What was the greatest invention of the past 2,000 years, and why?

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This provocative question was posed to some of the world's foremost scientific and creative thinkers, including several Nobel laureates. Their answers may surprise you. Lively and thought-provoking, The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years is not only an entertaining book about science and creativity but also an opportunity to peek inside the minds of some of the leading thinkers of our time.

With contributors such as Stewart Brand, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Howard Gardner, Sherry Turkle, Steven Pinker, Jared Diamond, Freeman Dyson, Murray Gell-Mann, and Leon Lederman, The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years is an invitation to a salon of our leading thinkers. Their answers to the editor's question are as varied as the group itself. Candidates for the greatest invention include the expected, such as the computer and movable type (although even here there are intriguing insights into how these inventions have altered our civilization), and the surprising, such as the Indo-Arab counting system, the lens,classical music, and the eraser. Some contributors comment perceptively on their colleagues' nominees.

Not all of the respondents limited their answers to concrete objects. Some chose as greatest "inventions" the concepts of free will,marketing, democracy and social justice, the scientific method, and our disbelief in the supernatural, arguing persuasively that ideas are inventions as much as are mechanical objects.

The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years is a provocative, insightful look at how science, technology, and the creative mind have altered our lives and changed the world.

"What is the most important invention of the last 2,000 years, and why?" The question was posed to some of the world's leading creative and scientific thinkers. The answers and explanations, varied, entertaining, and at times surprising, are collected in this fascinating book , edited by John Brockman ( and published by Simon & Schuster

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Alphabet
Anesthesia
Atomic Bomb
Computer
Battery
Basket
Board Games
Calculus
Caravel
Chairs and Stairs
Christianity and Islam
City
Classical Music
Computer, Computer Networks
Construction of Autonomous Tools
Contraceptive Pill
Copernican Theory
Digital Bit
Digital Ecosystem
Distillation
Domestication of the Horse
Double Entry Accounting
Ego
Evolution by Selection
Evolution of Technology
Flag
Free Will
Gattling Gun
Genetic Sequencing
Geometry
Godel's Incompleteness Theorem
Green Revolution
Guttenberg's Press with Movable Type
Harnessing of Electricity
Hay
Idea of an Idea
Indo-Arabic Counting System
/ Internet
Information Economy
Late-Twentieth-Century Health Care
Lenses
Marketing
Mathematical Representation
Nothing
Otto von Guericke's Static Electricity Machine
Organized Science
Papermaking
Philosophical Skepticism
Pill, Gun, and Hydraulic Engineering
Plow
Printing press
Protestant Calendar
Public Key Cryptosystems
Quantum Theory
Reading Glasses
Science
Scientific Method
Secularism
Self-Government
Spectroscope
Symphony Orchestra
Social Structures that Enable Inventions
Stirrup and Horse Collar
Telecommunications Technology
Telescope
Television
Thermionic Valve
Thermos Bottle
University
Waterworks
Universal Schooling
Universal Turing Machine
Volata's Electric Battery

"My nomination for the greatest invention

of the past 2000 years is anesthesia."

--Stuart Hameroff

The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years

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"What is the most important invention of the last 2,000 years, and why?" In late 1998, writer/editor/literary agent John Brockman posed this question on Edge ( the electronic salon over which he presides. Hundreds of scientists, social observers and newsmakers eventually weighed in, their responses as varied, compelling and original as the thinkers themselves. Now, as the world begins a new century, Brockman has gathered 109 of these disparate opinions, philosophies, ideologies and doctrines together for our review in the intriguing CollectionThe Greatest Inventions Of The Past 2,000 Years(Simon & Schuster)."Anesthesia - The most important invention of the past 2000 years"
-- Stuart Hameroff

Have you ever had surgery? If so, either a) part of your body was temporarily "deadened" by "local" anesthesia, or b) you "went to sleep" with general anesthesia. Can you imagine having surgery, or needing surgery, or even possibly needing surgery without the prospect of anesthesia? And beyond the agony-sparing factor is an extra added feature — understanding the mechanism of anesthesia is our best path to understanding consciousness.

