DISCUSSION - What was the most important invention in the 20th century

[Lyrebird]

From 1900 to 1999.

In your opinion and why.

- Be respectful to each others opinions
- Do not attack a user directly or personally insult them
- Keep in mind that if you agree or disagree, please explain why. We don't want single word answers basically

You get one choice and explain why. Pretty straightforward, so go nuts.

 

[Big Lutz]

I am torn between sending data over a telephone line and the nuclear warhead. At the end of the day I am gonna have to say the Nuclear Warhead as the threat of destruction was enough to prevent World War 3 and save millions if not billions of lives through endless warfare in Europe and who knows where else.

 

[Hector]

Funny, I was actually torn between the two choices that Lutz mentioned (sending data over a telephone line aka the internet and the nuclear warhead) but I would actually choose the internet. My reasoning for this is that we've reached a point in history that too many nations have nuclear weapons and for that reason no one will ever use them again (please, please, please hope that I'm right because if I'm wrong...)

However the internet is a technology that has changed nearly everything in the world in terms of how we interact with our surroundings and the people in our lives. And this is a technology that has so much untapped potential to offer.

Other things I considered were the television, the computer (but again the internet is what really makes the invention of the computer so compelling) and the telephone (because I can't count and realized that 1876 is before 1900)

 

[Big Lutz]

See the only reason I discounted the internet at the end is because the telegraph and telephone existed in the 1800s thus information by voice could still be transmitter across the globe. Granted the internet sped up technological progress but one could reason the same progress would still be made, although at a much slower pace, with the telephone and telegraph

 

[Lyrebird]

I would count the internet as a 20th century invention.

For me it is tough, I would have to say either television because of how it impacted the world by bringing them together but I guess I'm going to go with Sputnik because that started the Space Race which increased technology tenfold which created technology that we have in every day life making it easier. So I'm going with like Sputnik.

 

[Fig]

There have been, throughout history, three great revolution of communication technology.

The first was writing. The ability to fix knowledge so it could be preserved and passed on even without face to face communication was a massive step forward.
It, however, remained limited by the fact that written texts were extemely limited in availability. If you had the tablet or parchment that said XYZ, then only a bare handful of others in the world, at most, had it. Perhaps even nobody else.

The second was printing. By allowing the easy and relatively cheap reproduction of knowledge, it made dissemination of information across vast numbers of people far easier, especially as more and more people learned to read.
However, that kind of information dissemination still required access to important means: a publication stranglehold, so to speak. Television, radio, etc, didn't change anything to that: they were essentially printing with other mediums, suffering from the same issues.

The internet, on the other hand, completely upended that. By allowing cheap and easy publication of knowledge, it made it possible for just about anyone with something to say to step forward and say it.

Nuclear fission (bombs + nuclear plant) still give the internet a run for its money, because nuclear fission revolutionized our conception of international diplomacy. But both of them have been some of the biggest socio-cultural revolutions of the twentieth century (the internet's changes being far from fully done).

Ultimately, I THINK the answer depend on the exact phrasing of the question.

If we ask which one HAS BEEN the most important, then nuclear fission. It HAS changed the world.
But if we ask which one will be most important over all, when all is said and done? The internet has changed the world, is changing th eworld, and will probably continue changing the world for years to come. In the long run, I expect the cyber-revolution to completely outclass the nuclear revolution.

 

[GliscorMan]

Let's not forget what made the Internet as we know it possible in the first place: the microprocessor. Those little chips are in everything now, and allowed the true usage of the Internet. Can you imagine a world with Internet, as we know it, but without the ready access granted to us by laptops, smartphones, or even your standard desktop computer?

The microprocessor allowed the Internet to evolve in the first place, past a simple connection between massive, clunky machines used to transfer information. This evolution made the technological revolution we're seeing now possible, and even had a hand in how those nuclear warheads were produced, stored, and tested.

That's why it has my vote as most important invention of the 20th century.

