# Now taking nominations for invention of the millenium. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 10, 1999, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323 "1999-10-10T01:27:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steelwhip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@Steelwhip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steelwhip)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/1 "1999-10-10T01:27:00Z")
Non-destructivly speaking, cast my vote for the CRT. The thingy your reading this on. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/2 "1999-10-10T01:41:00Z")
The telephone. ## Without instantaneous mass communication, progress would not have increased at the exponential rate that it has. “Waheeey! ‘Duck!’ Get it?” “Errr… No…” “Duck! Sounds almost exactly like fu-” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/3 "1999-10-10T02:14:00Z")
The Pill. ---
**Author:** ![WallyM7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@WallyM7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WallyM7)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/4 "1999-10-10T02:16:00Z")
The silicon chip. * * * If you’re hot, that’s good. If you’re cool, that’s good. I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/5 "1999-10-10T02:35:00Z")
Spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Sylence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@Sylence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylence)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/6 "1999-10-10T02:52:00Z")
I would have to go with the invention of the printing press. – Sylence * * * “The problem with reality is the lack of background music.” – Anon ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/7 "1999-10-10T02:58:00Z")
I’m reading these on an LCD screen, not a CRT, thank you… Printing press?! oy… Transistor. Gotta be. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/8 "1999-10-10T02:58:00Z")
The internet – thanks Mr. Gore! (I hope I don’t have to put “HAHA” but I better, for the sake of trolls.) ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/9 "1999-10-10T04:12:00Z")
Railroads, or maybe airplanes. * * * “Had I been around at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.” - Alfonso X ---
**Author:** ![egospark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@egospark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egospark)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/10 "1999-10-10T04:39:00Z")
The clock ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/11 "1999-10-10T07:19:00Z")
I think it’s impossible to single out one thing for a thousand years. But I’ll take these five, as the ones I think had the very mos tto do with advancing our civilization to the point it is now: The printing press Cotton gin photography flight telecommunications (how do you pick between the telegraph, television, radio, and the telephone? I can’t!) stoid ---
**Author:** ![Heath\_Doolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Heath\_Doolin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heath_Doolin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/12 "1999-10-10T07:35:00Z")
The Pocket Fisherman Ginsu knives (hey it cut through that aluminum can AND sliced that tomato!) seriously though I will say: antibiotics (hey it prolonged life and wiped out most of the most horrible and deadly dieases that have plagued mankind since we started walking around on two legs) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/13 "1999-10-10T15:44:00Z")
Top contenders: Movable type printing press -perhaps responsible for everything that followed it. Steam engine -basis of the industrial revolution. The global-range sailing ship -made possible the European expansion and the creation of a world economy. The musket -Chinese had gunpowder, but Europeans came up with the idea of using it to shoot bullets. The computer -although it’s influence is still just getting started. Also, if ideas or concepts are allowed as well as physical objects, then I would add: Double entry bookeeping The scientific method Germ theory of disease Atomic theory of matter ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/14 "1999-10-10T22:09:00Z")
The printing Press **The Steam Engine** Commercial Pesticides (if we didn’t have 'em, food harvests reduced by 1/2 at least!) **Antiseptic Surgery (can you say ‘gangrene’?)** Vaccinations **Public Sanitation & Public Hygene (cities used to be pest holes of diseaes, now they’re a lot better)** The Scientific Method (which made the rest possible \The computer cannot even make the list!\ * * * “The truth is uncontrovertible. Panic may resent it; ignorance may deride it; malice may destroy it, but there it is.”-Sir Winston Churchill ---
**Author:** ![HeadlessCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@HeadlessCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadlessCow)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/15 "1999-10-11T03:29:00Z")
I’d have to go for the sleep sofa. It’s a very underappreciated invention, just look at all it’s good points! It makes visits more pleasant for guests, promoting good diplomatic relations; it helps to relieve fighting among siblings for bed space at hotels, promoting non-violence; it’s a technological wonder, just look at it and tell me if you could havce desinged it…It could be considered the pinacle of mechanical engineering. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/16 "1999-10-11T11:29:00Z")
- Printing Press - Steam / Combustion Engine - Beer - Contraceptives - Antibiotics - Formula I (see also: combustion engine) - Soccer (see also: beer) * * * Coldfire * * * “You know how complex women are” - Neil Peart, Rush (1993) ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/17 "1999-10-11T11:48:00Z")
\*penicillin \*commercial airplanes \*television \*refrigerator and these from my husband: \*48" blade lawn mowers \*weed whackers \*silicone implants ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/18 "1999-10-11T15:07:00Z")
Well, actually, Dennis the Short (Dionysius Exiguus) invented the Millennium back around the sixth century (at least for the current reckoning). ---
**Author:** ![kknick34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kknick34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kknick34)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/19 "1999-10-11T15:15:00Z")
The Hot Water Heater/Indoor plumbing Printing Press Steam Engine and of course Pizza ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323/20 "1999-10-11T16:09:00Z")
Another vote for the printing press here. I can’t imagine any civilization growing technologically without a literate informed populace. * * * Just add water, it makes it’s own sauce! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-taking-nominations-for-invention-of-the-millenium/9323.md?page=2)