Slashdot Mirror
Top 25 Innovations of the Past 25 Years
HarvardAce writes "CNN has just released a list of 24 of the top 25 innovations of the past 25 years. Most of them are things we use every day in life, such as cell phones (#2), PCs (#3), and e-mail (#5). CNN won't release the #1 innovation until Sunday, January 18 at 8pm EST (Monday, Jan 19 @ 1AM GMT), so I wanted to see if Slashdot users could come up with what they think the #1 innovation is and comment on the rest of the list."
It's obviously the iPod, we can stop speculating now.
or the George Foreman Grilling Machine.
Tough call...
Actually, this reminds me of a great bit from a UK comedy called 'Coupling', a bit like Friends except you never feel like killing the main characters, it is far ruder, and actually really funny. In it one character managed to build a convincing argument that every single major technological innovation was to enable men to see more breasts. Fire; you can see breasts at night. Art; enabled people to draw breasts. Clothing; you don't appreciate seeing breasts the same if they are out there all the time. Domesticated beats of burden; you can travel longer distances to see breasts. Agriculture; no mote multi-day hunting trips away from breasts. Water transport; now water is no barrier to seeing breasts. Writing; allowed communication about breasts. The wheel; as per beast of burden. Printing; allowed mass production of the art. Photography; allowed you to see real breasts even if they weren't there. The telephone; enabled calling women to arrange seeing their breasts. Film; moving breasts! .. and so forth. And the Internet is the crowning achievement, as it means a man (or woman if so inclined) can see more breasts in an afternoon than a person could realistically ever have seen in their lifetime.