Besides the wheel and fire, what would you consider to be the best discovery or invention on earth?

Question

To the person who wrote:

"Fire isn't an invention, we simply learned to 'control' and utilize it."... Please read the question fully and make sure you understand what is written before answering.

Answer 1

the best discovery had to be self awareness.

Answer 2

Me.

Answer 3

The affordable computer.

Answer 4

The understanding that we CAN discover and invent things to better our current state of existance. Everything flows from understanding, or at the very least- recognition- that what we're faced with can somehow be improved upon.

Answer 5

Telephone, and in second place comes CONDOM.

Answer 6

Two words, L*****n p**n

Answer 7

The internet.

Answer 8

Apparently its sliced bread

Answer 9

I tink that words written on something.And sharing thoughts and ideas on a piece ov paper is the greatest invention.

Answer 10

The cell phone, and books ;-)

Answer 11

the atom bomb and other nuclear bombs that have come into  existance

Answer 12

MARIJUANA/HEMP

Answer 13

the lever is the third most valuable invention.

Answer 14

electricity

Answer 15

Duct Tape

Answer 16

language then concrete.

Answer 17

Just to be different, I'll toss in MATHEMATICS.

We can't accomplish much with any of the other inventions/developments without math.

Answer 18

language

Answer 19

The next best invention would be....

The Fork

Answer 20

ummmm. soap and modern antiseptics.think about it.with these there's almost no leprosy, bubonic plague,elepantitis,etc.

Answer 21

vacinnes

Answer 22

Well, I thought about this and first thought it should be written language, or farming.  The scientific method also seemed to be of vital importance, but, I think this question is looking for something even more fundamental.  With that train of thought I would have to say the most important discovery for the human race would have to be communication. Without written, verbal, pictographs, or some other kind of communication we would never have risen above the rest of the animal kingdom to the place we are today.

Answer 23

The best invention on earth would be never ending money, no one works, everyone has endless amounts of money forever and ever, and every one got along perfectly. Alot less robberies if everything was equal!

Answer 24

Fire isn't an invention, we simply learned to 'control' and utilize it.

Great inventions?

Plastic...

Imagine the room you're in without plastic. Keyboard, mouse, phones, water bottles, television, etc... Are all made of plastic or having parts made of plastic. Many synthetic fibers are plastic. It is the most versatile invention ever. They can be hard as steel, or soft as clay.

Most of the things people listed here won't exist without the invention of plastic.

Face it -- the modern world will be ancient again without it!

Answer 25

Frogs.

Answer 26

Well, by popular poll, the invention most people wouldn't live without is the toothbrush.

In terms of improvements to the length of life, of the 30 years of life expectancy gained in the 1900s, 25 of those are down to improvements in public health measures, such as getting a clean water supply, and solid and liquid waste disposal.

In terms of impact on the way we live our lives, it would be a close call between transportation and communication technologies.

Refrigeration has also had a massive impact, allowing markets to work.

In terms of ancient discoveries, agriculture would have to have had the biggest impact, far greater than the wheel or fire.

Answer 27

Pythagoras's notion that the entire universe can be explained by using mathematics and thus laying down the foundation that science and physicist and astronomers still use today .. so I would have to say mathematics... without it we would be lost

Answer 28

Electricity.

Answer 29

The television.  I could not live without it.

Answer 30

Writing, invented by the Sumerians and other ancient civilizations, followed by paper, invented in China in the 2nd century, and then the printing press.  

Never ending money and nobody working?  What exactly are you planning to buy?  We would run out of food and everything else pretty quickly if nobody worked!

Answer 31

penicillin