# The most important invention **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2001, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281 "2001-05-13T03:18:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/21 "2001-05-13T10:14:08Z")
Tampons. ---
**Author:** ![Amedeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Amedeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amedeus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/22 "2001-05-13T10:15:24Z")
Doh! Teach me to post before reading more than three of the responses. Oh well, It’s still the most important invention. Well if you don’t count donuts… Hmm, donuts. ---
**Author:** ![ColdPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@ColdPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/23 "2001-05-13T14:07:58Z")
lighters (_cough, cough, hack…_) ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/24 "2001-05-13T16:17:30Z")
The remote control. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/25 "2001-05-13T16:19:59Z")
Salad Shooter ---
**Author:** ![Doubleclick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Doubleclick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubleclick)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/26 "2001-05-13T16:25:12Z")
Doughnuts (But only the chocolate covered kind…Mmmm…Chocolate covered doughnuts…) ---
**Author:** ![galen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@galen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/27 "2001-05-13T16:46:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by shell \* > \*\*The printing press. \*\* I really don’t think that the invention of the printing press in the middle of the 15th Century affected the lives of ordinary people all that much. The Gutenberg press was a hand powered, low production affair. The majority of people remained illiterate for a couple of centuries after that. With the invention of the modern presses powered by steam and later by electricity produced by dyanamos powered by steam, the printed word was at last cheap enough to begin to affect the lives of the masses. Production of goods, which had been almost flat for centuries, practically since the fall of Rome, exploded within a couple of decades of the invention of the Watt engine. That was a mere two centuries ago. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/28 "2001-05-13T21:30:12Z")
The thermos. Why? In the summer, it keeps my juice cold, and in the winter it keeps my coffee hot. Isn’t that what a thermos is supposed to do? Keep hot things hot, and cold things cold? Yes, but how does it **know?** I love old jokes. ---
**Author:** ![shell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@shell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shell)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/29 "2001-05-14T01:34:43Z")
I can see your point(s), but am now wondering what effect the proliferation of knowledge via the printed word had on industry in general and the Watt engine in particular. Maybe the original question is too exclusive? I’m starting to think that each important “invention” is just a significant modification of an earlier invention…and that I need to study quite a bit more history. ---
**Author:** ![Chickenhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Chickenhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chickenhead)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/30 "2001-05-14T02:05:21Z")
Guns and antibiotics are probably not the most important inventions/discoveries, but they’re up there with the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/31 "2001-05-14T03:44:16Z")
Funny, nobody has said religion. ---
**Author:** ![osweetman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@osweetman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/osweetman)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/32 "2001-05-14T04:09:07Z")
There was a religous leader much more influential than Jesus…think about it. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/33 "2001-05-14T04:23:14Z")
The Pill ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/34 "2001-05-14T07:33:42Z")
**Number Six** wrote > [@](#): > > In a book I once read listing the 1000 most influential people in history, Ts’ai Lun was #1 for this very reason (Jesus was #2). I suspect you may be referring to the book “The 100 : A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History” by Michael H. Hart. It’s one of my favorites. Minor correction: In it, Muhammad is ranked #1, Jesus #3, and Ts’ai Lun #7. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/35 "2001-05-14T10:00:16Z")
Well, if you’re playing Civ II it’s the one imaginatively called “Invention” that bridges you into the modern age. Seriously though, I would say the transistor. Computers have been around a long time, but transistors made them practical for widespread use. The next big invention may be carbon nanotube manufacturing, but we’ll see. Nanotubes have the potential to provide everything from tiny, powerful computers to huge but lightweight and strong building materials. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/36 "2001-05-14T10:09:07Z")
_Originally posted by **osweetman** _ > [@](#): > > There was a religous leader much more influential than Jesus…think about it. _Originally posted by **even sven** _ > [@](#): > > The Pill :D:D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/37 "2001-05-14T11:21:58Z")
The keeper and Exedrin Migraine. And Roundup. ---
**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:** [May 14, 2001, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/38 "2001-05-14T11:50:18Z")
The Telephone. Instantaneous international communication revolutionised the world, and caused all cultures to sit up and take notice of the rest of the world. It led to television, radio, the internet… Actually, radio may have been before telephones. Not sure. In fact they use different principles, but anyhoo… ---
**Author:** ![galen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@galen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2001, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/39 "2001-05-17T13:54:19Z")
At this site, [http://www.edge.org/documents/Invention.html#Blakemore](http://www.edge.org/documents/Invention.html#Blakemore), there is a post which says it better than I: “For me, the steam engine was the most important invention in the past two thousand years. The steam engine freed man and beast from physical labor. No other invention had so many different and versatile uses. Man could cut down entire forests to feed sawmills to build cities, quarry stone, propel trains and ships to make the world a smaller place, power factories, and generate electricity. Agrarian society was over and industrialism reigned. Most importantly, the steam engine created more leisure time for mankind. No longer was leisure a pastime for the idle rich. The pursuit of leisure and the changes it created in society far outstripped the first 18 centuries. Without the steam engine, our society would be radically different from today.” ---
**Author:** ![Tabithina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@Tabithina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabithina)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2001, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281/40 "2001-05-17T21:30:05Z")
I concur with **galen** on the importance of the steam engine. However, I’m going to go wayyyyyy back to the very first time a rock was shaped into a tool in order to do a task more efficiently. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-important-invention/65281.md?page=3)