Posted on 12/24/2023 8:38:13 AM PST by dennisw
That was MY first thought.
Did anybody notice this story is from 2010?
“I quickly scanned the whole list and did not see the following: Bell Labs - the transistor.”
My list:
Atom bomb
Transistor
Birth control pill
The personal massager (aka the original selfie stick)
I was all set to post “The A-Bomb”, until I read the list referred to personal gadgets...But now that I think about it, who really knows?
I never leave home without one.
How do it know?
I did not see the microwave oven.
Problem is......you can’t trade your kindle when you finish the book.
That should be Nbr 2
But they did get that most important invention, well worth including since 1923, the CLAPPER! That alone showed me they were not at all serious about this list. The Clapper was worth including while Penicillin (1928) was not. The compiler even included a claimed MP3 player that produced only 26 units that never made it to market, but did not include the generation of electricity from Nuclear power? Say what? Shallow thinking.
By the time I got through the list, I was laughing at the myopic vision of the compiler and his ignorance of technology. Some of his choices were almost ephemeral in their longevity and importance to history, mere blips in the development of technology. I was thinking “Seriously? Even in 2010, it was obvious these were mere stepping stones in development, not milestones!”
LMAO!
I’d forgotten that one!
The cut off was 1923, but I was thinking similarly… and would have added the AR-15/16 instead of the Colt 1911… also missing in weapons is the Nuclear bombs (1945 and 1953)…. and then Satellite communications.
Conspicuously missing. Jet aircraft, anyone? In 1923 they were still flying airplanes made of wood and painted fabric, essentially fancied up kites.
The invention of the freeway/expressway with controlled access highway, including the invention of the Interstate Highways concept, was still in the future as well, and probably did more for the economy than any of the gadgets listed.
Another major innovation was the invention of the Diesel Electric Train locomotive in 1924 in Italy although there is some claims by the Russian Soviets they had some running in 1922. But, the Soviet’s propaganda then required them to ALWAYS claim to have invented everything first, no matter what it was to bolster the perception of communism’s superiority as a system, despite its myriad and obvious failings...
The integrated circuit is got to bear the top. It enables so much.
The most important invention you never saw but one that affects you every day is the Supercritical Steam Cycle with huge coal-fired supercritical boilers and steam turbines. NONE of these “gadgets” would be worth a plug nickel without that big “gadget” powering them.
“HP-35”?
Nah, 11C and 12C. I bought the 11C for my engineering work when it came out in 1981 after I graduated eight years before. Then I bought the 12C for my MBA program. RPN, programmability, the wonderful form factor, the amazing list of functions, the wonderful tactile feel. It was a wondrous work of engineering all by itself.
True
The yellow virtual first down line across the field on football telecasts.
Liberals at Time sure love Apple crap.
Fellow travelers, I suppose.
Never owned or used anything made by Apple, must not be too essential.
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