 

[Misfit Angel]

Penicillin. While the original incarnation of penicillin wasn't amazingly effective, it inspired and led to many synthetic derivatives used for treating many diseases, saving countless lives, both during and after wars.

 

[Solayoh]

The internet for sure has revolutionised the world like never before.
It has made the world so much smaller, and made us all global citizens, people can now do things they never could before at the click of the button.

You can go shopping, you can talk to friends, you can organise events, you can play games, you can sell your old toys, you can protest, you can run a business.
Life without the internet would so suck, we have so much freedom now that we could never of had before.

Nuclear weapons just gave us a new way to kill each other.
Gave the countries with a big stick an even bigger stick that is all.

 

[Big Lutz]

Nuclear weapons just gave us a new way to kill each other.
Gave the countries with a big stick an even bigger stick that is all.

But isn't that "New Way to Kill" practically stop a multitude of wars and prevent killing? What stopped the Soviet Union from invading western Europe? What stopped the United States from invading Cuba? What stopped India and Palestine from coming to all out war? What stopped the Middle East from attacking Israel after the 1970s? With out nuclear weapons we could see a constant state of war between the Soviet Union and the Western Powers existing across Europe even to this day. And of course lets not forget that nuclear weapons saved hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives by preventing the invasion of Japan.

 

[Fig]

Sadly, Lutz is right. Probably tens of millions who would be dead today instead lived because nuclear weapons at last made war an unthinkable option.

 

[Solayoh]

Sadly, Lutz is right. Probably tens of millions who would be dead today instead lived because nuclear weapons at last made war an unthinkable option.

Since when has war been an unthinkable option? Most of the Islamic world is at war with Israel despite Israel having nuclear weapons.
Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands despite the UK having nuclears. Ukraine and Russia are currently in a Pseudo war despite Russia having Nuclears, Georgia was also involved in a war with Russia in 20008

Nuclear weapons may stop nuclear wars, because of Mutually Assured Destruction, but if nuclear weapons didnt exist in the first place there'd be no nuclear wars to stop.
And as we can see countries having nuclear weapons don't shield countries from war at all really.

In fact, why Nuclear weapons are really not the best invention, are because of the threat they pose. What if Iran or N. Korea get Nuclear weapons, will you all still be saying then how great an invention they were?

 

[CrackFox]

Most of the inventions are obviously very important and helpful in life as we know it today but i'd personally say antibioitcs. We can invent lots of things to make life more convenient but fundamentally, preserving life is the most important feat you can achieve, surely? Thanks to antibiotics, the population thrives and the average life expectancy has dramatically increased. The World's population would be a lot smaller if not for that, particularly some countries were infectious diseases have always been rampant. Transportation, communication and nuclear power is definitely helped us thrive and definitely saved lives through different means but still not as much as actual medicine has.

 

[Fig]

If you think these wars in any way compare to what we called war before nuclear weapon, you're wrong.

Here's a helpful little chart I drew up.

World War II (total): 60 millions dead (low-end estimate) (other WW II figures are averages)
World War II, per year: 10 million dead
Vietnam War, (total): 3.8 million dead (high-end estimate; 1955-1975, costliest international conflict since WW II)
Iran-Iraq War, Total : 1 million dead
World War II, per month: 830 000 dead
Iraq War total: 600 000 (highest estimates, 2003-2011)
World War II, per-week: 192 000 dead
Vietnam, per year: 190 000 dead
Arab-Israeli Conflict, total: 116 000 dead (1920-2014)
Iraq War, per-year: 75 000 dead
World War II, per-day: 27 000 dead
Vietam, per month: 16000 dead
Vietnam, per week: 3700 dead
Georgia War, total: 2500 dead
Ukraine Civil War, current estimates: 2200 dead.
Arab-Israli Conflict, per-year: 1234 dead
World War II, per-hour: 1 100 dead
Falklands War, total : 910 dead
Vietnam, per day: 521 dead
Vietnam, per hour: 22 dead

In short, while small, limited wars remain viable, any sort of large-scale international conflicts pitting large forces against each other is, in fact, unthinkable.

