasion of their city in the middle of the night by raising an alarm.

Then there is the related invention of white flour. The plans for the mill were drawn up by a con man who took the monies he raised to build the plant and disappeared. The investors still believed in the idea, built the plant, captured the Gold Medal for the world's best flour, and the patents... (That is where General Mills got their registered trademark.)

And when did the housewife get involved? During prohibition, the beer companies began to market their yeast so that they could keep their cultures going until they could reopen their factories. It was about the time of the great depression, and they were able to persuade housewives that it was a money saving measure.

There is one invention that hasn't been looked upon. The discovery of Astronomy. Knowledge of the stars was one one the key elements for navigation. Without it it would have been impossible to make long-distance voyages around the world. It helped us discover new countries and continents and boosted the economy.

I vote for the transistor.

It has made all modern electronics, computing, and communication possible.

Of course, the inventor of the wheel might disagree. But this thread is for our opinion.