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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 25,945 Likes: 7
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 25,945 Likes: 7 |
Gotta be the wheel, 2nd perhaps is controlled fire, tho I'm not sure that qualifies as an invention.
Because of the wheel, roads were invented. Because of roads, The Roman Empire flourished. Roads were established at standard widths, so the mass-produced(for want of a better term) carts and chariots were standardized to fit the roads. Railroads and modern roads dimensions are based on the Roman road dimensions. Sometimes exactly where the Roman roads were. Because that is true, Space Shuttle boosters had to be dimensioned to fit through railroad tunnels between plant and end- use. That's an invention that has survived, spanned and determined people's fates, lifestyles, etc, for thousands of years right into the Space Age.
Gears, pulleys, capstans are other of even more derivatives of the wheel.
Now, if we talk of what invention has affected the greatest number of people, secondary to the wheel, I haven't decided. There are many.
Most everything, now, depends partly on the use of the wheel and it's derivatives - mining, electrical generation, computers, food production, transportation, and the list goes on and on.
If the wheel and it's derivatives go away, we are back to animal power, at best. If anyone survives at all, it will be at most a million or so people scattered throughout the earth scratching out a living with sticks, whether planting or hunting.
I suppose your point of view would determine if that would be a "good" or a "bad" thing. I don't know about that. The loss of modern technology would be devastating through the transition. But an equilibrium would come as the populations balanced. For instance, the preColumbian population of the Americas is estimated at 60,000,000 to 120,000,000. All without benefit of the wheel.
People who choose to brew up their own storms bitch loudest about the rain.
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 5,118 Likes: 7
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 5,118 Likes: 7 |
the rifled barrel
helped us kill each other efficiently & accurately
"The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants".
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Joined: Jul 2018
Posts: 10,683
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2018
Posts: 10,683 |
If this poll were on the Democrat Underground, the winner would be the Dominion voting system.
Progressives are the most open minded, tolerant, and inclusive people on the planet, as long as you agree with everything they say, and do exactly as you're told.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 46,114 Likes: 6
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 46,114 Likes: 6 |
The internet. Thank you Al Bundy!!
A wise man is frequently humbled.
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Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 670
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 670 |
Spandex.
The inventor should have got the Nobel Peace Prize.
Whoever first came out with plus sized spandex should have been placed on the guillotine.
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 15,380
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 15,380 |
If this poll were on the Democrat Underground, the winner would be the Dominion voting system. Lol !
I work harder than a ugly stripper....
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Joined: Mar 2022
Posts: 879
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Mar 2022
Posts: 879 |
Arcimedes' screw
Last edited by Distridr; 05/17/23.
Save our kids - shoot your local drug dealer.
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 28,172
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 28,172 |
The strike anywhere match.
Hunt with Class and Classics
Religion: A founder of The Church of Spray and Pray
Acquit v. t. To render a judgment in a murder case in San Francisco... EQUAL, adj. As bad as something else. Ambrose Bierce “The Devil's Dictionary”
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 10,839
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 10,839 |
Maker of the Frankenstud Sling Keeper
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 60,993 Likes: 18
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 60,993 Likes: 18 |
The printing press must be amongst them.
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: Aug 2022
Posts: 270
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Aug 2022
Posts: 270 |
Anything but the wheel. 6000 years later and we’re still stuck with it. Its like we just “gave up” after that one. One would think with all of the other advancements in the world we would have moved past it as the main means of transportation.
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Joined: Sep 2015
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Sep 2015
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 60,993 Likes: 18
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 60,993 Likes: 18 |
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 21,860 Likes: 10
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 21,860 Likes: 10 |
AA battery...
Brokedick Burns and Brokedick Top Ramen Tonto on Brokedick Mountain would suffer immensely without AA batteries for their Brokedick toys...
If you are not actively engaging EVERY enemy you encounter... you are allowing another to fight for you... and that is cowardice... plain and simple.
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Joined: Aug 2020
Posts: 90
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Aug 2020
Posts: 90 |
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 11,326
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 11,326 |
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 14,725 Likes: 2
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 14,725 Likes: 2 |
Even birds know not to land downwind!
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 6,584
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 6,584 |
..., sure, wheel I guess, if you like working all the time..., but nobody's mentioned the bow and arrow, that would get my vote.., guess I just think about food more than you guys..
"...One Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All"
JeffG
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 31,029 Likes: 4
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 31,029 Likes: 4 |
Agriculture.
We'd still be hunter gathers without it.
You didn't use logic or reason to get into this opinion, I cannot use logic or reason to get you out of it.
You cannot over estimate the unimportance of nearly everything. John Maxwell
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,409
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,409 |
Paper. No printing without it. Or wiping without it.
Illegitimi non carborundum
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