85 Big Ideas that Changed the World

ccnull writes "Forbes just put out its well thought-out list of 85 breakthroughs since 1917 (sneakers) that have revolutionized the way we live. This is interesting on a number of levels -- crazy trivia (the microprocessor and the answering machine invented in the same year!?), a reminder of the past (the modem: 1962), and a frightening realization that not much of interest has come out of the last 10 years (a whopping 4 of the 85 ideas). Easily digestible and worth discussing."

Comments

Spandex

[Unknown Poltroon]

Why isn't spandex on the list???? The person who invented that should get a few medals. Why, women actually WEAR the skintight stuff. Bless you, Mr. spandex.

Re:Spandex

[Pope]

You apparently haven't been to a Wal-Mart recently. Many women who are wearing spandex shouldn't.

Re:Spandex

[jaysones]

In light of that, Mr. Spandex should win for creating the strongest material known to man.

Re:Spandex

[jazman_777]

You apparently haven't been to a Wal-Mart recently. Many women who are wearing spandex shouldn't.

Ahh, Wal-Mart. The place to go to feel thin again.

Mr. Stein's cure?

[Queelix]

Drop pants on TV.

Genius.

Umm... missed one

[m_smitty]

Umm... I didn't see the female thong on the list.

Others that didn't make it

[Znonymous Coward]

#86 - The Beowulf cluster.
#87 - The first post robot.
#88 - The last post robot.
#89 - Underpants gnomes (Phase 1, 2, 3, etc).
#90 - Microsoft Tablet PC.
#91 - Microsoft .Net

Re:The problem with recent ideas...

[bryanp]

VIAGRA? I'm sorry, but the ability for an old man to get an erection is not one of the greatest innovations of the last 85 years.

Depends. If you happen to be an 85 year old man who can't get an erection then it's one hell of an invention. Probably beats the internet all to hell.

Now we just need a pill that makes old men attractive to their wives again. :)

Re:Recent Ideas

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Has it revolutionized the world? I've never used a cell phone in my life and have no intention of ever buying one. There are pay-phones on almost every corner everywhere in the world."

So what you're really saying then is that you're the only person on the whole planet?

One invention per page!!!

[ispeters]

What they should have put on the list is the !@#!~ scrollbar! Why the hell did they put only one invention per page?!?!?
</rant>

Other than that, not a bad article....

I don't know

[Guitarzan]

These people had been to movie theaters before...didn't they know how terrible of an idea a cell phone is?

Re:The problem with recent ideas...

[DeadMoose]

Yes, but it is of interest to the owner of the magazine, and since it's privately owned, Mr. Forbes gets to decide what he does with his Capitalist Tool.

Oh man, I didn't need to picture his "Capitalist Tool." Now I'm going to have nightmares for a week.

Re: Recent issues

[Spyffe]

Pick a different criterion, and we'll have more recent inventions: For instance,

Innovations that Revolutionized Slashdot
from the not-I-said-jonkatz dept.

• The First Post
• Natalie Portman, hot grits, and petrification
• The New York Times (frryyy)
• The Lameness Filter and "Nuking"
• The Journal
• www.goatse.cx and redir.asp
• The First Post bot
• In the Soviet Union, Slashdot Revolutionizes You
• Notification of moderator points on the front page
• Slashback

That's all I can think of, anyone care to add more?

Re:1972 - Ethernet

[Em Emalb]

So that's where they keep the internet. And all this time I thought it was on my machine.

Hmm. Interesting. No wonder it's listed.

And Then, Chillingly...

[duck_prime]

"...I've never used a cell phone in my life and have no intention of ever buying one. There are pay-phones on almost every corner everywhere in the world."

So what you're really saying then is that you're the only person on the whole planet?

... and then, chillingly ... the pay-phone rang!

Re:BUSINESS breakthroughs

[maddskillz]

Yes...without sheetrock, we would still be using that awful wood paneling they used in the 1970's

A different kind of groundbreaking invention

[cellocgw]

I vote the punched-chad ballot (or the Supreme Court interpretation of such) as the invention which will have the greatest effect on the world as we know it.

Re:Exactly

[evilviper]

these days we know more ways to avoid premature ignition

Uhh... think about baseball?

Gypsum Wallboard

[reverseengineer]

This mixture of recycled paper and the cheap mineral gypsum is cheap, to boot: Industry insiders say this is the only business where you can sandwich dirt between two layers of garbage and get money for it. Apparently industry insiders don't watch much television.