85 Big Ideas that Changed the World 524
ccnull writes "Forbes just put out its well thought-out list of 85 breakthroughs since 1917 (sneakers) that have revolutionized the way we live. This is interesting on a number of levels -- crazy trivia (the microprocessor and the answering machine invented in the same year!?), a reminder of the past (the modem: 1962), and a frightening realization that not much of interest has come out of the last 10 years (a whopping 4 of the 85 ideas). Easily digestible and worth discussing."
Recent Ideas (Score:5, Insightful)
Much noise, little activity (Score:3, Insightful)
Not much in the last 10 years (Score:1, Insightful)
Not really that frightening. (Score:5, Insightful)
and a frightening realization that not much of interest has come out of the last 10 years (a whopping 4 of the 85 ideas).
It may be a little early to write off the last 10 years. Let's wait another 10 years before we decide that only 4 things from the last 10 years are significant enought to change the world
Re:Recent Ideas (Score:5, Insightful)
BUSINESS breakthroughs (Score:5, Insightful)
the easy stuff's been done (Score:2, Insightful)
The things that are left take either much more sophisticated science, or sophisticated materials, and therefore have longer development times.
If you were to graph true innovation (NOT incremental) innovation vs. time I think that the curve is starting to flatten out. We're starting to bump into fundamental physical limitations on a lot of things: IC devices which are subject to quantum effects, the earth's gravity well wrt space travel, high T superconductors.
There's still plenty of room for invention (!), but the time and effort between true invention is becoming greater.
Add to the list... (Score:3, Insightful)
Bet it didn't list microwave popcorn, did it? Now THAT is progress we can all get behind!
Practical Uses From Knowledge (Score:3, Insightful)
Just rambling... some food for thought
RJ-What? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Lack of Recent Good Ideas (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Spandex (Score:2, Insightful)
Perspective, and Causation (Score:3, Insightful)
1.) As other posters have written: Hindsight is needed to appreciate breakthroughs which "change...lives in a profound way." If there have been any such breakthroughs, recently (no, I'm not suggesting that Segway will qualify), they haven't yet had time to be fairly judged.
2.) I think it's also worth considering that recent years, more than the past, have seen our "technological progress" move more toward improving existing tools rather than inventing new ones. The obvious example is the internet -- now that its infrastructure is present, and it has been adopted into a large percentage of homes and businesses, we're seeing real and profound development occur. Amazon, eBay, Bibliofind -- hell, even pr0n -- aren't "inventions," per se, but they certainly represent new developments which I suspect may be seen as quite impactful.
Also, the past ten or fifteen years have seen a progressive slide in our economy from product-oriented business to service-oriented business. Maybe it is true that we're not pumping out wold-changing inventions (the Foreman grill and the Popeil pasta maker aside) at the same rate we were a century ago; but I think that it has to be acknowledged that we are also offering (and consuming) services which didn't exist in the past. It's worth considering whether the rate of decline in our production of "inventions" is perhaps matched by our rate of growth in providing "services."
Finally, although I think the above is more relevant, there's the obligatory shot at the Clinton generation: One of the notions held by that generation, I think, is the idea of "quick profit" -- and specifically, that it's quicker, cheaper and generally more efficient to improve upon an existing product, rather than produce something entirely new. I think that generation, as compared to the economic drivers of the 1940s, have been more interested in taking charge of what's around them than developing anew. So if we're seeing less inventions and more "version 2.4"...well, I'm not surprised.
crib
Re:BUSINESS breakthroughs (Score:5, Insightful)
On the last day of 1899.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Number one on that list? Not the steam engine or the telegraph, the cotton gin or the McCormick reaper, or even newcomers like electric lights and the telephone. According to the New York Times, the most important invention of the previous century was chemical "frictionless" matches.
I suppose this decision makes a little more sense in a world where most homes and businesses are still heated by coal and lit by kerosene. (And yes, I know it is a bitch to light things with flint and steel.) But I wonder how much of this article will be considered laughable or just plain stupid in 100 years.
--Gondwanaland for Gondwanans!--
Re:The problem with recent ideas... (Score:5, Insightful)
Given that over half the human population in this country is over 40, something that enables them to gratify themselves is a great innovation. You might not appreciate it now but you will when you are older.
Re:why listen to Ben Stein?!!? (Score:2, Insightful)
His essay clearly highlights a lot of important issues, but his life and lifestyle put him in the "part of the problem" side.
Part of the problem? C'mon. The guy is trying to promote intelligence by making it seem fun and cool. It completely agrees with near everything he says in the article. Rather than glamorizing people who do nothing for the millions they get (actors, etc), he insteads rewards people for KNOWING something and working to get some KNOWLEDGE, rather than just being a pretty face. Yes, he does it in a way that is designed to attract a younger audience, it's called being part of the solution.
Sitting around writing articles doesn't get you anywhere. Actually going out and showing people what a brain can accomplish, rather than just using their body, may actually make an effect. I'm not calling the guy some sort of savior, it is just a stupid cable show, but I do not think it in any way goes against his general principles.
Don't judge people just based on your preconceived notions of television.
