# Has Every Invention Been Used For Evil? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2019, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767 "2019-11-21T12:18:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/1 "2019-11-21T12:18:53Z")
A friend of mine claims that nothing has been invented that has not been used for evil purposes at some point. I’ve been trying to find exceptions to this but I’m struggling. Is there anything? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/2 "2019-11-21T12:28:44Z")
I’ve got five patents. So far as I know, no one has ever used any of them for Evil. Is there money in simply being Evil? Maybe I should look into it. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/3 "2019-11-21T12:50:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve got five patents. So far as I know, no one has ever used any of them for Evil. This does not preclude them from being used for Evil in the future. (are we capitalizing Evil now? OK.) Given long enough, any tool will end up being used for Evil purposes by someone at some time. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/4 "2019-11-21T13:30:19Z")
Impossible to answer the question. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/5 "2019-11-21T13:32:18Z")
Yes I guess the definition is important. If you patent and release an improvement for a gear box in a car, has your invention been used for evil if that car has been used in a hit and run? I would argue that it’s senseless to look at anything other than the general category. i.e a balloon is an invention for the purposes of this question but not the invention or patent for a square balloon. Otherwise you could undermine the spirit of the question using obscure patents that modify existing things and that might not even have been put into usage. BTW: balloon was my first reply to my friend but apparently they’ve been used to torture people. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/6 "2019-11-21T13:33:37Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Impossible to answer the question. Hence putting this into IMHO. I thought about putting it in Great Debates but I don’t think it’s serious enough. Just thought it might make for good chat (and ideally an answer I can strike my friend down with). ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/7 "2019-11-21T13:37:43Z")
The spork. It’s so cheap and crappy and useless that evil doers have given up in frustration. It’s too soft and breakable to even make a shank out of it in prison. Now that I think of it, in fact, it’s pretty useless for good as well as for evil. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/8 "2019-11-21T13:48:46Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Impossible to answer the question. Not really. For best odds, look for something that was recently invented, i.e. something that people have not yet had occasion to use for evil purposes. As soon as you find one single thing that hasn’t been used for evil, you’re done. I think items that are of such shitty quality as to be difficult to use for _any_ purpose (such as **Jasmine’s** spork[sup]_[/sup]) should be disqualified from consideration. [sup]_[/sup]_excellent band name_ ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/9 "2019-11-21T13:58:39Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > The spork. It’s so cheap and crappy and useless that evil doers have given up in frustration. It’s too soft and breakable to even make a shank out of it in prison. Now that I think of it, in fact, it’s pretty useless for good as well as for evil. Anything made of plastic is “Evil!” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/10 "2019-11-21T14:01:18Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > This does not preclude them from being used for Evil in the future. (are we capitalizing Evil now? OK.) OP asked if every invention “ **has been** used for evil”, not “will be.” The answer is obviously no. For one thing, there are plenty of inventions that haven’t actually been used for _anything_, good or evil. Maybe because they are new, or proved ineffective. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/11 "2019-11-21T14:39:24Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > The spork. It’s so cheap and crappy and useless that evil doers have given up in frustration. It’s too soft and breakable to even make a shank out of it in prison. Now that I think of it, in fact, it’s pretty useless for good as well as for evil. I don’t know… a utensil that’s fiendishly unsuitable, but ubiquitous sounds like an awfully evil thing to me. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/12 "2019-11-21T14:47:42Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > The spork. It’s so cheap and crappy and useless that evil doers have given up in frustration. It’s too soft and breakable to even make a shank out of it in prison. Now that I think of it, in fact, it’s pretty useless for good as well as for evil. I’ve used “spork” as an insult. There was a guy who had multiple responsibilities at work. He was bad at all of them, hence “spork”, a multipurpose useless tool. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/13 "2019-11-21T15:11:58Z")
Maybe somebody used a spork when giving somebody poisoned food. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/14 "2019-11-21T15:28:56Z")
I’m sure a great many inventions have \*\*not \*\*been used for evil. Not because they couldn’t, but because it never occurred to people, or something more suitable for evil purposes existed (why strangle someone with an Asus adapter power cord when you can use a…rope?) Unless you mean an even more indirect sense - such as, let’s say, someone is using a computer to commit cybercrime - then does everything involved, count as “used for evil?” (the power adapter cord, the extension cord, the wall socket, the electrical wiring in the wall that powers the computer, etc.?) ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/15 "2019-11-21T15:43:40Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > A friend of mine claims that nothing has been invented that has not been used for evil purposes at some point. I’ve been trying to find exceptions to this but I’m struggling. > > Is there anything? Id like to see somebody do something evil with a banana cream pie. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/16 "2019-11-21T15:44:56Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > It’s too soft and breakable to even make a shank out of it in prison. No, you can make a plastic spork into a decent shank by heating it up. And being plastic, it won’t be detected by a metal detector. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/17 "2019-11-21T15:55:55Z")
Interstellar probes? Or maybe that should be exo-solar-system probes. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/18 "2019-11-21T16:08:51Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Id like to see somebody do something evil with a banana cream pie. :dubious: Well, in theory, you could do harm to a diabetic with it. You could certainly tempt someone into the sin of Gluttony with it. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/19 "2019-11-21T16:16:05Z")
I would like to hear the story of how this dumb object was used for evil. [https://scandiccio.com/products/scalp-claw-massager?variant=28237848412244](https://scandiccio.com/products/scalp-claw-massager?variant=28237848412244) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767/20 "2019-11-21T16:16:38Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve got five patents. So far as I know, no one has ever used any of them for Evil. Have you ever used your status as Important Scientist to seduce a grad student, leading her into a life of debauchery and degradation? 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-every-invention-been-used-for-evil/843767.md?page=2)