Ten of the greatest inventions of all time

 

When I started this blog a few years ago, I had intentions to write more often, but life happens and I am yet to write up to 10 articles in about 6 years. The good thing is that I am already writing my third article this year, beating my annual personal record 😊. 

There is so much turmoil around the world today, and we see the negatives amplified a lot more than the positives. I personally believe that we live in a beautiful world, that could have been a lot worse without the great inventions of those that came before us. We have been able to solve so many problems faced in history and can live a better quality of life than those before us, albeit amid so much poverty across the world. 

So I thought I'd do a top ten list of the greatest inventions of all time that have truly impacted the world and made it a much better place to live. I know this list won't be all-encompassing, so pardon me for missing out on your favorite invention or ranking them otherwise. 

10. Steel - Have you ever thought about how life would be if we did not have a vertical world? All the early predictions about the world running out of space due to a growing population were killed by this invention and steel has been the backbone of modern cities since then.

9. The clock - This underrated invention helps us track our days and keep track of time. There is so much that we cannot do without it.   

8. The Camera - Maybe I am just vain but the camera makes my list. I am not just looking at the camera as a stand-alone invention but the invention responsible for video and the entire motion picture industry. Imagine if we caught some of the most iconic moments in history on camera. Moses coming down the mountain with the ten commandments, the birth and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, or the pyramids of Giza being built. Iconic.

7. Cars - Horses and carriage were really cool, but what about cars? I was born in the '80s and I cannot imagine a world without cars. Cars are the hallmark of modern living and they just keep getting better. It is no surprise that cars are the most traded man-made product in the world by value.

6. The telephone -  Communication has never been the same. Mobile phones even made a bigger impact, connecting the whole world at the click of a button. The telephone also laid the platform for future technology that would further integrate the world. 

5. Television - The television is a cocktail of inventions. We already had the camera, then probably the radio, the television helped receive pictures and voices transmitted into homes. This first TV was over 100 years ago and it definitely isn't going anywhere. It is hard to see a household without one and it completely revolutionalized culture, learning, entertainment, and life itself. 

4. The Computer - Initially invented to make calculations faster and later metamorphosed into the backbone of modern productivity. The computer is one of the most influential inventions ever created. Before computers got into homes, it made manufacturing simpler and faster and literally helped scale the world's productivity to levels humans could not. 

3. The Internet - The early days of the internet was about connecting computers across the world but the impact has exploded since mobile phones literally became computers. The internet has picked literally all the greatest inventions in a century and connected it all together. From computers to cars, phones, televisions, and airplanes. The world is more connected than it has ever been. I can now watch live football matches in the skies while video-calling a friend in the most remote village in Africa.  

2. The Airplane - This for me is still the most ridiculous invention of all time. We can fly! Humans built something bigger than a house and can fly in it across the world. The airplane is the pinnacle of human excellence. It basically means we can do anything. Just outrageous! 

1. Electricity - This is my number invention of all time because it basically created a platform for all other modern inventions. Our entire life is basically powered by electricity and it is almost impossible to function optimally without it. I come from a country where electricity remains unstable and our world is literally switched off when we are out of power. 

That's my list in a nutshell. I am not a scientist, so I could not get into the technicalities of these inventions but I can at least be grateful for the world as it is today. I think I'd rather be here now than 300 years ago. So let us live and love every day as we are living in the most sophisticated era in the history of the world.    

This article was written by Olajide Ola for ToptenNG