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Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?

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Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?

#571

Post by kuzimoto »

bitcurious wrote: post #530
wyclif wrote: post #518

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not surprised you're getting downvoted around here for saying the abortion isn't healthcare. Techies can bury their heads in the sand about it because of their political correctness, but it doesn't change the fact that the procedure does not extend a child's life but ends it.

The crux of the debate is on whether a fetus is a child. Your ‘fact’ calls it that, but it’s one that is rooted in your beliefs rather than some larger truth.

From a completely objective and scientific viewpoint, I think it's incredibly difficult to posit that life begins at any other point other than conception. After that it's just a matter of how "done" they are. The Human gestation period has been known to be as little as 22 weeks [1] or as long as 53 weeks 4 days [2], while the standard time is 37-40 weeks. Given more technological advancements, perhaps the time could be even shorter.

I would say that given only this information, a fetus is a full human being at a minimum by 22 weeks. Now, by 10 weeks "all major structures are already formed in the fetus" [3]. So, if a fetus is not a "child" until 22 weeks (as it has viability out of the womb), but by 10 weeks has all the major components of a human, can you tell me at what point in-between does it suddenly become a child, and have a guaranteed right to life?

I don't think you can. If you use conception, you can point to the precise moment in time where every single human being that has ever lived or will live becomes a human being. I'm not sure how you can get any more scientific than that, but apparently it's easy to ignore for the sake of justifying abortion.

[1] http://www.nbcnews.com/id/17237979/ns/health-childrens_healt...

[2] https://www.medhealthdaily.com/longest-human-pregnancy/

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenatal_development#Developme...

Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?

#572

Post by rriepe »

frutiger wrote: post #559
rriepe wrote: post #556

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but all the elemental matter in the universe is like three dust specks floating in a lecture hall. You can ask about the dust specks or the lecture hall interchangeably.

This is a common misconception. Intergalactic space is filled with about half of the matter in the universe. See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warm–hot_intergalactic_mediu... As to your original point though, there doesn’t appear to be too many elements here apart from ionized hydrogen and hydrogen.

Great point. I almost missed this. It really seems like there should be another separation in the article I linked, between "Universe" and "Milky Way."

Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?

#573

Post by dossy »

afarrell wrote: post #152
dossy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rice cooker = hipster Instant Pot.

You can cook chicken in 23 minutes in a rice cooker?

I don't know about 23 minutes, but: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/218739/rice-cooker-chicken...

Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?

#574

Post by dossy »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #6
dossy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rice cooker = hipster Instant Pot.

Isn't that reversed? Instant Pot === hipster Rice Cooker

Sorry, yeah, I got them mixed up in my head when I was typing it out - I think you understood what I meant, thanks for correcting.

My comment got downvoted, but come on, the Instant Pot _is_ just the hipster version of the old rice cooker ... and the rice cooker is a really important but simple modern invention.

Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?

#575

Post by staz »

biztos wrote: post #358
AngryData wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US ive never used or even seen anyone use a fountain pen, although ive heard of enthusiasts for them here.

I have a friend who's into fountain pens and for a while worked for a company that sells really nice ones. In that capacity he came to know some people who collect pens. You'd be amazed. One guy I heard of -- not-famous founder of a very famous brand -- was so into it he'd spent tens of millions building his collection, but outside the world of serious pen enthusiasts it wasn't "worth" anything near that much. A lot…

https://xkcd.com/1095/

Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?

#576

Post by yellowapple »

nate_meurer wrote: post #564
yellowapple wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of those kits ended up being a growing up story of mine, and a lesson in unchecked hubris. I was maybe 8-ish years old, and trying to follow the instructions to wire together a crystal radio with one of those Radio Shack electronics kits. My stepdad - who had only recently become such, and to my assumption at the time was just some dumb hick mechanic - volunteered to help me troubleshoot. Being the bratty child I…

This story just made my evening, thanks.

Haha, thanks!

The tables did turn on that more recently, when he was having trouble with his computer (an ancient-by-today's-standards Dell Optiplex running Windows XP); his power supply died, so I bought him a new one, but after he installed it he wasn't able to boot into Windows anymore. I figured maybe whatever blew the PSU also blew the hard drive (I've seen that happen before), so next time I was at his place he handed me the tower to take home and diagnose/rebuild.

As he's handing it to me, it dawns on me, "Well wait just a second..."

On the spot, I popped open the case, took a quick look at the hard drive, plugged in the Molex cable, put the cover back on, and handed it right back to him.

Hearing the words "Alright fucker, we're even" made my week.

Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?

#577

Post by antepodius »

anthonypasq wrote: post #542
oska wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> May as well just say The Earth would be better off if people had never existed if you're going to go that route. No, that most certainly doesn't follow. It's entirely usual and normal for an amount of something in a system to be fine but then an excess of the same thing to be not fine. This is a very common situation in medicine, for example.

We only care about the state of the system as it relates to humans.

That's certainly not true for a sizeable number of environmentalists. Have you never heard the 'humanity is a virus on the planet' take?

Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?

#578

Post by aaronblohowiak »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #427
aaronblohowiak wrote: post #186

The surface plate. Modern precision all stems from the concept of a flat reference. However, the technique to make a surface as flat as possible (which is based on simple geometry) was first discussed in the early 19th c. In terms of profound impact on modernity, the metal screw-cutting lathe.

I disagree. The modern (read:1800s) horizontal milling machine was really what enabled the industrial revolution. The kinds of parts you can make cheaply on a lathe is much less diverse than on a mill with proper tooling. Don't get me wrong, you need parts with circles but all the other shapes are what really enabled the industrial revolution. Mills and the complex shapes they can quickly create allowed us to cheaply…

it takes many many high precision screws to make a milling machine work, so I think you are making my point for me :)

Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?

#579

Post by aaronblohowiak »

kragen wrote: post #361
aaronblohowiak wrote: post #186

The surface plate. Modern precision all stems from the concept of a flat reference. However, the technique to make a surface as flat as possible (which is based on simple geometry) was first discussed in the early 19th c. In terms of profound impact on modernity, the metal screw-cutting lathe.

I think the idea of grinding three surfaces against each other to make them flat dates to the Sumerians and may have been independently discovered in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.

Please cite your source about the three surfaces method dating back to Sumerians.

Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?

#580

Post by unblocker »

red_hare wrote: post #480
ARandomerDude wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. I've lived in the US all my life and I've never heard of a majority of anyone's social group not having a washing machine. Have others experienced this? If so, in what city?

I live New York. 5/7 years I’ve been here I haven’t had a wash. In my experience, an apartment with in-unit goes for 10% more than one without. My rent is 1850/mo and my local friendly laundromat does wash-and-fold for $0.90/lb. The math works out that an in-unit wash just isn’t worth it to me. Even if you’re lucky enough to afford rent in New York you probably can only afford one or two luxuries. For me I‘ve chosen…

Why do you choose to live in a such a shithole? Serious question. Move to the country where you can breathe something other than toxic fumes and the smell of piss stained streets. Come join us here in rural Alabama, where you can luxuriate in the ownership of a washing machine and other modern technological wonders, like air conditioning, color TV, and fiber to the premises, while hobnobbing and rubbing elbows with the insanely rich high rollers of this wealthy society who have long enjoyed all of these luxuries and more.
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