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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?

#111

Common soap bars, they weren't really a thing until the mid 1850's and you had to make your own soap unless you were wealthy prior to that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap#19th_century Similarly, liquid soap which came to be around the same time.

Liquid soaps are a poor choice from an environmental/cost standpoint. Most of the soap goes down the drain and is wasted. Bar soap stays on your hands and last many times longer.

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

#113
post #17

Bicycles are pretty amazing, although there's no way you could 'build one yourself'.

Bicycles may seem simple but took many decades to get it right. Your comment also reminded me of this gallery of drawings from people attempting to create a bicycle from memory which is pretty funny https://twistedsifter.com/2016/04/artist-asks-people-to-draw...

What a frustrating article, they say its missing a key component but doesn't say what.

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

#114
Since you've allowed modern to include the Industrial Revolution, I would submit the invention that started it: the flying shuttle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_shuttle

(How did this cause the Industrial Revolution? It made weaving so much faster, that the spinning industry had to come up with machines to supply the weaving industry.)

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