What invention ?

[Deleted member 18477]

Iphone

 

[Dick Head]

Hundreds of years ago a scientist came up to me and asked me what I thought of ink, his new invention. I said the idea looked good on paper.

 

[JOLovegrove]

Has to be the internet?

 

[Seagull on the wing]

Hundreds of years ago a scientist came up to me and asked me what I thought of ink, his new invention. I said the idea looked good on paper.

That's write....

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Probably writing.

It allowed society to plan itself around the principle of the division of labour and for agricultural surpluses to be produced and distributed / traded. And for different social classes to develop, in particular a non-productive class that could wage war and expand the territory occupied by a particular social group.

 

[Nibble]

Language?

 

[Stoo82]

Or... Penicillin.

 

[The Birdman]

Steam!

 

[beorhthelm]

a few not mentioned yet: steel, plastics, transistor.

(btw cant have language, it not invented but evolved from primitive, inate desire to communication. Or penicilin, a discovery)

 

[HovaGirl]

The wheel.

 

[Baldseagull]

Cocaine

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Domestication of animals. If that's considered an invention.

 

[Scampi]

Probably writing.

It allowed society to plan itself around the principle of the division of labour and for agricultural surpluses to be produced and distributed / traded. And for different social classes to develop, in particular a non-productive class that could wage war and expand the territory occupied by a particular social group.

You get division of labour and trading of surplus in hunter gatherer societies. For me the most important development is farming.

 

[Gazwag]

fire is also pretty useful

Man invested fire, really

 

[Dr NBC]

Probably writing.

It allowed society to plan itself around the principle of the division of labour and for agricultural surpluses to be produced and distributed / traded. And for different social classes to develop, in particular a non-productive class that could wage war and expand the territory occupied by a particular social group.

Not sure how valuable it would have been with a largely illiterate society.

My vote is for the printing press. It was a key factor in helping to create higher levels of literacy as well as assisting in the devolution of power of the Catholic church in Europe. Win-win in my books.

 

[Pevenseagull]

cooking

allowed humankind to release more nutrients from food to allow us more time to go about developing other stuff

 

[Wellesley]

Sky Atlantic.

 

[father_and_son]

currency has always been around in some form...

I would go with the wheel

Schoolboy mistake... For a wheel to have value you need a hole in the centre, so man's greatest invention must be the "hole".

 

[Wellesley]

Schoolboy mistake... For a wheel to have value you need a hole in the centre, so man's greatest invention must be the "hole".

Actually, he's right. I love holes.

 

[WATFORD zero]

The wheel wasn't a particularly life changing invention for many years. No transport or farming equipment could go faster than a horse for thousands of years anyway.

Never heard of a hill ?