 

[Shinobu]

A military historian would be able to give better info than I can, but I am reminded of the fact that the Tokyo bombings killed more people than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings combined. Major powers already had the capacity to create massive collateral damage, especially in densely populated areas like Tokyo and Gaza. Nuclear weapons have improved since WWII, and regular weapons have also improved to reduce collateral damage.

 

[Karpi]

I'm going to say that more specifically than the internet, the most important development was Wikipedia. Because the original internet was more or less an improved telephone, but the idea of putting all of humanity's collective knowledge on there is what makes it great.

For a personal example, I grew up out in the boonies where schooling is terrible. I learned SO MUCH from the internet, and wikipedia specifically. I know anyone can put anything on there, but if you're a rural kid who actually wants to learn a basic overview of scientific concepts/history, that is by far the best tool. I know I'm not the only one from that situation who is immensely thankful for the idea of putting knowledge online.

 

[Nero the Giant Whiscash]

A military historian would be able to give better info than I can, but I am reminded of the fact that the Tokyo bombings killed more people than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings combined. Major powers already had the capacity to create massive collateral damage, especially in densely populated areas like Tokyo and Gaza. Nuclear weapons have improved since WWII, and regular weapons have also improved to reduce collateral damage.

Not mention the 2 a bombing did NOTHING to cause japan's surrender (because of the fir bombings of cities) the russian invading manchuria and that one island did that

mine would have to be the V-1 and a V-2 missles because without them and the german rocket scientists that saturn family and apollo 11 and from there that knowledge gave us the shuttle and the ability to do Hubble not to mention all the cool inventions NASA has made that people use today

 

[Lyrebird]

A military historian would be able to give better info than I can, but I am reminded of the fact that the Tokyo bombings killed more people than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings combined. Major powers already had the capacity to create massive collateral damage, especially in densely populated areas like Tokyo and Gaza. Nuclear weapons have improved since WWII, and regular weapons have also improved to reduce collateral damage.

Not mention the 2 a bombing did NOTHING to cause japan's surrender (because of the fir bombings of cities) the russian invading manchuria and that one island did that

mine would have to be the V-1 and a V-2 missles because without them and the german rocket scientists that saturn family and apollo 11 and from there that knowledge gave us the shuttle and the ability to do Hubble not to mention all the cool inventions NASA has made that people use today

Yeah a lot of people don't realize that actually. Soviet Union were going into towards Japanese territories nearby which did freak them out a lot.

 

[Nero the Giant Whiscash]

A military historian would be able to give better info than I can, but I am reminded of the fact that the Tokyo bombings killed more people than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings combined. Major powers already had the capacity to create massive collateral damage, especially in densely populated areas like Tokyo and Gaza. Nuclear weapons have improved since WWII, and regular weapons have also improved to reduce collateral damage.

Not mention the 2 a bombing did NOTHING to cause japan's surrender (because of the fir bombings of cities) the russian invading manchuria and that one island did that

mine would have to be the V-1 and a V-2 missles because without them and the german rocket scientists that saturn family and apollo 11 and from there that knowledge gave us the shuttle and the ability to do Hubble not to mention all the cool inventions NASA has made that people use today

Yeah a lot of people don't realize that actually. Soviet Union were going into towards Japanese territories nearby which did freak them out a lot.

and the reason for the freak out was because they moved most of there troops from Manchuria and a few other places to japan in anticipation for operation downfall and as result was basically defenseless in the north and i think is among the best ones done on this topic CLICK HERE its by foreignpolicy.com

 

[blasterx343]

Personally I believe the greatest scientific advances of the 20th century was the development of the jet engine,
The modern world would not be possible without rapid transport on a world wide basis.

A close second place for me is the development of the microchip or integrated circuit which forms the basis of most modern computing.

Edit: I find it slightly disturbing that most of these examples are based on world war II era tech or from the immediate aftermath including my own selections