1953 -'Ambu' bags i.e. 'bag valve masks'
They are as simple as it gets but have saved millions of lives.
Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
481–490 of 583 posts
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#482Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think if you spend close to an hour to wash dishes every morning, it's actually a good proof of how much time it could save you. Being able to use that hour productively with other means while you do it (e.g. listening to the news or podcasts in your case) is somewhat a separate topic. Loading and unloading the dishwasher for the same amount of dishes every day will probably take less than 30 minutes. I would estim…
> you could have a savings of 30 minutes every day Maybe I'm unique in this (I don't think I am), but if anything the curse of modern life is that we're absolutely awash in free time. What would I do with an extra 30 minutes? Probably check Hacker News or Facebook more than I already do. The actual washing of the dishes really doesn't take that long. Most of it is gathering everything up, rescuing the sink from the d…
> Maybe I'm unique in this (I don't think I am), but if anything the curse of modern life is that we're absolutely awash in free time.
I’m sure you’re not unique, but your case is far from usual either.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#483Earlier 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.
This is only a thing in extremely dense, expensive American cities. Most Americans have washing machines in their home.
What is surprising is how many houses don't have a dish washer, in both urban and rural areas.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#484General Purpose Computers,It single handed accelerated lots of industries.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#485Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can absolutely make arguments that bicycle design is unoptimized. Why use front forks when they have so many problems? https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/why-are-there-no-alter... Why haven't recumbent bicycles taken over the road bike market despite many advantages (hint: It has to do with what kinds of traffic we prioritize in cities) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recumbent_bicycle#Compared_to_...
I don’t get it, front forks seem very optimal to me. Could hardly be any simpler.
They're simple, but from the article:
> The main problem with conventional forks is that they can’t separate bump forces from braking forces.
> As a result, a conventional fork dives under hard braking. As weight’s transferred to the front wheel, the fork springs compress. This uses up fork travel that would otherwise be available for bumps, which is bad enough. But wait, it gets worse...
> Brake dive also shortens the wheelbase and changes the rake angle. In a perfect world, engineers would certainly rather not change those parameters in mid-corner!
This makes braking mid-corner a risky proposition, which leads to accidents when riders encounter surprises mid-corner.
In the motorcycling world this is being worked around by computers, so we're not likely to see an alternate front suspension, unfortunately. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHRWg91hv-M
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#486Earlier quoted context omitted.
Equally important is contraception and elective abortion. Being able to control the timing of raising a family allows a much higher degree of freedom and also ensures a safer and more healthy environment to raise a child. I think the most important prerequisite to being a parent is the desire to be a parent.
> ... safer and more healthy ... Not for that dead child. > I think the most important prerequisite to being a parent is the desire to be a parent. I don’t disagree with this. Thankfully adoption exists.
I'm assuming you were downvoted for your first point. Not sure why as it is true. There are two sides to the equation.
As for the second point, it's always better to plan for children, but people can step up to the challenge to become great parents.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#487Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is only a thing in extremely dense, expensive American cities. Most Americans have washing machines in their home.
What is surprising is how many houses don't have a dish washer, in both urban and rural areas.
A quick Googling suggested that 25% of them don't have dishwashers. I don't know if that number is accurate, but 25% would be a lot more than I would have expected too.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#488Earlier 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…
The time savings from using a wash and fold service aren't to be denied, either. You just drop off a huge sack of laundry once every week or two before work, and you pick it up on the way home nicely washed and folded, better than I, at least, would have done it. By the time you buy detergent and fabric softener and dryer sheets, and factor in the time derping around waiting for it to do its thing, especially in a sketchy coin-op laundry or a dank shared basement washroom, it's a little silly to do it yourself.
Speaking of course as a bachelor. When you are coupled up, or especially when children are involved, dirty laundry production escalates exponentially and wash-and-fold becomes prohibitively expensive and the capital investment in laundry equipment reduces in importance.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#489Earlier 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?
Worse. We are able to produce more calories on less land than would otherwise be required. If you check out some photographs of the countryside of the East Coast of the US, particularly, from the turn of the century, and then look at those places today, considerable reforestation has occurred.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#490Earlier 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. There's more people living better lives, so things are better. There are new problems caused by our previous success that we solve next.
> 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.
It's also a common situation in the rest of population and community ecology. For instance, removing wolves as a predator here in Michigan has caused an explosion in the deer population. That, in turn, changed the makeup in undergrowth as they eat more now, which has all kinds of extended effects. Not to mention the propagation of diseases in a more sense population.