Top ten innovations of the last 250 years

[alva]

The hotshower should be pretty high up on that list also imo.


...and central heating

[mrmitchell]

Re: Top ten innovations of the last 250 years

1. Electricity
Duh
2. Steam power
Duh
3. Telegraph
Made instant communication possible
4. Aluminum production
It's hard to realize just how many times every day we use aluminum; and we're only starting with it
5. Germ theory
Everything about microbes. Food safety, antibiotics, refrigeration, pasteurization, all of it
6. Atomic fission
Its impact will only grow in the following centuries
7. Mass production
Includes assembly lines, modern factory farms, etc.
8. Explosives
Help man shape his planet
9. Radio
Made instant communication possible in any place
10. Transistor
Duh

[alva]

But it's too abstract to be fun.

[mrmitchell]

Toilet / shower have existed before 250 years ago. However, I did entirely forget about them regardless of that, so I feel embarassed anyway.

IIRC early flush toilets were installed in royal palaces in around the 16th century, and there have always been outhouses and chamberpots, so the basic idea of keeping all your crap in one isolated place isn't new.

As for hot showers, I'm thinking the Roman baths were 2,000 years ago, and AFAIK wherever there are natural springs, humans have gathered around and used them...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Plastics .

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Democracy based upon the idea of all men created equal.

[Dr Strangelove]

I think that actually mass production is a secondary product of modern metalurgy. Attempts at mass production in the late 18th and early 19th century failed because the technology to fabricate parts with precision simply did not exist.

[Sirotnikov]

refrigiration

socialism

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by GePap


There is a difference between patriotism and Nationalism. Nationalism (with a capital N) is most certainly a French Revolution born notion.

Please name the great Nationalistic endevours of the 17th century?

English nationalism was alive and well at the end of the Hundred Years' War

[KrazyHorse]

It was certainly thriving after a couple of dozen years of Tudor rule.

[FrostyBoy]

Originally posted by Ogie Oglethorpe
Democracy based upon the idea of all men created equal.

Sorry, Jesus beat you to it.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Sn00py
Sorry, Jesus beat you to it.

Ah, but women were not included. Neither were slaves.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Ogie Oglethorpe
Democracy based upon the idea of all men created equal.

[Urban Ranger]

*cough* heavier-than-air flight *cough*

[Urban Ranger]

Main Entry: 1man
Pronunciation: 'man, in compounds "man or m&n
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural men /'men, in compounds "men or m&n/
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English man, mon human being, male human; akin to Old High German man human being, Sanskrit manu
1 a (1) : an individual human; especially : an adult male human (2) : a man belonging to a particular category (as by birth, residence, membership, or occupation) -- usually used in combination <councilman> (3) : HUSBAND (4) : LOVER b : the human race : MANKIND c : a bipedal primate mammal (Homo sapiens) that is anatomically related to the great apes but distinguished especially by notable development of the brain with a resultant capacity for articulate speech and abstract reasoning, is usually considered to form a variable number of freely interbreeding races, and is the sole representative of a natural family (Hominidae); broadly : any living or extinct member of this family d (1) : one possessing in high degree the qualities considered distinctive of manhood (2) obsolete : the quality or state of being manly : MANLINESS e : FELLOW, CHAP f -- used interjectionally to express intensity of feeling <man, what a game>
2 a : INDIVIDUAL, PERSON <a man could get killed there> b : the individual who can fulfill or who has been chosen to fulfill one's requirements <she's your man>
3 a : a feudal tenant : VASSAL b : an adult male servant c plural : the working force as distinguished from the employer and usually the management
4 a : one of the distinctive objects moved by each player in various board games b : one of the players on a team
5 : an alumnus of or student at a college or university <a Bowdoin man>
6 Christian Science : the compound idea of infinite Spirit : the spiritual image and likeness of God : the full representation of Mind
7 often capitalized : POLICE <when I heard the siren, I knew it was the Man -- Amer. Speech>
8 often capitalized : the white establishment : white society <surprise that any black... should take on so about The Man -- Peter Goldman>
9 : one extremely fond of or devoted to something specified <strictly a vanilla ice cream man>

[emphasis my own]