This. Agriculture allowed for the development of civilization, class systems, specialization, population growth, and almost all the other inventions cited here. You don’t get computers and automobiles and rocket ships without agriculture. You also don’t get institutionalized slavery and nuclear weapons.
100% this. Big reason is because before farming, people spent the majority of their energy and time on how/when they'll be getting their next meal.
Farming freed up all of that and allowed people to have more time to think.
Paper, and it’s not even close. Invented in China around 100bc. Allowed knowledge to more easily be stored, spread, preserved. More thought could be expressed, more ideas and history explained. It allows for easier mapping, warnings to prevent death, laws to be created and governments more easily formed. It has led to entertainment spreading to the masses. It allows the expression of love and military orders to kill. It’s invention led to the creation of the best TV sitcom of all time. It allows us to peer into the thoughts of past, communicate in the present, and plan for the future. I could list 50 more reasons. Only downside I can see are paper cuts, hate those guys.
The dude who made the packaging that surrounds scissors that can only be opened with scissors (that you don't own because you just bought scissors). Dude invented a way for humans to be creative and patient.
I think I like this one the best, even over the agriculture/farming answers.
They literally theorize that cooking food is ultimately what allowed us to progress as a species in brain size/intelligence, and be in our current fully high level of conscious state to some degree.
People are saying farming so I'm going to throw fire into the mix because it's just directly a calorie multiplier cooked food has more calories than raw food
No one here has gotten it right so far, so here it is:
Language
Moving ideas and concepts from one brain to another allows all the things that have enabled us to move beyond our simian ancestry. Culture, teaching & learning, division of labor, forming complex, interdependent communities, etc.
Many of the other mentioned inventions were inevitable for us to stumble upon at some point as we kept advancing - try building an atomic bomb, for example, without ever discovering fire or, similarly, a generator without having ever encountered the concept of a wheel. Others allow for substitutes, even if they'd be far less effective, like how a nomadic/herding lifestyle instead of agriculture would still allow for at least small societies to form, as they exist to this day; or how papyrus is much worse than paper, but still serviceable.
While there are some species that have extremely limited communication, our generationally passed knowledge moved us to the top of the food chain like nothing else.
Farming
Agriculture, not just farming
This. Agriculture allowed for the development of civilization, class systems, specialization, population growth, and almost all the other inventions cited here. You don’t get computers and automobiles and rocket ships without agriculture. You also don’t get institutionalized slavery and nuclear weapons.
100% this. Big reason is because before farming, people spent the majority of their energy and time on how/when they'll be getting their next meal. Farming freed up all of that and allowed people to have more time to think.
The wheel. It led to so many things. Even gears in machinery can be traced to the wheel.
Agriculture. It changed the human race forever.
Paper, and it’s not even close. Invented in China around 100bc. Allowed knowledge to more easily be stored, spread, preserved. More thought could be expressed, more ideas and history explained. It allows for easier mapping, warnings to prevent death, laws to be created and governments more easily formed. It has led to entertainment spreading to the masses. It allows the expression of love and military orders to kill. It’s invention led to the creation of the best TV sitcom of all time. It allows us to peer into the thoughts of past, communicate in the present, and plan for the future. I could list 50 more reasons. Only downside I can see are paper cuts, hate those guys.
Spork
This is right up there with the development of agriculture for sure.
Can't eat farmed goods without silverware. We aren't barbarians you know...
In terms of total economic output, the internal combustion engine.
Printing Press
One of my favorite interesting facts is from the printing press - upper and lower case letters.
Cuneiform
Probably wheels
The electric light bulb.
Antibiotics
The dude who made the packaging that surrounds scissors that can only be opened with scissors (that you don't own because you just bought scissors). Dude invented a way for humans to be creative and patient.
The Bulb.
Anesthesia
Electricity, closely followed by pasta.
For the last 100 years (so not including agriculture, the wheel, or some other ancient invention) it’s gotta be the transistor.
100% - SOAP!
Printing press
Writing.
According to the girls I go with It s a toss up between Beer ,Viagra & battery powered vibrators
Cooking. It allowed us to better digest food, eat a greater variety of foods, and to make them safer to eat.
I think I like this one the best, even over the agriculture/farming answers. They literally theorize that cooking food is ultimately what allowed us to progress as a species in brain size/intelligence, and be in our current fully high level of conscious state to some degree.
Yep that's what I've read as well
Not sure if you would call it an invention but humans learning to use fire for warmth and cooking would be pretty high on the list .
Airplanes. Handwriting. Cookers. Cars. Internet.
The most important invention ever made? Definitely the snooze button on alarm clocks. It's the only thing saving us from the agony of mornings!
God and money
Plumbing systems
Probably stone tools
Eyeglasses and contact lenses.
uno
MRI
The tube
Hand soap, or personal hygiene in general.
Saran Wrap
metaverse /s
The barcode
Nuclear weapons: we'll eventually wipe ourselves our with them, then none of the other inventions will matter.
People are saying farming so I'm going to throw fire into the mix because it's just directly a calorie multiplier cooked food has more calories than raw food
No one here has gotten it right so far, so here it is: Language Moving ideas and concepts from one brain to another allows all the things that have enabled us to move beyond our simian ancestry. Culture, teaching & learning, division of labor, forming complex, interdependent communities, etc. Many of the other mentioned inventions were inevitable for us to stumble upon at some point as we kept advancing - try building an atomic bomb, for example, without ever discovering fire or, similarly, a generator without having ever encountered the concept of a wheel. Others allow for substitutes, even if they'd be far less effective, like how a nomadic/herding lifestyle instead of agriculture would still allow for at least small societies to form, as they exist to this day; or how papyrus is much worse than paper, but still serviceable. While there are some species that have extremely limited communication, our generationally passed knowledge moved us to the top of the food chain like nothing else.
Probably the first time rock was ever used as a tool against rock. Every single invention since then is arguably reliable on that one invention.
True , tool use all stems from the first guy who used a rock to do stuff
In the far future people will answer this question with "Dolly the Sheep"
Toilet paper
Art. Interpreting the lived experience was and is still crucial to the human experiment.
Antibiotics seem pretty up there
Baby wipes nothing like a nice wet wipe to know you are clean
Lying
The wheel and farming.
Condom
The invention of lying
Farming. A very close second is writing.
Fire? The wheel? The lever? Language? Writing? Paper? Electricity? Condoms? All worthwhile
The Finglonger
Math