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Thread: Name a contemporary invention/discovery that will change the world. Explain why.

  1. #11
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    Default Internet

    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

  2. #12
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    Default Computers!

    the computer. it lets us use the internet, control programs and a lot of other stuff. you can play games, listen to music, save things, use saved things, create things, it does what you want it to, if it goes wrong, its most likely your fault. what would we do without computers?
    The Quote of of a while:
    Third Rule of French Warfare; "When incapable of any victory whatsoever - claim someone else's".

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Abs K View Post
    the computer. it lets us use the internet, control programs and a lot of other stuff. you can play games, listen to music, save things, use saved things, create things, it does what you want it to, if it goes wrong, its most likely your fault. what would we do without computers?
    I can add to that. Computers also control every aspect of our life these days. Utilities, banking, medical care, traffic, travel, everything. Every bit of food you buy in the store has been recorded, shipped and stocked using computers to track it all and pay for it.

    If you come to a fork in the road, take it!
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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQHPYelqr0E

  4. #14
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    We have discovered in quantum physics, that the more we learn about the world, the sooner it will destruct. When we've learned everything about the universe, it will destruct.

    This is a dilemma, as people were born with a curious mind, people were born to wonder, born to discover. We will either have to surpress that urge to discover(improbable) or suffer ultimate destruction
    The beauty of mathematics; the Julia Set.
    http://www.chanceandchoice.com/juliaconnected.jpg(click it; it's my egg)

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by DieForelle View Post
    We have discovered in quantum physics, that the more we learn about the world, the sooner it will destruct. When we've learned everything about the universe, it will destruct.

    This is a dilemma, as people were born with a curious mind, people were born to wonder, born to discover. We will either have to surpress that urge to discover(improbable) or suffer ultimate destruction
    I'll take my chances

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by DieForelle View Post
    We have discovered in quantum physics, that the more we learn about the world, the sooner it will destruct. When we've learned everything about the universe, it will destruct.

    This is a dilemma, as people were born with a curious mind, people were born to wonder, born to discover. We will either have to surpress that urge to discover(improbable) or suffer ultimate destruction
    Chances are that even if you're right by the time we learn everything there is to know about the universe it'll pretty close to when it was gonna naturally end anyway. Plus before we go we'll have satisfied our last curiosity. Not a bad way to die, knowing everything.

    As for the topic I read a while back that a man who lost his hand had it replaced with an almost fully functional robotic hand. The hand was controlled by the mans brainwaves and he regained IIRC about 80% of the functionality of his hand. The applications are pretty obvious, the most important being the eventual ability to give paralyzed people the ability to walk again and replacing lost limbs with robotic parts.



    A hero, forever loyal to the flames of war, rests in Outer Heaven.-Big Boss' Gravestone

    Complete. Global. Saturation.

  7. #17
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    Wave Protocol, I am in the developer preview for google wave (the first and currently only wave service) and it is DEFINITELY a email killer, as long as it is accepted by the general public when it is released.
    Quote Originally Posted by jehlickam/highheels View Post
    Wish denied..

  8. #18
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    Wow, It has gotten quiet in here...
    Quote Originally Posted by jehlickam/highheels View Post
    Wish denied..

  9. #19
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    Definetly the Twase Vwase (T.V. in my own little evil language). How better to communicate to someone than with a news program? Remember, they didn't have the computer back then.

  10. #20
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    Default

    the telephone. communication outburst. and the telegram before it
    The Quote of of a while:
    Third Rule of French Warfare; "When incapable of any victory whatsoever - claim someone else's".

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