Anesthesia grew from humble beginnings. Inca shamans performing trephinations (drilling holes in patients' skulls to let out evil humors) chewed coca leaves and spat into the wound, effecting local anesthesia. The systemic effects of cocaine were studied by Sigmund Freud, but cocaine's use as a local anesthetic in surgery is credited to Austrian ophthalmologist Karl Koller who in 1884 used liquid cocaine to temporarily numb the eye. Since then dozens of local anesthetic compounds have been developed and utilized in liquid solution to temporarily block nerve conduction from peripheral nerves and/or spinal cord. The local anesthetic molecules bind specifically on sodium channel proteins in axonal membranes of neurons near the injection site, with essentially no effects on the brain.

On the other hand general anesthetic molecules are gases which do act on the brain in a remarkable fashion — the phenomenon of consciousness is erased completely while other brain activities continue.

General anesthesia by inhalation developed in the 1840's, involving two gases used previously as intoxicants. Soporific effects of diethyl ether ("sweet vitriol") had been known since the 14th century, and nitrous oxide ("laughing gas") was synthesized by Joseph Priestley in 1772. In 1842 Crawford Long, a Georgia physician with apparent personal knowledge of "ether frolics" successfully administered diethyl ether to James W. Venable for removal of a neck tumor. However Long's success was not widely recognized, and it fell to dentist Horace Wells to publicly demonstrate the use of inhaled nitrous oxide for tooth extraction at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1844. Although Wells had apparently used the technique previously with complete success, during the public demonstration the gas-containing bag was removed too soon and the patient cried out in pain. Wells was denounced as a fake, however two years later in 1846 another dentist William T.G. Morton returned to the "Mass General" and successfully used diethyl ether on patient William Abbott. Morton used the term "letheon" for his then-secret gas, but was persuaded by Boston physician/anatomist Oliver Wendell Holmes (father of the Supreme Court Justice) to use the term anesthesia.

Miscellaneous Ramblings (from the internet)

1)How about the Magna Carta? The weird notion that ordinary people had rights and freedoms was a world-changer.

2)A common lament heard from farmers is that the non-farm public doesn't grasp the importance of agriculture. They take food for granted. The same could be said for other necessities of life, like energy and water. Until we run out of them, or they cost too much, we pay scant attention. We forget that the development of agriculture, energy, mining, water and other basic industries is what made the modern world possible. Certainly we couldn't have this many people living on the globe without them.

3)"Forget the computer and the telegraph, forget writing, and forget even the wheel. It's the plow that changed the world," said Colin Tudge, a research fellow at the London School of Economics. Tudge acknowledges that the plow is more than 2,000 years old, but he qualifies it on the basis of advancements over time, like the moldboard plow.

4) The 30 Greatest Inventions In the History of the World!

Truly No Better Source Can Be Had than > (According to sixth grade students in Mr. Kinder's class at Cascade Middle School, in Bend, Oregon)

Producing, Exchanging, Distributing
1) Agriculture: 8000 B.C.
2) Coins: 700 B.C., Greeks.
3) Supermarket: 1930, Cullen. / Transportation
1) Wheel: 3500 B.C., Potters.
2) Automobile: 1885, Benz.
3) Airplane with motor: 1903, Wright Bros.
Communication
1) Writing: 3500 B.C., Greeks.
2) Telephone: 1876, Bell.
3) Ink: 2500 B.C., Egyptians & Chinese. / Protecting and Conserving
1) Hospital: 862, Romans.
2) Gunpowder: 1000, Chinese.
3) Padlock: 1381.
Providing Education
1) Paper: 1005, Chinese.
2) Alphabet: 1250 B.C.
3) Arabic Numerals: 810, Arabians. / Making Tools
1) Metal: 3000 B.C., Egyptians.
2) Paper Mill: 1150, Spaniards.
3) Radar: 1935-1940, Waston
Providing Recreation
1) Piano: 1709, Christofori.
2) Olympics: 1450 B.C., Greeks.
3) Dominoes: 2450 B.C. / Organizing and Governing
1) Computer: 1942, Atoanasoft.
2) Typewriter: 1867, Sholes.
3) Satellite: 1957, Pavolvich.
Moral, Ethical, and Spiritual
1) Paperback Book: 1936, Lane.
2) Newspaper: 1609, A. Von Shone.
3) Talking Movies: 1927, Warner Bros. / Aesthetics
1) Movie Machine: 1904, Lankins.
2) Silk: 1300, Chinese
3) Record Player: 1877, Edison.
Explore our list of the top 20 achievements, and learn how engineering shaped a century and changed the world.

