By greatest invention I mean something that had big and positive influence.

  • @BlowMe@lemmy.world
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    84 months ago

    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…

  • HubertManne
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    64 months ago

    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.

    • @shalafi@lemmy.world
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      14 months ago

      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.

      • HubertManne
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        14 months ago

        the base of the lcd still gets way hot. makes me think they could be made even more efficient and hoping they will.

  • @thepreciousboar@lemm.ee
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    674 months ago

    We are in a time where a single invention can rarelt be great. For technological development you need thousands of small inventions, each that use previous technological breakthrough through decades of research. And even great things we have, are just refinement and miniaturization of things we already had.

    But if a single thing had to be said, I would say mRNA vaccines. Covid vaccines saved milions of lives, were developed in record times, and their technology could be used for HIV or even antitumoral vaccines.

    • @starman@programming.devOP
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      24 months ago

      The first successful transfection of designed mRNA packaged within a liposomal nanoparticle into a cell was published in 1989. “Naked” (or unprotected) lab-made mRNA was injected a year later into the muscle of mice.

      But on the other hand, first human test was in 2001

    • tmpodM
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      64 months ago

      Was going to say that too. Regardless of the motives and driving forces behind the incredible speed at which the vaccines were developed (i.e. certainly a similar urgency could be applied to other diseases killing thousands and millions in poorer countries, but there ain’t as much interest in that), the mRNA technology proved quite powerful and an avenue to continue exploring in future research.

      • @fartsparkles@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        People forget that the research behind those vaccines had been going on for 30+ years. What was accelerated was the trials and the gathering and analysis of efficacy and safety data. The actual vaccine technology had been in existence for around a decade at the time.

        • tmpodM
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          24 months ago

          You’re right, I often forget about that. It’s still an incredible achievement.

            • @Nath@aussie.zone
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              14 months ago

              It may depend on your culture, but Blackberry and Windows Mobile phones were both fairly common in business circles years before iPhones.

              The iPhone was an incremental advancement, not a major invention out of nowhere. The first iPhone was actually pretty crap compared to some models on the market. It wasn’t until the 3G model that iPhones took off.

            • @tobogganablaze@lemmus.org
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              4 months ago

              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.

                • @Nath@aussie.zone
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                  14 months ago

                  That’s going to be a tough one to call. Nokia Communicator had diary (calendar), web browsing and email features in the 90s. You could also tether off it, but it was dialup and most phones could do that.

                  That was pretty much the definition of a smart phone at the time.

  • @Philote@lemmy.ml
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    24 months ago

    Although not very impactful yet, it think aerographene has the potential to be massive.

  • @efstajas@lemmy.world
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    374 months ago

    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.

  • @5714@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    204 months ago

    CRISPR

    Corona vaccines

    Online Streaming

    Online Maps

    Wikipedia

    Drone Warfare

    LHC

    Paris climate treaty

    • @xylogx@lemmy.world
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      04 months ago

      Great list! I would also add to this PCR, the technology that allowed us to map the human genome.

      • dantheclamman
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        14 months ago

        PCR has been around since the 80s, though it has continued getting more efficient and cheaper

    • Dr. Bob
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      14 months ago

      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.

  • Call me Lenny/Leni
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    134 months ago

    Those little straws with the filters inside that allow people to drink contaminated water right from the source.

    • @shalafi@lemmy.world
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      94 months ago

      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.

      • Rob Bos
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        54 months ago

        Look into Sawyer water filters. Much easier to use than lifestraws, last longer. Pressure instead of suction.

        • @TheFriar@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          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?

            • @TheFriar@lemm.ee
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              4 months ago

              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.

                • @TheFriar@lemm.ee
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                  4 months ago

                  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?

  • @Wahots@pawb.social
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    194 months ago

    Hard to quantify, but stuff like PrEP (a drug used to prevent HIV infection) has probably saved a staggering number of lives across the globe, same with the yearly influenza vaccines.

    For a more personal one?

    I’d say the innovations to bikes, which have been staggering since 2000. Downhill mountain bikes have had staggering changes that make them lighter, faster, stronger, and way more stable, and they look dramatically different to their 90s counterparts. Stuff like dropper posts, modern full suspension, tubeless tires, disc brakes, and massive cassettes make them incredible. You can roll over a cantaloupe-sized rock at 20mph and the bike will just take it without you being ejected over the bars.

    Ebikes have totally changed the calculus in hilly cities, even in flat ones to some extent. Being able to effortlessly bike 45 miles and not be totally thrashed the next day is such a gamechanger, it’s actually beyond belief. My car has been largely collecting dust because most trips day to day are under 45 miles. And it takes pennies to recharge vs $90 or so to refill the tank.

    Bikes already help take tons of cars off the road worldwide, but ebikes could really help extend people’s ranges, particularly if they would normally drive otherwise.

    • Ben Hur Horse Race
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      34 months ago

      getting from my house to my office on my old road bike used to take 45 mins and I’d be sweaty when I got there, and the idea of 45 mins uphill after work used to make me wanna off myself. Since I got an e-assist its 25 mins and I’m like lah de dah meep meep

      • @TheFriar@lemm.ee
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        04 months ago

        Dude, same. My e-bike is hands down my favorite addition to my life. Where I had to deal with the train or the traffic and the waiting and the crowds, now I hop on my bike and cruise lah dee dah meep meep but when I am running late for work I’m all like eeeer vroom vroom skrrrt and I bomb down the bike path like aw yeah. And I’m honestly rarely late anymore because I get everywhere in about half the time it would’ve taken me otherwise.