moonstrucksoul

greatest invention, 'dead thread reviver'

or maybe it was the harnessing of electricity, after all. all that we know is based around elecrtricity

__________________
no signature required

soccerchamp76

How come people do not know the difference between "invention" and "discovery"? Electricity, fire, and sticks were not invented, they were discovered. If you counted discoveries you would have to say food before electricity.
So for the greatest invention I will list several as they are equally, or almost equally, important:
Wheel
Computers
Telephone
Plastic (as someone mentioned above; almost all food is stored in plastic; medicine, etc.)

__________________
Brian Griffin: Ah, if my memory serves me, this is the physics department.
Chris Griffin: That would explain all the gravity.

tuffrr

Isn't the obvious answer sliced bread?

bparker805

Either velcro or my chipotle chicken wings. But I'm pulling for velcro.

Skettios

I think Omar already said it, but the answer is 'Antiseptics'

I don't know why that's the answer, except that I remember watching a movie or something, where they a school age guy what the greatest invention of the millenium was or something like that, and the answer was antiseptics.

__________________
Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.

Frederich Nietzsche

H12

Before I entered the thread, my answer was the wheel.

Now that I've read the thread, my answer is language.

__________________
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."
--Aristotle

Asuka{eve}

The sewer system greatest invention evar.

spived2

I think it's the automobile personally. Sure there were many other influential inventions out there that changed the paradigm, but could you imagine the world without cars? having to take trains to get everywhere? I for one would hate the world without cars.

__________________

"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

Fremen

The ballpoint pen.
It beats a quill, any day.


runners-up:
The abacus and weighing scales.

__________________
Google

Astrocloud

Mathematics.

santafe5000

Marconi's radio. It moved communication into the modern era. Radio, then Television, then the Internet. But i guess we have to thank Al Gore for the internet, tho.

__________________
When all else fails, QUIT.

filtherton

Donnie Darko.


Agriculture, as lebell pointed out, made civilization viable. I think it could be said that if not for agriculture, most inventions wouldn't exist. It made engineering possible, since it allowed food production to be put in the hands of, relatively, small group of people. In doing so other people were freed up to pursue other things like invention.

That being said, language is pretty freaking big too.

KellyC

Hmm...I'm surpprised no one picks money yet....So I'll change my mind about the stick and pick MONEY!! Where would be we without that precious medium of exchange?

Would you agree that it's both the cause and solution to all our problems?

__________________
Him: Ok, I have to ask, what do you believe?
Me: Shit happens.

bparker805

Deoderant kicked some serious ass too!

zfleebin

I think I am gonna go with the scientific method.

World's King

The George Forman Grill.

__________________
heavy is the head that wears the crown

hu-man

Beer.

~(_8(/)

Hello?? the clapper!

__________________
Everything was cool until that no talent ass clown went and got famous!

tisonlyi

Language.

The one and only answer.

Though, another answer most definitely could be Baileys haagen daaas ice cream.

MMmmmmm....

__________________
"I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place." - Winston Churchill, 1937 --{ORLY?}--

iamnormal

I'll go with Written Language

denim

Ever heard of "wood"?

And I agree that farming is pretty far up there.

I'd like to say "sex", but that wasn't invented by us.

Sion

the greatest invention of humanity is easily, and obviously, the blowjob.



ok, seriously, I've always thought that the machined screw was one of the best, and yet most overlooked, inventions.

__________________
He's the best, of course, of all the worst.
Some wrong been done, he done it first. -fz

I jus' want ta thank you...falettinme...be mice elf...agin...

mystmarimatt

The first cave man who hit a bone on something, creating a reverberating sound, being the first drum, and the beginning of man made music.

Not so life-shattering, but my favorite invention nonetheless

__________________
Words of Wisdom:

If you could really get to know someone and know that they weren't lying to you, then you would know the world was real. Because you could agree on things, you could compare notes. That must be why people get married or make Art. So they'll be able to really know something and not go insane.

Nhanced1

Robo-Bush.

http://www.gradis.net/xray.htm

__________________
"Sell Crazy Somewhere Else, We're All Stocked Up Here," Jack Nicholson - As Good As It Gets

Macheath

I agree with hu-man about beer.

First brewed in 10 000 BC, beer encouraged the development of agriculture and society and ended the hunter-gatherer phase of the human race. Most importantly though, we forget that for much of human history, water was a rather dangerous thing - source of dysentary and cholera. The very act of forming communties, cities and towns made water sources contaminated. Beer provided fluid sustenance and nutrition without the risk of death.

Hail the brewers who wrote the US constitution. Hail aqua vitae - the water of life.

Tophat665

I'm for language too. Without language, what good is the printing press (invented in Korea, BTW, and then reinvented in Europe), the telephone, or the internet without language.

__________________
Light a man a fire, and he will be warm while it burns.
Set a man on fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life.

Seer666

Jst spent 4 years in Japan, and they have the greatest invention ever, hands down. Coffee in a can from a vending machine. You know how many times this simple little thing saved my life, or at least my paycheck, by keeping me up for the midwatch? There is nothing greater in the world.

__________________
Bad spellers of the world untie!!!

I am the one you warned me of

I seem to have misplaced the bullet with your name on it, but I have a whole box addressed to occupant.

ChrisJericho

Pornography. It keeps us single males from going insane and killing everything in sight.

__________________
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows us that faith proves nothing." - Friedrich Nietzsche

mastboyx

Definitely the internet

__________________
Ignorance Is Bliss

skier

i agree with bundy. The printing press i believe ushered in a new era of enlightenment.

edit: to all those with a "language" answer- How did anyone "invent" language? All animals have some form of communication with one another that could be termed as a language of sorts, and some of these communications are really quite complex.
Human language is merely the evolution of grunts and squacks into a greater vocabulary. I don't think any one ancestor invented language when he made up a new grunt for tree, or clouds. Language of a sort has been with up for hundreds of thousands of years, perhaps millions. (if you believe that darwinian evolution stuff)

__________________
"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim

p0thead

computers/networking... can't beat that

Hanxter

agball

Electricity by far

Bill O'Rights

The greatest human invention, of all time...the sharpened stick. Without it, we never would have been able to overcome natural obstacles, like the Sabre Tooth Tiger, that had to think twice about his dining choices. It was...the first manufactured weapon.

__________________
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony

"Hedonism with rules isn't hedonism at all, it's the Republican party." - JumpinJesus

It is indisputable that true beauty lies within...but a nice rack sure doesn't hurt.

Kllr Wolf

I would have to agree with Language. Without it we would not have been able to achieve any of the other inventions/discoveries. It allowed early man to communicate so that he could share his ideas and methods.

__________________
Caffeine - the molecule of life.

saltfish

Pasteurization...

Without it, our food sources would have such a short lifespan...

-SF

clavus

God.


Think about it.

__________________
Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.

zxello

The wheel begat kinetic energy, which begat electricity...........


the wheel = $$$

__________________
Old signature just wasn't doing it for me anymore, so now I have this new one. It's equally as stupid but at least it looks really long. I'm probably just going to keep typing until I run out of things to babble about and see how many people actually read this. I once ran down a hill, fell down and hurt my elbow; my mom said I would be ok, she kissed it and made it all better. I've run out of things to say now, so if you have read this whole thing, congratulations you get a gold star!

jondotg

I would have to say BANANNAS... but if that doesnt count i guess i would say THE COASTER...

nothingx

Got to go with electricity on this one. Without it, I haven't the slightest idea what I would be doing right now... besides sitting in the dark.