By greatest invention I mean something that had big and positive influence.
I gotta say mRNA vaccines. It’s not technically a 21st century invention, but much of the work to make them viable started in the early 2000s. The speed at which the COVID vaccine got developed and widely deployed was honestly incredible and a massive W for humanity. I remember thinking a vaccine would be years away.
Vaccines in general.
Then we’re very far away from the 21st century though.
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That was 20th century.
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Sure, but the iPhone was far from the first smartphone.
Honestly the iphone was the first big (culturally) smartphone it not the first one.
I totally agree. But the question was about inventions not mass adaption.
That’s like saying Henry Ford invented the car because the Model T was the first widely available one.
I think anything you could call a smartphone had to be from post-2000 though, right?
What smartphones existed in the 20th century?
The IBM Simon, Nokia Communicator or Ericsson R380 for example.
My little girl.
:)
Warmed my heart.
Gay.
Lol, what’s a sad homophobic loser doing here? Isn’t 4chan and reddit enough for you people? Remember it’s not your fault your parents didn’t love you. Or maybe it is, it’s hard tell you’re an ambiguous case. But it’s totally your fault that no one wants to breed with you.
It was…clearly a joke. A silly reaction to something that was wholesome and sweet. Have you never had a sense of humor? Or is the lack of one more recent and something maybe a doctor should know about
Edit: wow. You really went back in my comment history to try to harass me? It doesn’t bother me as much as it worries me. Real creepy and, honestly, kinda sad behavior? You good?
Listen, you are still an homophobic loser. The fact that you’re the one that bullies me as a gay dad and that I’m that one that gets ban just made me realized how hypocrites the mods at .ml are so thanks for showing me that lol. I usually just block people like you, I’ve been bullied enough by “jokers” like you in my life to not care, but the fact that you would spread your shit under a comment about my daughter, that’s beyond pathetic. You don’t need a doctor, you’re beyond saving.
It wasn’t bullying. It was meant to make you laugh. It was meant to make everyone laugh. It wasn’t homophobic. It was the absurdity of reacting to flippantly something entirely wholesome and sweet that all comments were gushing over. Because the answer was sweet and wholesome. It’s really the kind of joke you can only make in an accepting and pro-lgtbtq community. Because the response was meant to be absurd. I didn’t realize it’d hit such a sore spot for you. I didn’t think it could, honestly. Because you way fuckin overreacted.
Of course it’s just humor, it’s always just that. Maybe if you’d been bullied before you would have a clue about it but you definitely don’t since you think just saying “gay” is funny. So either you went in my history and wanted to bully me for being gay, or just randomly thought that saying “gay” is somehow funny. In both case you suck. And yeah I’m gonna keep overreacting when it involves my kid because I now know that the only effective thing against bully’s ‘humor’ is to fight back. What’s next, you gonna get black people banned because they didn’t find it funny to be called them the n word? So funny.
lol you think I’ve never been bullied? I know full well what bullying is. Of course I didn’t go into your history. I had no idea you were gay. That doesn’t change the joke, though. I’m sorry to have hit a sore spot for you, that definitely wasn’t my intention. The joke was meant to be on me. The joke wasn’t that loving your goddamn kid is “gay.” How the hell could it be? The joke was that the reaction was meant to stand out as absurd and stupid. The joke was meant to point to my reaction as the thing that stood out as backwards. Not your love for your child. Nor being gay. It wasn’t even about the common use of the word “gay.” It was the idiotic caricature of someone who refuses to engage in anything remotely human or sentimental—it was basically a joke on toxic masculinity. Do you see that?
The Internet Archive. Technically founded in '96, but didn’t come into its own until the mid aughts. It is an awe-inspiring thing that corporate greed has been trying to take from us.
Those little straws with the filters inside that allow people to drink contaminated water right from the source.
One of those saved my ass on a solo, overnight kayaking trip. I mostly brought beer, ice and food in my tow-behind cooler because I had a Life Straw.
The trip was hell, most difficult thing I’ve ever done, wasn’t sure I’d make it out. Was good on water until the next day when I finally broke out onto the main creek.
Cut the top off a can and sucked down 7 refills of creek water. Tasted exactly like warm, flat, tap water.
Look into Sawyer water filters. Much easier to use than lifestraws, last longer. Pressure instead of suction.
Guys you’re all wrong.
It’s PornHub.
It’s obviously bofa
What’s bofa
Bofa deez nuts
Goteem
Like it or not. The iPhone. It changed the phone and how we use it. I literally use my android phone for everything now, as a credit card, ticket, pc, social, gaming… some people get laid and marry thanks to them…
Marriage and sex decline when societies adopt smartphones and the digital craze.
