Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention? • Hacker News Board

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

#471

Post by rizzom5000 » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 4:46 AM UTC

ARandomerDude wrote: post #450

andreygrehov wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in New York and the majority of my friends do not have washing machine in their home. In fact, it’s a luxury to have one. In contrast, I’m originally from Ukraine where not having a washing machine is weird to say the least. There are many things that would make me call US a 2nd world country, so I’m having a hard time understanding which countries are 1st world countries.

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?

In major cities you'll find that luxury units or condos have in-unit washer and dryer; but below luxury level apartments and condos do not. Nicer places will have a laundry on each floor. Others will have something in the basement or not at all.

It's an optimization that saves the owners significant amounts on up front and maintenance costs.

On the other hand, most people in trailer homes in the US will have a washer and dryer in their trailer. They aren't expensive appliances. They just take up space and require additional plumbing and ventilation - which can lead to significant expenses if you are designing buildings with 100's of units.

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

#472

Post by RandallBrown » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 4:56 AM UTC

greggyb wrote: post #440

RandallBrown wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and writes delightfully If you're right handed. Fountain pens simply don't work for lefties, without writing in a completely unnatural way.

I must write in a completely unnatural way, then. My hand is always completely below the current line of text. Which hand is writing simply cannot affect whether my hand touches just-written ink. Edit: Just wrote some test lines, forward and backward. My whole hand is multiple lines down in the notebook. Writing in a way so as to get my pen-hand on the same line I'm writing feels incredibly weird to me. I think it ju…

You're lucky. Me, and every leftie I know, grew up dealing with this in school. http://i.imgur.com/kTT6O.jpg

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

#473

Post by frutiger » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 5:08 AM UTC

rriepe wrote: post #457

frutiger wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely the three most common elements (by any measure) are hydrogen, helium and lithium?

It's complicated. Helium does make the list, but lithium doesn't. Carbon and oxygen are higher than you'd expect if you're just going by atomic weight.

I remember from my astrophysics course that Lithium was formed in the aftermath of the Big Bang. I would imagine that interstellar space is full of Hydrogen, Helium and Lithium.

I can imagine that stable nuclei such as carbon or iron would form as a result of stellar fusion but I would be hard pressed to imagine that these outmass the more primordial elements. I would be interested to see references if you have any.

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

#474

Post by rizzom5000 » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 5:08 AM UTC

Aperocky wrote: post #306

ajuc wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically there would be ~2 times less people on Earth and over half of them would work in farming if not for this one invention.

> over half of them would work in farming Why would throwing more people at the problem solve or mitigate lack of fertilizer?

I think the point is that fertilizer makes it possible for big agriculture to operate at a certain scale.

If we didn't have fertilizer, farmers would be tending to smaller plots and using locally available fertilizers, such as locally available compost and mulch.

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

#475

Post by colechristensen » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 5:20 AM UTC

kragen wrote: post #363

dnautics wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, in my professional opinion as a chemist, I would say that the the haber process, is not actually that simple, either in its original conception or as implemented now.

The description on Wikipedia makes it sound trivial if you have high-pressure, high-temperature plumbing, and a lot of risk tolerance. What is it leaving out?

Development and discovery of appropriate catalysts and ability to organize the large industrial scale needed to produce meaningful amounts of product.

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

#476

Post by colechristensen » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 5:22 AM UTC

new2628 wrote: post #209

ajuc wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically there would be ~2 times less people on Earth and over half of them would work in farming if not for this one invention.

Would the state of the Earth be better or worse if not for this development?

You really have to define and defend what you mean by better to get a meaningful answer.

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

#477

Post by kragen » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 5:33 AM UTC

colechristensen wrote: post #475

kragen wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The description on Wikipedia makes it sound trivial if you have high-pressure, high-temperature plumbing, and a lot of risk tolerance. What is it leaving out?

Development and discovery of appropriate catalysts and ability to organize the large industrial scale needed to produce meaningful amounts of product.

Can't you just use finely divided magnetite, or am I thinking of the wrong process? That sounds like "you can build it yourself" to me.

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

#478

Post by pgt » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 5:34 AM UTC

Soap

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

#479

Post by Smoosh » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 5:36 AM UTC

mhh__ wrote: post #55

The metric system is pretty good

I can't believe they never implemented metric time and dates (calendar). Now we seem to be forever* stuck with what we have - a glaring inconsistency in some fundamental units of measurement.

* Forever is a long time; after several civilizations crumble and rebuild, perhaps there will be an opportunity.

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

#480

Post by red_hare » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 5:39 AM UTC

ARandomerDude wrote: post #450

andreygrehov wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in New York and the majority of my friends do not have washing machine in their home. In fact, it’s a luxury to have one. In contrast, I’m originally from Ukraine where not having a washing machine is weird to say the least. There are many things that would make me call US a 2nd world country, so I’m having a hard time understanding which countries are 1st world countries.

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 living alone and windows that get sunlight over things like square footage, location, or a wash.