What inventions have the biggest impact on your day-to-day life?
Questions asked and answered for my daughters
There are a lot of really cool, useful, and unbelievable inventions that have transformed how we live. The ones that have the most profound impact on my day-to-day life are connected to some of the basic ones in our hierarchy of needs:
1) The modern toilet. We use it everyday and take for granted that cultures and methods that have come before weren’t always the most hygienic or have adequate and safe plumbing. Related, the candle comes close to making the list too ;-)
2) The refrigerator and freezer. The ability to store our food for use in the future for days or years is quite remarkable. Opening the fridge and staring at what to eat next hasn’t been a thing for that long in human history.
3) The microwave. Your grandparents didn’t have one growing up most likely. The ability to instantly heat up and cook food in seconds or minutes is amazing… and doing so without dying from radiation.
4) The TempurPedic mattress. Okay, this one is more of a luxury. We spend 6–9 hours a day sleeping, and one of my philosophies of life is to invest in things where you spend your time. So, invest in a good mattress for the betterment of your health and well-being in getting restful sleep; plus, I’ve always wanted one. You will have NO regrets!
Human Civilization Changing Inventions
Related to the ones above, there are systems of inventions that I would categorize as having influenced my day-to-day. Not just mine, but the following three categories make comparing now to any other time in human history like comparing apples to oranges:
1) Harnessing and managing electricity. Two of my four listed above require electricity. Wrangling this power changed how work is done; it changed how much can be done and by how many people. Go through an average day at home without using electricity and see how much we underestimate this convenience.
2) Methods and speed of communication. This is a giant category… from wired telegraph and phone connections to satellite and cell technology, what tools and how fast we communicate has changed everything. Just think about how easy and fast you can connect with a friend in a video chat and know what’s going on in another country at this very moment.
3) Methods of transportation. Another huge category… getting to and from work, the store, friends’ houses, and exploring through vacations is just the tip of the iceberg. Maybe the invention of the wheel or the combustion engine should be in this category, but then you have items like airplanes and other powered forms of travel that make living further away from where you want to go not a big deal anymore.
We are very lucky to live in this era of human civilization to see such rapid transformation in technical advancement and the maturity of earlier experiments. The age of computers, travel, and the advanced ability to connect with other humans physically and virtually in real-time or within less than 24 hours almost anywhere on the planet is… unbelievable.
Wouldn’t it be cool to go back in time and tell stories of what is to come or show people what we’ve learned?
It would certainly be hard to believe.
And now imagine, if someone from the future came back to us and did something similar… telling us about what is to come and what they’ve learned. I’m sure we wouldn’t believe what is to come either.
I just hope when they do come, they don’t…
“…create a time paradox, the result of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe!”
~ Doc Brown, Back to the Future Part II, 1989
