Top 10 Inventions And Ideas That Shook The World

The Internet - a network of computers that covers the entire planet allowing people to access any piece of information they desire from all corners of the world at any point in time. It has and always will have profound effects on business, communication, economy, entertainment and even politics.

As such a powerful invention, the Internet has only just begun to show the effects it is implying on the world's people. At the same time, we humans have begun to fear that our ability to communicate, work, play and do business through the Internet has just begun to break down our connections in our real lives to local communities. Our deepest fear is that one day we humans will become socially isolated. Like any invention, the pure good or wicked it accomplishes will come from how we choose to use it.

The computer is a complex machine that has the ability to store vast collections of information and at the same time output a single piece of information from thousands of others in a matter of milliseconds. It is not said that there was a single inventor of today's modern day computer but many. Although, the ideas formed by British mathematician Alan Turing are have been viewed as immensely influential in the field of computing. You should know that mechanical computing devices already existed in the 19th century, but the electronic computers only came about quite recently in the 20th century.

As fascinating as they seem computers are able to accomplish near impossible feats as they able to make complicated mathematical calculations at incredible speeds. Without computer we would know nothing we do now, for computers performed the sequencing of the human genome, let us put spacecraft into orbit, control medical testing equipment, and create the complex visual imagery used in films and video games.

Imagine our lives without computers, it would be as if we were missing something vital to explore and learn. We as a species are now drawn more towards computers as we rely on them on a daily basis, as the world would not function without computers as it does today.

You might assume that the light bulb changed the world only by allowing people to work during night or in dark places, well it did, to some sort extent; However the point is that at the time we already had relatively cheap and efficient gas lamps and other light sources. It wasn't the lightbulb itself that changed the world, as we know it, but the infrastructure that had been established to provide electricity to each and every home. Today our world is practically full of powered devices that we can plug in pretty much everywhere to charge and go and we have the light bulb to thank that.

You can't go around overestimating the automobile's effect on society and culture, for it has practically turned society around. Nowadays, you can just hop into a car and go anywhere and whenever we want. In some ways it is effectively expanding the size of any community in which we are willing to drive to the shop or just visit friends no matter the distance, great or small. Today, automobile access has been built into our cities' plans. Without the automobile our paved roads and parking lots would disappear leaving a hole in the governments' budgets which paid for these luxurious paths. In all, automobile industry has fuelled enormous economic growth worldwide, however you must not forget that automobile have greatly influenced the pollution of the world.

Even though electric and internal combustion engines in the areas of transport have eclipsed the steam engine, it is still and will always be incredibly important invention in our history. Steam engines, however weren't just useful in areas of transport, but also factory powers. Nowadays, most power plants in the world generate electricity using steam turbines, whether the steam is heated by burning coal, natural gas or a nuclear reactor. With steam engines this process would not have been thought off. While steam engines have been out-dated for the time being we have many things from their invention which has allowed us to move forward and create more efficient ways of transport and factory power.

You might see it as cheating to squeeze the telegraph, telephone, radio and television into one 'invention.' However, the development of communication technology has been an era of increased utility and flexibility with each invention becoming more refined and efficient than the last. In a way these growing communications effectively shrank the world. In the time of around 120 years, we transformed from a world where it could in reality take weeks or even months to hear news from across the world to one where we can see events occurring on the other side of the massive planet Earth as they happen. In all, these communications have placed far more information within our grasp and altered how we interact with each other more than we could ever think.

Back before we had invented refrigeration we effectively used salt as a method of preservation. However, times changed and we sought for a new source of refrigeration. It's near impossible to pinpoint a single inventor of the refrigerator due to the fact that the concept was widely known and had gradually improved over the course of about 200 years.

Without refrigeration we wouldn't have had the ability to keep food cold for prolonged periods of time. We've even thought of refrigeration trucks that have drastically changed our eating habits as we now have easy access to fresh meats and dairy products even in the hottest, and driest summer months. Without this extra development we would have never have kept up with the world's growing and demanding population. In all, refrigeration has forever changed our food production industry for now we don't have to fend for ourselves harvesting and growing food as we can import refrigerated food.

The man who changed our ways of printing was Johann Gutenberg in the 1430s. Gutenberg had formulated his printing press by combining the idea of block printing with a screw press. The major part of his printing press were the metal letters that Gutenberg himself developed instead of using the far less durable hand-carved wooden letters in use previously.

Unlike handwriting books, this process was far more efficient allowing colossal quantities of information to be recorded and spread throughout the world. Due to the sudden mass production books became more affordable for those of poor families. This tremendous change in price allowed those without enough money for a formal education a source of knowledge. The printing press has of course been improved as a design into the modern day printer.

The wheel was the very beginning point of our transportation. When affixed to a horse-drawn carts and chariots the wheel provided a efficient and faster way of travelling. A wheel can be used for a range of different purposes rather than just transportation. If you think about it thousands of other inventions require wheels to function, one such example is that of gears and cogs that are based on the wheel are now found in many of our modern day household machines. Still a massive amount of modern technology will depends on the wheel, like the very electric motors and combustion engines found in cars, jet engines that allow us to fly, and countless others.

The plow may not seem comparable to some of gleaming electronic invention sweeping the face of the earth currently, but without we would surely have died of starvation by now. Without the plow farming would have been so much harder and slower. The plow itself allowed people to harvest far more food than they needed to survive. People back in the old days could even trade the surplus for goods or services. The ability to trade and store materials drove many inventions, and to think it all started will the plow.