That Guy lists the most important inventions that didn't really change the world that much.
KEY POINTS:
If I had to list the three greatest inventions since the invention of fire I would probably say: the fireguard, the wok and the fire extinguisher, but to list those inventions that didn't really change the world is a far more difficult task.
The following list is a
sample of some of the inventions that haven't really changed our lives that much. The complete list is available in a book I was thinking of releasing for Christmas but I have probably left it a bit late now.
The Beer Bong
The ancient Egyptians invented the beer bong around 2500BC, just after they invented beer.
At worst, early beer tasted rather bitter and rancid - like warm camel urine - and at best, it tasted like Rheineck, so in order to drink enough to enjoy its inebriating properties and vomit on their friends, the Egyptians needed to invent a simple device that would enable them to drink as much as possible as quickly as possible. A large ceramic funnel was attached to la camel's intestine and the beer bong was born. A large beer bong was discovered in Tutankhamen's tomb in 1923. The beer bong is number six on my list, as it only changed people's lives in the short-term.
The Dashboard Speed Camera
Most of us will be familiar with roadside speed cameras, but how many of us know its origin? The original speed cameras were not placed on the side of the road but rather on the dashboard of each individual car, beside the speedometer. The camera is calibrated to flash and take a photo of the driver as soon as he drives over a certain speed. Initially, the results looked promising but it soon became apparent that many accidents were not caused by speeding but by the flash bulbs going off in drivers' eyes, temporarily blinding them. Different types of flashbulbs were tried but eventually it was agreed that it might be cheaper and more practical to install the camera on the side of the road. The dashboard speed camera is number eight on my list of inventions that never really changed the world that much.
The Hovercraft
For the past 40 years, science and technology programmes have attempted to convince us that "in the very near future!" we would all be driving around in hovercrafts. It could be argued that no invention since "contraception using the withdrawal method" has failed to live up to expectation as much as the ridiculous hovercraft. Just as prolonged use of a hairdryer will send your power bill soaring, the hovercraft is an extremely inefficient converter of energy into any sort of practical use whatsoever. They are also extremely difficult to steer and can make an arse of the most experienced pilots. The hovercraft is number 26 on my list.
The Skip Pass
It could be argued that the invention of the skip pass affected a rugby-playing nation like New Zealand far more than the rest of the world. Ken Crowley invented it in 1926 and, although he has been credited with the concept, he was actually just the person the rest of the backline repeatedly skipped whenever the move was used. With rugby being a team sport, he always felt a little awkward accepting sole credit for such an innovation. A year later, however, he was well within his rights to be able to patent, and take sole credit for, the crunching "hospital pass". In one match he set up as many as 19 hospital passes before he could be replaced at halftime. The skip pass slips in at number 14 on my list of inventions that never really changed the world that much.
The Tall Poppy Syndrome
This is another unique New Zealand concept or invention that hasn't really changed the world, and it certainly hasn't helped many Kiwis.
Howard Spence, a failed human, came up with the concept in 1897. He surmised that if nobody was encouraged to succeed, then by the same token nobody would really be able to fail either. This was a revolutionary way of looking at things and it caught on fast in New Zealand.
Ironically, the first victim of the tall poppy syndrome was Howard Spence. He was ridiculed and mocked, often with a healthy dose of sarcasm, for having the genius to come up with such a brilliant concept in the first place. Eventually Howard had to move to Australia where the people were a little more tolerant of people who had experienced modest success. Tall poppy syndrome sits comfortably at number 9 on the list.
