I'm going to have to go with the internet.
Now a lot of people would probably suggest that the machines and inventions that made the internet possible are ultimately more important than the internet itself but I'd counter that if we follow the root of each invention we wouldn't stop until we hit the wheel and thus the argument is faulty. So when attempting to take each invention of the last century simply on its own merits I think the rise of the internet is the greatest accomplishment of the human race and here's why:
Instant information of all of the vast human knowledge available at the fingertips of more or less anyone who wants it over the entire world. If knowledge is power then it follows that multiplying all accumulated knowledge over the minds of people the world over will result in a great deal of power indeed.
The world has become interconnected in a way that it never could before. I have friends that live on the other side of the nation. My best friend has a pen-pal in Norway. Growing up with the internet our generation is far more likely to think of the world in terms of an all inclusive humanity than carry a mentality of an us vs them sort of world. Globalization is an important factor in the unprecedented strides the world has been taking towards ever increasing prosperity and peace.
In the last few decades their have been fewer armed conflicts than ever before even while our population explodes. Invention and innovation speeds along at a seemingly inexhaustible, exponential rate. I lay this all at the feet of the internet.
Plus- it lets us play Evony![]()



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