1. ElectrificationWidespread use of electric power has been one of the greatest sources of social change in the 20th century. It influenced the course of industrialization by allowing us to build factories farther from the sources of power, making large-scale manufacturing possible. It changed the face of cities in terms of growth and population, helped farmers increase production through labor-saving machinery, and contributed to a more highly educated populace, liberated from the drudgery of manual chores and labor.

Timeline

1903 Charles Curtis, steam turbine generator.
1903 William Le Roy Emmet, steam turbine.
1920s Charles L. Edgar designs the first high-pressure steam plant.
1927 Single-core paper-insulated cables designed to carry 132,000 volts are laid in the United States.
1932 Construction begins on Hoover Dam.
1933 Tennessee Valley Authority is established.
1934 First coiled-coil electric light bulb is introduced; increases the amount of light radiated.
1935 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issues executive order to create the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), which formed cooperatives that brought electricity to millions of rural Americans.
1942 Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River is completed.
1942 There were 800 rural electric cooperatives with 350,000 miles of lines.
2. AutomobileThe automobile may be the ultimate symbol of personal freedom. It's also the world's major transporter of people and goods, and a strong source of economic growth and stability. From early Tin Lizzies to today's sleek sedans, the automobile is a showcase of 20th century engineering ingenuity, with countless innovations made in design, production, and safety.

Timeline

1900 Packard is the first U.S. car to feature three-speed and reverse gear box.
1901 Ransom E. Olds originates mass production techniques.
1901 British designer Frederick William Lanchester patents disc brakes.
1901 Frederick Simms invents first car fender, based on railway engine buffers.
1906 Rolls and Royce form company.
1908 Henry Ford begins mass production of the Model T.
1908 William Durant forms General Motors, forerunner of modern automotive plants.
1908 Henry Ford adds conveyor belt to improve mass production system for Model T.
1911 Charles Kettering invents the electric starter.
1911 Synchronized transmission for easier gear shifting, improved carburetors, heaters, and mechanically operated windshield wipers.
1911 Interchangeable parts are introduced by Henry M. Leland.
1915 Cadillac introduces the V-8 engine.
1916 Dodge mass-produces first car body made entirely of steel.
1919 The Hispano-Suiza H6B demonstrates first single foot pedal to operate first coupled four-wheel brakes.
1919 Dussenberg demonstrates first use of hydraulic brake fluid as a link between pedal and mechanism.
1926 Francis Wright Davis installs first power steering system in the Pierce-Arrow.
1927 Ford introduces the 3-geared Model A.
1929 Cooperative Fuel Research Engine, Waukesha, Wisconsin, measures detonation, or knock limit, of a given fuel, determines octane rating, and becomes the standard test engine of the industry.
1934 Chrysler Airflow becomes the first mass-produced streamlined car.
1934 Chrysler adds fifth gear (overdrive).
1940 Karl Pabst designs the Jeep, workhorse of WWII.
1947 B. F. Goodrich Co. introduces the first tubeless tire.
1948 Disc brakes are introduced by Chrysler.
1953 Corvette becomes the first car whose body is made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic.
1955 French Citroen introduces revolutionary gas suspension system. Its brakes, transmission, and steering are all power-assisted.
1960 Private car ownership reaches 1 car for every 31 people in the world; 1 for every 22 in Europe, and 1 for every 3 in the United States, where 15% of families have more than one car.
1966 Electronic fuel injection system is developed in Britain.
1967 Pontiac develops safer car bumpers that absorb some of the energy of an impact or collision.
1979 Direct-Injected Stratified Charge (DISC) engine is developed.
1980 Voice prompts are first used in the Datsun 810.
1980-90s Continuing research and experimental work with alternative fuels, electric and solar-powered vehicles, seat belts, airbags, mapping systems, etc.
3. AirplaneToday you can go from Europe to America in 4 hours on the Concorde. In 1900, the same trip took 7 to 10 days by boat. Modern air travel transports goods and people quickly around the globe, facilitating our personal, cultural, and commercial interaction. Engineering innovation - from the Wright brothers to supersonic jets - have made it all possible.

