BEST INVENTIONS?

Electricity, the best ever invention?:

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In my opinion, the ten best ever inventions are, in alphabetical order: car, cheese, electricity, football, internet, paper, personal computer, printing press, television and wine!

In you opinion, what are the best inventions ever made?

In 2013, The Atlantic magazine asked a panel of 12 experts (such as engineers, entrepreneurs, historians of technology and scientists) to "assess the innovations that have done the most to shape the nature of modern rule." The main rule was that such inventions "should have come after widespread use of the wheel began, perhaps 6,000 years ago." As well as the wheel, this rule also excluded fire, though I'm not sure fire can be counted as a human invention. And because the survey was conducted well over ten years ago, artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency wouldn't have been assessed by the panel of experts.

Below are the magazine's top twenty innovations in order of significance: (1) printing press (1430s), (2) electricity (late nineteenth century), (3) penicillin (1926), (4) semiconductor electronics (mid-twentieth century), (5) optical lenses (thirteenth century), (6) paper (second century), (7) internal combustion engine (late nineteenth century), (8) vaccination (1796), (9) internet (1960s), (10) steam engine (1712), (11) nitrogen fixation/fertiliser (1918), (12) sanitation systems (mid-nineteenth century), (13) refrigeration (1850s), (14) gunpowder (tenth century), (15) airplane (1903), (16) personal computer (1970s), (17) compass (twelfth century), (18) automobile/car (late nineteenth century), (19) industrial steelmaking/Bessemer process (1850s), and (20) contraceptive pill (1960).

As well as fire and the wheel, other inventions not listed include: 3D printing/additive manufacturing, abacus (third century BC), air-conditioning (1902), alphabet (first century), anaesthesia/anesthesia (1846), Archimedes' screw (water pump - third century BC), armoured tank, artificial intelligence (AI), bar code, barometer, batteries, beer, bicycle, braille, brassiere, bricks, cement (first century BC), cheese, chocolate, combine harvester (1930s), concrete, condom, cotton gin (1793), cryptocurrency, curry, Davy lamp, denim, dictionary, Esperanto language, factory assembly line (1913), fax machine, football, freezer, genetic engineering, glass, Global Positioning System (GPS), golf, Gregorian calendar (1582), guns, helicopter, ice cream, irrigation, lever (third century BC), light bulb, maps, mechanised clock (fifteenth century), microchips, microscope, microwave, mirror, mobile phone/cellphone, money, morphine, music, nail (second century BC), nuclear fission (1939), oil drilling/refining (mid-nineteenth century), oven, pasteurisation (1763), photocopier, photography (late nineteenth century), plastic, plough/plow, postage stamp, QR code, QUERTY keyboard, radar, radio (1906), record player, robotics, rocketry (1926), rubber, sailboat (fourth century BC), sandwich, satellites, sextant, sign language, skyscraper, solar panel, sonar, steam turbine (1884), stethoscope, submarine, tampon, tea, telegraph (1837), telephone (1876), telescope, television (early twentieth century), thermometer, tin can, tiramisu, traffic lights, typewriter, washing machine, water desalination, whisky/whiskey, windmill, wind turbine, and wine.

And perhaps most scandalously omitted on the lists - the Sybian fucking machine, Viagra and, @shydivorced2's choice, Crocs!

There's one thing that strike me with these lists of best ever inventions, and there are many such lists on the internet. It is how material the inventions listed are. There's no consideration of conceptual inventions. The ideas of cosmopolitanism, democracy, education, equality, equity, freedom, happiness, human rights, justice, religion. solidarity and sustainability don't get a look in.

Below is a poll in which you can anonymously choose the best five inventions. The poll is based on The Atlantic's top twenty - I saw no reason to make my own poll up (why reinvent the wheel? Pun intended!) There's no 'other' option, if there is an 'other', please state as a comment.

Crocs, the most under-rated invention?:

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