- 87,793
- Rule 12
- GTP_Famine
We live in a very technologically advanced age right now - at the peak of human endeavour, and reaching a new one each day (except on those very rare occasions we just slip a little - like when Concorde was decommissioned).
Small things change our lives in small ways - microwave ovens allow us to cook just that little faster, mobile phones allow us to speak to people before we get home, MP3 players allow us to listen to our music anywhere - and are often supplanted by the next slightly zippier thing, but there are also the BIG things that change human life forever and are never replaced.
Some examples of this:
The wheel - allowed us to move more than we could carry in one go. Pretty big, I'd say.
Fire - allowed us to warm ourselves, to sustain us in cold climates, and eat hot food to remove some risk of food poisoning. Possibly the first example of man adapting his environment to suit him...
The gun - brings defence and a means of hunting into the palm of the hand. Love it or loathe it, the gun changed humanity forever and the idea of self-contained defence will remain with us, even (especially?) creeping into our sci-fi future.
The steam engine - provides us with immeasurably more motive power than we can make ourselves and is still used today as the primary form of electricity generation.
Electricity - gives us light when it's dark, heat or cold at a moment's notice, entertainment, a psychiatric treatment. Electricity will always be with us.
The car - brought the notion of rapid personalised transport to the masses. It may have been altered over the centuries (120 years old now) to be whizzier and may well be altered over the next few centuries in order to fly, but the fundamental concept of the car as personalised transport will never change.
The aeroplane - made accessible to all the places we'd only ever read about and changed the face of armed conflict. Airborne transportation is another concept that will stay with us forever.
The missile - irrevocably changed the face of armed conflict. No more pesky wastes of manpower, and whomever has the most guys wins. Now you can blow your enemy up from home will sipping your tea. But ALSO has a "peacetime" application - the aeroplane shrinks the world, the missile brings us to other worlds entirely. The future of mankind depends on us getting the hell off this one, and the missile is what makes that concept possible.
Nuclear fission/fusion - again with the wars, but also gives us the ability to defend ourselves from falling rocks which would extinguish all life on the planet and gives us effectively free energy - what's a few churned up rocks next to burning everything on the planet to keep us in electricity?
The internet/satellite communications - shrinks the world to the size of a few electrons. Anyone can contact anyone else, nearly anywhere else in the world - and, with the internet, show them what they look like and what car they pretend to drive - at any time. The internet changed information, news, banking, business - everything. Humanity now IS a global communication network, and if we do ever reach other worlds, we'll be setting another one up right away.
Gene therapy - Not content with changing our environment to suit, now we can change ourselves to suit. This is a real biggie. Gene therapy has the potential to cure all genetic diseases, though right now it's in its early stages.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it gives you an idea of the sheer magnitude of what I'm looking for here.
And that is... what is the NEXT Big Thing? The next invention that we didn't know we were missing until it arrived, which will completely change the human race and stay with it as long as it exists?
Discuss:
Small things change our lives in small ways - microwave ovens allow us to cook just that little faster, mobile phones allow us to speak to people before we get home, MP3 players allow us to listen to our music anywhere - and are often supplanted by the next slightly zippier thing, but there are also the BIG things that change human life forever and are never replaced.
Some examples of this:
The wheel - allowed us to move more than we could carry in one go. Pretty big, I'd say.
Fire - allowed us to warm ourselves, to sustain us in cold climates, and eat hot food to remove some risk of food poisoning. Possibly the first example of man adapting his environment to suit him...
The gun - brings defence and a means of hunting into the palm of the hand. Love it or loathe it, the gun changed humanity forever and the idea of self-contained defence will remain with us, even (especially?) creeping into our sci-fi future.
The steam engine - provides us with immeasurably more motive power than we can make ourselves and is still used today as the primary form of electricity generation.
Electricity - gives us light when it's dark, heat or cold at a moment's notice, entertainment, a psychiatric treatment. Electricity will always be with us.
The car - brought the notion of rapid personalised transport to the masses. It may have been altered over the centuries (120 years old now) to be whizzier and may well be altered over the next few centuries in order to fly, but the fundamental concept of the car as personalised transport will never change.
The aeroplane - made accessible to all the places we'd only ever read about and changed the face of armed conflict. Airborne transportation is another concept that will stay with us forever.
The missile - irrevocably changed the face of armed conflict. No more pesky wastes of manpower, and whomever has the most guys wins. Now you can blow your enemy up from home will sipping your tea. But ALSO has a "peacetime" application - the aeroplane shrinks the world, the missile brings us to other worlds entirely. The future of mankind depends on us getting the hell off this one, and the missile is what makes that concept possible.
Nuclear fission/fusion - again with the wars, but also gives us the ability to defend ourselves from falling rocks which would extinguish all life on the planet and gives us effectively free energy - what's a few churned up rocks next to burning everything on the planet to keep us in electricity?
The internet/satellite communications - shrinks the world to the size of a few electrons. Anyone can contact anyone else, nearly anywhere else in the world - and, with the internet, show them what they look like and what car they pretend to drive - at any time. The internet changed information, news, banking, business - everything. Humanity now IS a global communication network, and if we do ever reach other worlds, we'll be setting another one up right away.
Gene therapy - Not content with changing our environment to suit, now we can change ourselves to suit. This is a real biggie. Gene therapy has the potential to cure all genetic diseases, though right now it's in its early stages.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it gives you an idea of the sheer magnitude of what I'm looking for here.
And that is... what is the NEXT Big Thing? The next invention that we didn't know we were missing until it arrived, which will completely change the human race and stay with it as long as it exists?
Discuss:
), is running too hot. There are 14 different ways to cool it. One of these solutions will cause another part of the plant to explode. Another will give cancer to the children playing a mile away. Still another will asphyxiate anyone currently in any of the buildings on site. To a computer, all of these solutions are equivalent and viable. Let's hope it picks the solution that causes beer and hot chicks to fall from the ceiling, right? 