Timeline

1901 Samuel Pierpont Langley builds a gasoline-powered version of his tandem-winged model, the first to propel an aircraft, and launches large unmanned steam-powered models on many successful flights.
1903 The Wright Brothers Flyer makes the first successful manned and powered flight.
1914-18 World War I encourages rapid development in aviation.
1927 Charles Lindbergh becomes first person to cross the Atlantic solo and nonstop.
1930s As the aviation industry begins to mature, planes such as the B-17 Flying Fortress and DC-3 appear on the scene.
1936 German Focke-Achgelis Fa-61 rotary-winged aircraft demonstrated.
1937 Sir Frank Whittle in England and Hans von Ohain in Germany construct the first turbojet propulsion engines.
1939 The Heinkel He-178 experimental aircraft, powered by Hans von Ohain's centrifugal-flow HeS-3b engine, makes the world's first turbo-jet powered flight.
1939 Igor Sikorsky invents the VS-300 helicopter, the first single-rotor helicopter.
1940s WWII aircraft - Messerschmitt, B29
1940s Rolls Royce engines - many materials new to the aircraft industry in WWII are used in automobile making.
1947 On December 17, the XB-47 stratojet lifts from the runway on its first flight.
1950s-60s New aircraft are introduced during this time period, including Boeing's 707, 727, and 747, the DC-8 and DC-9, and McDonnell's F-4 Phantom II.
1970s McDonnell Douglas F-15.
1980s Commercial airplanes introduced include the Concord, Airbus, and Boeing 757 and 767.
1990s Military aircraft (Lockheed) and McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.
4. Water Supply and DistributionToday, a simple turn of the tap provides clean water - a precious resource. Engineering advances in managing this resource - with water treatment, supply, and distribution systems - changed life profoundly in the 20th century, virtually eliminating waterborne diseases in developed nations, and providing clean and abundant water for communities, farms, and industries.

Timeline

1900 Reversal of Chicago River completed, improving saftey of Lake Michigan's drinking water supply
1913 Los Angeles city engineer William Mulholland opens the Owens River Aqueduct.
1915 Abel Wolman joins the Maryland Department of Health, where he later perfects a formula for purifying water with chlorine.
1915 Boston engineers Leonard Metcalf and Harrison P. Eddy publish American Sewerage Practice, a standard reference for decades
1915 A. B. Wood invents low-lift screw pump to rid New Orleans of drainage problems
1918 Catskill Aqueduct completed; supplies water for New York City.
1918 First large-scale wastewater treatment plant to use activated sludge method built in Houston.
1935 Hoover Dam construction completed.
1937 Construction begins on Delaware Acqueduct to supply New York City; completed in 1962.
1954 James S. Robbins built first tunnel-boring machine.
1962 Mechanical raise-borer enabled engineers to significantly decrease the amount of time to bore through 200 feet of earth.
5. ElectronicsElectronics provide the basis for countless innovations - CD players, TVs, and computers, to name a few. From vacuum tubes to transistors to integrated circuits, engineers have made electronics smaller, more powerful, and more efficient, paving the way for products that have improved the quality and convenience of modern life.