Same as when the education level goes up. You know too much, I guess.
I should drink from one of those leaded Stanley cups.
Maybe sex with other people declines 😉
The 21st century has been mostly focused on finding new applications of existing technology. A lot of things are changing in pretty much every aspect of life, but nothing is entirely new.
The internet has really changed the shape of our world, but, even though it really kicked off after the year 2000, it was invented during the 20th century.
Something to keep in mind is that humanity is redifining what counts as an invention, a lot of ideas are created all the time, so the bar has been raised significantly.
Also, we need to keep in mind how big corps have been killing innovation in the name of profit. New products are being created all the time, but they are bought by bigger companies and burried. This is happenig because these innovations carry a certain risk that an established company with a good revenue flow is not willing to accept.
Personally, I am excited about the field of Social Computing, it is still at its infancy and has a lot of potential. The main idea is to create alogirthms based on human interactions that solve real world problems. A few questions one may ask include: How misinformation is being spread, and what is the optimal way to fight it? How do we fight corruption and authoriative power? These questions have been approached by a lot of fields, but creating algorithms and proving their effectiveness requires a deep understanding of computer science.
Personally, I am excited about the field of Social Computing, it is still at its infancy and has a lot of potential. The main idea is to create alogirthms based on human interactions that solve real world problems. A few questions one may ask include: How misinformation is being spread, and what is the optimal way to fight it? How do we fight corruption and authoriative power? These questions have been approached by a lot of fields, but creating algorithms and proving their effectiveness requires a deep understanding of computer science.
I’m not a pessimistic person (I’m neutral), but the sinister implications are obvious.
Well, I can see your point of view, after all computer science has been used for a lot of sinister things in our time. However, science is a neutral thing on itself, how we use it makes the difference.
A great example are corporate social media vs the fediverse. While we can all see the good a social media platforms can offer, they way corporate social media have been shaped introduces a lot of problems. Given the circumstances I may argue they were a necessary step, but it’s definitely time for change, and a lot of people (including us right now) are working hard for that change.
Social Computing as field would study this change, how people made decisions, and how it influenced both their lives and the society we live in. It involves asking questions like: How the fediverse came to be? How the transition could have been faster? Or, How it can be used for the greater good?
Of course, these questions can be shaped in an exploitative way like: How the evolution of the fediverse could stopped or slowed down? How the fediverse could be exploited for the gain of the few? etc…
In the end, I believe the question is who is more powerful, a few people with a lot of money, or a lot of people with little money? Right now the few seem to have the upper hand, but if the access to resources is the only difference, then I believe that we can be optimistic as science and technology have always been about doing more with less resources.
In the end, I believe the question is who is more powerful, a few people with a lot of money, or a lot of people with little money?
Coördination is easier for the former.
Can’t tbink if anythung really, all we’ve done is refined some stuff butmaybe mRNA vaccines ?
Mostly we’ve just enshitified everything and/or made it disposable…From headphones to entire operating systems etc.
CRISPR
Corona vaccines
Online Streaming
Online Maps
Wikipedia
Drone Warfare
LHC
Paris climate treaty
CRISPR is the closest we get It might be the honorary winner since it was wasn’t fully exploited until the 21st century, even though it was cloned and being used in the 90s.
Great list! I would also add to this PCR, the technology that allowed us to map the human genome.
PCR has been around since the 80s, though it has continued getting more efficient and cheaper
Although not very impactful yet, it think aerographene has the potential to be massive.
The reprap basically started the entire home 3d printer thing.
I mean we only have had fourth and things happen over time. So I want to say blue led but they existed before the century but just got the process such they can manufacture them. Native white ones are invented now but most white is using the combination method currently with the blue ones. Anyway if it counts I can’t imagine how much energy this has saved even over halogens for lighting and then for dispalys to. I would hate to think how much fossile fuel we would be using if we were still on incadescents and crts.
I didn’t truly understand how much energy incandescent were burning. Grew up with nothing but those.
One night my AC crapped out in my tiny apartment so I killed the lights except one in a far corner. The air was so still I could reach my hand out and sense the heat from a 60W bulb.
Sodium-ion batteries are likely to be the obvious answer in another decade. Dirt cheap, abundant materials, competitive density.
The fediverse. I can’t believe nobody mentioned that yet.
After all, this entire website wouldn’t exist without it, and we’d be all stuck on terrible, terrible Reddit (and Twitter, and… pretty much any centralized social media platform that are so well known).
