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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?

#401

Post by core-questions »

AngryData wrote: post #333
jtlienwis wrote: post #129

The process for making ammonia from air (nitrogen) and hydrogen. Allowed a huge increase in agricultural output that saved a few billion people from starvation. Haber-Bosch process.

Yeah but it is also a mixed bag because in order to satisfy the massive energy requirements we cheat by using fossil-fuel derived hydrogen which contributes to pollution and global warming. Without cheap fossil fuel hydrogen the energy costs of fertilizer production would rise multiple times over and likely dwarf every other industry in the world. Currently fertilizer production takes 1.2% of total world energy gener…

At some point we have to decide if the goal of humanity is continued population expansion or some other project. Of course, good luck with the latter.

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

#402

Post by GuiA »

sevilo wrote: post #378
kamakazizuru wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with pads & tampons being a great invention. Can we however please finally stop referring to "2nd and 3rd world" countries. Get on a plane - things are more similar than different in most parts of the world, stop perpetuating dated notions.

Get on a plane? Please, I'm from a plane. Being able to live in these highly developed western countries is a massive privilege. And trust me, a lot of things you take for granted these days, say birth control pills or IUD for women, are still frowned upon and not the easiest to access in China unless you're married, despite its development in the last 20 years. And even relatives who are making good earnings still w…

It’s common for women in Japan to get their friends traveling abroad (to eg Taiwan or Vietnam) to bring them back eg birth control or the morning after pill. It’s expensive and typically not covered by insurance (problem 1), and extremely hard to get a prescription for because the doctor will likely be male and lecture you on how you should get married and have babies (problem 2).

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

#403

Post by lubujackson »

sevilo wrote: post #335

Pads and tampons. Some argue these are environmentally unfriendly and produce too much waste, but you have to think, not everyone is privileged enough to own a washing machine in their own home, particularly those in 2nd and 3rd world countries. I genuinely believed pads and tampons allowed women to be more productive in the work force and eventually lead to more equality, just hearing my mom and grandma's story of h…

You could also say the bra.

Less of a hygienic product for sure, bras spelled the end of corsets and really helped usher in many changes that led to a big increase in personal freedoms for women (both physically and socially).

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

#404

Post by blompa »

kamakazizuru wrote: post #342
sevilo wrote: post #335

Pads and tampons. Some argue these are environmentally unfriendly and produce too much waste, but you have to think, not everyone is privileged enough to own a washing machine in their own home, particularly those in 2nd and 3rd world countries. I genuinely believed pads and tampons allowed women to be more productive in the work force and eventually lead to more equality, just hearing my mom and grandma's story of h…

I agree with pads & tampons being a great invention. Can we however please finally stop referring to "2nd and 3rd world" countries. Get on a plane - things are more similar than different in most parts of the world, stop perpetuating dated notions.

As an alternative to "2nd/3rd" or "developing" countries, I really like the "Four Levels of Global Income" model[0] that Hans Rosling put forth in his book Factfulness[1] (a must-read IMO).

It gives a much clearer perspective on how people live (and as you mentioned, how similarly people live across the world amongst the same income levels)

[0]: https://www.gapminder.org/topics/four-income-levels/ [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Factfulness-Reasons-World-Things-Bett...

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

#406

Post by mishal153 »

Mosquito net. Modern cities may not find use for them but there is a pretty big chunk of world's population for whom this simple item is indispensable. Its cheap. Protects against diseases like malaria, dengue etc. And definitely helps with getting a good sleep. Many villagers in India build it themselves for the community and i hope it stays that way. I know its is popular in the subcontinent (India,pakistan, bangladesh, sri lanka.) Would love to know if other countries also use them

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

#407

Post by oska »

AngryData wrote: post #360
new2628 wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And arguably, soaps available in shops are getting worse with every iteration. Enter a big store in most of the developed world, and you can hardly find a regular soap bar anymore (only liquids, "hydrating bars", etc.). Craft markets still have them luckily.

Many of those are likely detergents rather than soaps because it is less harsh on your skin and thus easier to market and sell. I hate moisturizers and greasy bullshit or whatever else in soap though which is a lot of liquid soaps.

Detergent is more harsh on your skin than (real) soap.

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

#409

Post by nitwit005 »

jvanderbot wrote: post #247

Hand washing. Modern disease control and prevention is borderline magic. Hand-washing is clearly the most important lifesaving and disease preventing invention in modern times. Materially ... Well, "yourself" precludes anything computerized, unless you mean "program". It also precludes a huge range of materials science advances. Technically, you can make steel and concrete yourself with enough real-world minecrafting…

The benefits of washing your hands depends on a fairly large set of other improvements and inventions.

For most of history the water available was frequently contaminated with human and animal waste, along with whatever your local tanner was dumping in. Fixing that was a prerequisite to making hand washing useful.

And then there is the soap issue. While soap certainly has a long history, it was often unavailable or prohibitively expensive. Cloths were traditionally washed with urine.

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

#410

Post by romwell »

kragen wrote: post #399
richk449 wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have very little use for paperclips, actually, but if I needed one, I could easily 3D print it. Out of curiosity, how good would a 3D printed paperclip be compared to the metal ones I am used to? I suspect the performance would be significantly worse due to material properties.

You could make it stronger and more durable, but it will definitely be larger and heavier if you make it out of PLA, and more expensive than a bit of bent wire if you FDM it.

>and more expensive than a bit of bent wire if you FDM it

Yeah, but the whole point of 3D printing is that you can make small-scale custom runs that would be exorbitantly expensive with traditional manufacturing.

You can have paperclips that double as markers/tags/have your name on them/send a message, e.g.[1].

Same goes for other things. 3D printing is a way to make custom things at small scale on demand, but automating away most of the steps after the design stage.

[1]http://www.mkrclub.com/2016/02/make-football-paper-clip-fast...

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