Timeline

1904 Sir John Ambrose Fleming invents the vacuum tube and diode.
1906 Lee De Forest develops the triode.
1934 Electronic hearing aid invented
1947 John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William B. Shockley of Bell Telephone Laboratories invent the transistor.
1950s Germanium is used to make semiconductors in transistors. Late in the 1950s, silicon begins to replace germanium as a semiconductor material.
1954 The transistor radio is introduced and becomes the largest selling item of the time
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1958 Robert Noyce develops an integrated circuit that can be miniaturized and reliably manufactured
1958 Seymour Cray at Control Data Corp. develops a transistorized computer
1961 Silicon chips first appear
1967 First handheld calculator using an integrated circuit is made by Texas Instruments.
1968 Robert Noyce cofounds Intel.
1970 The bar code system is created.
1971 Intel introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor, starting the evolution of Intel's famous line of 386, 486, and Pentium processors
1971 First video game and video disc introduced.
1979 Mattel Toy Company receives 1 millionth chip for electronic games
1980s Integrated circuits applied to computers
1981 32-bit silicon chips developed.
1984 Compact disc (CD) player introduced.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc read-only memory) is available
6. Radio and TelevisionRadio and television were major agents of social change in the 20th century, opening windows to other lives, to remote areas of the world, and to history in the making. From the wireless telegraph to today's advanced satellite systems, engineers have developed remarkable technologies that inform and entertain millions every day.

Timeline

1901 Guglielmo Marconi's "wireless" telegraph sends a signal in Morse code a distance of 2,000 miles.
1904 Sir John Ambrose Fleming invents the vacuum tube and diode.
1906 Lee De Forest develops the triode.
1912 Edwin Howard Armstrong devised one of the first effective amplitude modulation (AM) radio receivers.
1920 The first modern commercial radio station, KDKA in Pittsburgh, begins broadcasting.
1925 John Baird succeeds in transmitting a recognizable image.
1926 Charles Jenkins set up the first intercity television transmission in the United States by wire.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth transmits first television image.
1928 Color television.
1930 Vladimir Zworykin of RCA devises superior television camera.
1933 Edwin Howard Armstrong invents frequency modulation (FM).
1947 John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William B. Shockley of Bell Telephone Laboratories invent the transistor.
1950s Rectangular cathode-ray tube perfected.
1954 Regular broadcasts of color television.
1954 Transistor radio introduced.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1960s Solid state imaging devices first demonstrated.
1968 200 million televisions worldwide.
1980s Miniaturized televisions.
1990s Liquid crystal display panels (LCD), high definition television (HDTV).
7. Agricultural MechanizationThe machinery of farms - tractors, cultivators, combines, and hundreds of others - dramatically increased farm efficiency and productivity in the 20th century. At the start of the century, four U.S. farmers could feed about 10 people. By the end, with the help of engineering innovation, a single farmer could feed more than 100
Timeline
1904 Benjamin Holt develops the gas-powered tractor.
1905 J. B. Davidson, the "father of agricultural engineering," develops first professional agricultural curriculum at Iowa State University.
1907 Henry Ford built his first experimental tractor
1911 Case's steam-engine production peaked when the company also produced its first gasoline-powered tractor
1915 Fenno-Ronning invents the corn silage harvester
1916 Ford Motor Company began production of the Fordson tractor
1925 Benjamin Holt merges with Best Tractor to form Caterpillar Tractor Company
1935 Harry Ferguson develops the hydraulic draft control system for agricultural tractors, greatly improving the operator's ability to control implements, a system that is adopted worldwide
1935 Agronomists Frank Duley and Jouette Russel conduct the first research on conservation tillage using the sweep plow
1940 Self-tying hay baler
1940s Arthur Farrall becomes a leader in the food processing industry, especially in dairy equipment manufacturing, and authors several foundation texts in processing
1943 E. W. Rowland-Hill develops the rotary threshing concept
1948 Frank Zybach invents the center-pivot irrigation machine, revolutionizing irrigation technology
1949 John and Mack Rust develop the mechanical cotton picker
1950s Walter Sohne develops the theoretical basis for soil traction mechanics, important in the design of tractors and tillage implements
1950-60s Eugene McKibben conducts theoretical and applied research in the soil dynamics of plows and other tillage equipment, and directs the USDA research programs in mechanization
1976 Rotary and tine separator combines.
8. ComputersThe computer is a defining symbol of 20th century technology - a tool that has transformed businesses and lives around the world, increased productivity, and opened access to vast amounts of knowledge. Computers relieved the drudgery of simple tasks, and brought new capabilities to complex ones. Engineering ingenuity fueled this revolution, and continues to make computers faster, more powerful, and more affordable

Timeline