Microwave. Self-explanatory.
Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
291–300 of 583 posts
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
For anyone confused as to why: We (not just people but life on Earth) are mostly made of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen. Nitrogen was something of a bottleneck because it's so much less ubiquitous than the other three, which are three of the four most common elements in the universe.
less ubiquitous in a bio-available way. Nitrogen is most of the atmosphere.
I meant it in an "elements occurring in the universe" sort of way, but this is a great point too. If we could get at atmospheric nitrogen naturally, there'd be no bottleneck.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#293Birth Control.
Very interesting proposal. I actually remember hearing some professor (of some sort of biological/sociological background) describe birth control as arguably creating a new species as far as females go because never before did they have any sort of reliable control over their reproduction. He actually believed that it was such an incredible event in human history that we have yet to fully understand its total impact on society and that we should consider modern women as fundamentally different now - to such a large degree that he considers them a new species of human females.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#294Since 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.)
This is an answer to the "most important invention" question I've never heard before, and it's a great answer for the "simple" qualifier too. I've never even heard of this device before.
The mills at Lowell are a National Historic Park now and they still have a weaving line running. It's a fascinating place to visit.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#295I’d like to recommend James Burke’s series “Connections”[1] and “The Day the Universe Changed”[2] from the late 70s early 80s. He was a bbc journalist covering NASA and doing science communication and one of his particular fascinations (and mine, having grown up with his work) is the cumulative effect of ideas and technology shape not only how we interact with the modern world, but how we perceive it. [1] https://m.i…
Some of the greatest TV ever made. Shaped my young mind.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#296I don't know if it's the most important, but it's a great example of how a very simple innovation had huge benefits. The Fitch Barrier are those big orange barrels you see on the side of the road. They're filled with sand inside, and basically help to dampen the momentum of a car that veers off the road. They were invented in the 1950s by John Fitch, a Formula 1 driver who just came up with them as a quick and dirty…
I would nominate Jersey barriers as well, they’re easy to mass produce and there are machines that lay them down. Many roads would be undivided if it were not for jersey barriers.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#297Canning and food preservation. It used to be all about salt salt salt.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#298For me: Electric Kettle, Umbrella and Bicycle. I have used them for the last 45 years in the same shape and form. If you gave me any of the "older" models from 40 years ago, the utility value will be similar to what I buy from the store today.
The bicycle is only debatably simple, considering that it's the culmination of quite a few relatively-advanced technologies and processes: steelmaking, pneumatic tires, interchangeable parts, ball bearings, bowden cables, etc.
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#299Hand 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…
> Hand washing Hand washing isn't modern by any stretch of the imagination. Promoting it is modern, though.
Even then... Our Muslim friends have been promoting regular hand washing since the 600's CE. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wudu
Re: Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
My dad still uses the family (his dad's) rice cooker from the mid 1950s, so they aren't that complicated, they're basically a heater and thermal cutoff PSA for anyone who doesn't: Wash your fucking rice
-> Wash your fucking rice What? Sure, if you want to remove some of the starch, but what if you don't? I don't really know why you should if you don't want to, unless it was dirty, but rice today comes pretty clean of debris and bugs. Plus, it's going to be cooked, so no problem there.
Rice is full of arsenic. Washing it may help a little, but even better, use more water to cook it and then dump the water.