The Most Amazing Inventions of 2004. (a cell phone?!)

[Deja Q]

Excerpt from the article:

Time magazine had this cover at the end of last year: "The Most Amazing Inventions of 2004."

I like Time magazine, but none of the things in the magazine called inventions are really inventions.

The U.S. Patent Office granted 200,000 patents last year, and most of those were not inventions. They were either gadgets or modifications of something that was invented 50 or 100 years ago.

The age of invention is over, I’m afraid.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876 and that changed everyone's life. People could exchange information instantly, even when they were a long way from each other.

The cell phone is not an invention. It’s an improvement on Bell's invention, and nothing in my lifetime has changed the way we live in an unimportant way more than the cell phone has. There are now more cell phones in use in the United States than there are regular, wired telephones.

Article has more

[William769]

1. What about McGriddles?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. the age is over?

Hardly. That attitude reminds me of the physicists of the late 19th century who "knew" all about physicks, with the small exception of a few unimportant unanswered questions.
Then some patent clerk changed the universe and turned the world of physicks inside out.

At the same time, there was a contemporary movement in the arts, tracking pretty much the same time. A group of people sat, talked, drank, screwed, experimented and initially suffered mass disaffection and disgust from the "experts" in the field. Yet, they continued on and created what we now know as the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist eras of art - truly creative and incredibly beautiful.

We are living in a brand new age, and the best way to view what has happened to humanity is consider it in terms of the the 19th century and the tools available to them at that time.

Scientists and artists of those days were men of letters. Writing was itself an art form. It was slow, and not reliable. The impressionists in France had the advantage of meeting together each day, and learning from each other. Just being together allowed a faster exchange of ideas, one which no doubt, brought art to a whole new level.

We, in our modern world, also live in an incredibly exciting time. Just as our leaders are leading us into disaster, there exists, at your fingertips, the avenue to lead us out of trouble. The internet.

People from all over the world are communicating with one another at the speed of light. New ideas or theories are shared, improved upon and moved on faster than ever conceived. In fact, our social scientists have a lot of catching up to do to see how radically humanity has been changed by this media. Scientific theories, ie, Super string theory, quantum physics, and the new Grand Unification Theories are being discussed, improved upon, and corrected instantaneously. More importantly, mere civilians such as we are also part of the equation. True, a few crackpots exist (Say, the neocon movement) but also remember that our best telescope was named after a amateur crackpot who learned how to prove the big bang.

I totally disagree with your premise, that the age of discovery or creativity is over. To the contrary, you are too close to the trees to see the forest? to the forest to see the trees? (I could never get that cliche right). Either way, a new age is upon us, and not a moment too soon. Your world is about to explode, yet our salvation with new technologies and social growth is also upon us.

[Deja Q]

3. Telling me or Andy Rooney?

:D

We'll see who is right...

But in the age of ecological blunders, environmental disasters, overpopulation, the media industry prefering to release rehash on top of rehash than daring to try something new, I think your optimism is very much misplaced.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. the greater the dangers, the greater our advancement

Sad but true, our greatest technological, scientific and social changes come hand in hand with horrible external affairs. Wars, pestilence plagues, etc - these are the driving forces that have caused (Forced) humanity to leap ahead.


100 yrs ago, man was bound by horse some limited rail (our civil was was the first to be fought by rail) Since that time, there have been major leaps in transportation - and in each case, moved forward because of war. WWI saw the first fighters and bombers, the automotive vehicle and troop transport replaced the horse and mule. (we still call our tank troops Cavalry)

WWII saw the development of jet engines, long range subs, rocketry, huge advances in material science, the computer, and great, unimaginable leaps in physics.

Korea and the Cold Was spurred missile technology, and tons of research and development across the board.

VietNam saw another revolution in computing, use of Sat-Intel, air power and material science. Our eyes in the sky were coming of age.

ON the non war front, the same development in military applications also led to development in non military advances. Sulfa, Anti-biotics, x-rays, MRIs, ultrasound, cleaner food, better pesticides, improved dental care, vaccines, etc.

everytime in the past that we approached an abyss of total destruction, our ingenuity has saved us.
I suspect we are approaching one of the grand moments now.

[ComerPerro]

4. Every invention is a modification of something that already exists

A Plasma TV is just a modified TV.
A TV is just a home version of a movie screen.
A movie is just a modified photograph
A photograph is just a modified drawing or painting

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. the airplane is just a streamlined rock?

true invention does exist. It may improve on something older, but it exists nevertheless.

[ComerPerro]

7. Not that directly

An airplane is a modified glider.
A glider is a modified kite
A kite is a modified sail
...

No, just kidding.

But, if you look at it, most inventions are just modifications. Im not in any way trying to cheapen the work, genius, or inspiration of inventors.

Or, you could say that an Airplane is a combination of a bird and a bus.

LOL

[BrotherBuzz]

8. The credit for the innovation really belongs to Jerry 'Moonbeam" Brown

Years and years before Al Gore invented one of the internets, Jerry Brown was advocating advancing technology in the state of California. One of the nutty ideas he talked about was a communication system that wasn't based on landlines. He was thinking about emergency communications, say after an earthquake. For all this forward thinking he was attacked as a kook and forever labled "Moonbeam". I think he wears that label proudly, yet few know the true origin of the name.