Re:why listen to Ben Stein?!!? (Score:3, Insightful)
show on Comedy Central "Win Ben Stein's Money".
Yes, let's not discuss the ideas. Let's attack the source instead.
The winnings in Ben Steins show are paltry. The maximum the winner can make is $5,000 - hardly a sum of money you can get rich of. On the other hand, the show provides entertainment (which is the purpose of TV) while delving into the knowledge of history, politics, art, religion and science.
Insightful?!!? (Score:2, Insightful)
Something that starts off with this line can be considered "Insightful"??
zrodney is attacking the article because it is written by someone who he says is apparently "evil" because he has a game show. That reeks of a Troll to me. I guess not to everyone else.
Lets ignore the fact that his gameshow (like some others) actually rely on the knowledge and intelligence of the contestants to win money and prizes... not just the "luck of the spin of the wheel". Lets also ignore the fact that Ben Stein is a highly intelligent man who has written speeches for U.S. Presidents and presidential candidates. Lets mod this guy up because he talks about the author of the article "being part of the problem with society"... which really has nothing to do with the article at all.
Re:Recent Ideas (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Recent Ideas (Score:4, Insightful)
If I refused to own a television, could we discount TV? How about if we find a cure for cancer? If I never get cancer, does it fail to revolutionize the world???
Re:Ho Hum, the last 50 years (Score:1, Insightful)
Point is, you should realize that just because something new hasn't been invented doesn't keep their innovations from being life-changing. The microwave was life changing... we can now prepare food in less time, giving us more time to surf the web. Oh, wait... wasn't the Internet invented in the second half of the 20th century???
Re:why listen to Ben Stein?!!? (Score:3, Insightful)
show on Comedy Central "Win Ben Stein's Money".
Yes, and the reason it isn't on CBS is that it is, in reality, acutally, COMEDY! It's a joke, he knows it, the contestants know it. It's not like these people are the same ignorant dirtsticks that are STILL showing up for The Price Is Right after 30 frickin years. These social rejects havent left the confort of their sofa in so long, they honestly can't tell that a can Lysol is 2.59? Jesus!
At least it shows that someone has a sense of humor, and a pretty good one in fact. Just look at the difference between Adam Corolla on The Man Show, and Adam Corolla on LoveLine (NOT the eMpTyVee version). While he clearly has a good time on both, one is very clearly a joke, and the other sometimes offers some pretty serious advice to people who need it.
Re:Recent Ideas (Score:5, Insightful)
Case in point: the article talks about The Modem: 1962. You really think a list compiled in 1972 would include that?
It really does make me wonder about the galaxy of technology that has already been invented, has a functional prototype, and which no member of the public will ever see until the year 2045. If you had the means to seek out all that stuff, you'd probably find that our society is 50 years more advanced than it appears.
For example, some of what I've read has indicated that recent revolutions in turbine technology (within the last 3 years) make it possible to run the world's power grid entirely with windmills on farms and hydroelectric power. How long do you think it'll take that innovation to become significant to our lives?
GOD BLESS AMERICA !!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
Looking through the list, the inventions fall into 4 categories.
1. American inventions, where their origin is made clear. They're quite careful to always list where the inventions came from, along the lines of "(asian/eastern european name) of the University of (somewhere in America)"
2.Foreign inventions, where no mention of their inventors nationality is made. Fleming, the inventor of penicillin is one example.
3. Foreign inventions that are credited to Americans who came along later. Television and computers are two examples.
4. Foreign inventions that are credited to their actual inventors, and nationality acknowledged. I counted 3.
What is it with Americans?
Why do you feed the need to claim the credit for everything?
Re:Etiquette (Score:2, Insightful)
I think your analysis is off BTW. The US also has had cell phones for many years, but people here simply don't care if they are bothering others. Not only will they let their cell phones ring but they'll actually answer them in the middle of a movie and talk, while placing one dirty boot on top of the shoulder of the person in front of them while the other boot is simultaneously kicked against the back of the seat. This is in addition to people talking at full volume whenever they want to make a comment about the ongoing movie. Perhaps they want to make sure everyone hears them. Every man for himself.
Re:Recent Ideas (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Recent Ideas (Score:3, Insightful)
Heavy overemphasis on IT (Score:3, Insightful)
From memory, food got three mentions (frozen, micorwaved and fast/franchised) and construction two (tract housing and Gyprock).
What about glass skinned skyscrapers? If you used the approach they used to IT, I'm sure there could be several more discrete innovations which have made our modern CBDs possible.
But beyond that, and even more essentially American (at least before the rise of China in the last decade) is the interconnected web of manufacturing industry where things like JIT and TQM, of even, in its day, the humble fax, have made a huge difference.
I dunno what I can do but chuckle when a publication like Forbes starts to see the whole world as an IT application. WIRED I can imagine.
Re:UNIX and Apple on the list (Score:2, Insightful)
Because Microsoft did not *innovate* anything - they simply took existing tech. and throw a lot of marketing (and blind dumb luck -- how DOS got on the IBM PC) at it.
Microsoft might have innovated the intergrated application platform (i.e. Ms-Office) which combines a word processor, spreadsheet, etc....
Or did Lotus beat them to that?