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Ask HN: What was the most important technical invention of humanity?

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Re: Ask HN: What was the most important technical invention of humanity?

#11
The axe: Chop trees, skin branches, kill food, skin food, kill enemies, break open shells, etc., etc., etc.

If you were marooned on a desert island, it would be one of the first things you'd make (a spear likely being the other).

Props also to the aqueduct, storage tank, settling tank, and water pipes. Those are pretty important.

Props to all of the above used for waste removal.

And vaccines. Vaccines are pretty cool.

Not the wheel: We had to pretty much have flattened paths (flattened by walking) or flat areas (which we eventually moved into) before wheels became useful. (There was a great article in Discover years ago about why there were no wheeled insects (if wheels are so great, why don't bugs have 'em?) - not enough flat even surfaces.)

Not fire, because we didn't invent it, we mastered it. So we'd have to nominate the match or the crucible or the firebrick or something.

Re: Ask HN: What was the most important technical invention of humanity?

#13

The axe: Chop trees, skin branches, kill food, skin food, kill enemies, break open shells, etc., etc., etc. If you were marooned on a desert island, it would be one of the first things you'd make (a spear likely being the other). Props also to the aqueduct, storage tank, settling tank, and water pipes. Those are pretty important. Props to all of the above used for waste removal. And vaccines. Vaccines are pretty cool…

Bugs may not have wheels, but some of them form poop into a ball to roll it around. And they can navigate by the stars.

http://phys.org/news/2013-01-dung-beetles-stars.html

Re: Ask HN: What was the most important technical invention of humanity?

#14
Is story-telling an invention? Because arguably other animals have languages and tools, but humans use story-telling to explain complicated things. Whether it's travel directions, technical instructions, or a spiritual message, it all gets across by some form of story-telling. And that's what makes it stick.

Re: Ask HN: What was the most important technical invention of humanity?

#16
There is an invention without which no other invention can spread beyond its inventor. An invention which makes possible inventions beyond the ability of one person to create. An invention which permits a person to do something with their life other than kill for food, skin for clothes, and hide in natural shelters. An invention so important and fundamental, our physical brains and the thoughts of our consciousness are continually shaped by it. An invention so powerful, it defines the scope of what we can accomplish as a species. An invention impossible to leave behind or survive on most of the planet without, as defenseless physically as we are. An invention so complex and manifold, we continually reinvent it, and almost cannot teach more than the barest rudiments to any other species. Have you got it yet?

Re: Ask HN: What was the most important technical invention of humanity?

#17

There is an invention without which no other invention can spread beyond its inventor. An invention which makes possible inventions beyond the ability of one person to create. An invention which permits a person to do something with their life other than kill for food, skin for clothes, and hide in natural shelters. An invention so important and fundamental, our physical brains and the thoughts of our consciousness a…

language?

Re: Ask HN: What was the most important technical invention of humanity?

#18
post #17

There is an invention without which no other invention can spread beyond its inventor. An invention which makes possible inventions beyond the ability of one person to create. An invention which permits a person to do something with their life other than kill for food, skin for clothes, and hide in natural shelters. An invention so important and fundamental, our physical brains and the thoughts of our consciousness a…

language?

Communication in any form, but I was thinking of language in particular, yes. :)
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