Ok, lets be honest, this is almost the impossible list, and I'm sure to leave out a bunch of inventions that outright change the course of human history. But that's why I rely on you guys to add your two cents.
But out of a list of so many brilliant inventions that changed the actual progression of man, here's a list of ones that stood out to me
1) The Wheel - Traced back to 3500 BC, the Wheel changed the world of agriculture and labor first and foremost. Prior to the wheel everything was man and back powered as people carried everything on their back or with their arms. But the wheel sped up transportation, eased burdens and allowed for transportation of larger quantities of goods from longer distances. The actual difficulty in the invention of the wheel itself, wasn't the wheel, that part was easy, it was the engineering of the axle.
2) The Nail - Without the nail, mankind was stuck at the mud and dabble construction, which meant that your home was shaky and vulnerable to wind and weather. Or your house was a stack of heavy rocks and bricks and mortar. The Nail allowed for stronger structures to be built from interlocking building materials such as wood. This invention wouldn't have been possible without the invention of iron casting, even up until the early 1800's nails were hand made by blacksmiths, but the creation of a machine to make nails in mass quantities changed to the world.
3) The Compass - Before the mastery of magnetism and the creation of the Compass by the Chinese in the 9th century, man navigated by the Stars, that meant that ships got lost on stormy night and struggled to navigate during the day. The Compass also allowed man to leave the shores of their homes and go great distances and establish trade routes on land and by sea.
4) The Printing Press - Invented in 1440 AD by Johannes Guttenburg, the Printing Press allowed for the mass production and distribution of books including the bible, gone were the days of priests and monks painstakingly hand copying the original. This distribution not only bought literature in the masses creating an explosive increase in the ability to read. But it allowed the Bible for example to be re-interpreted by the masses instead of just learning the bible by ear from Priests.
5) The Internal Combustion Engine - Coming into prominence in the later half of the century, the Engine moved man away from reliance on beasts of burden and man powered transportation. Suddenly the world shrank and goods could reach further away markets before they spoiled. It also allowed for faster sea travel and eventually ushered in flight. On the negative side it also changed the face of warfare and created the engines of destruction that we see today.
6) The Telephone - Alexander Grahame Bell in 1876. The common themes of most invention is the transportation of information and the phone represented a quantum leap forward in the speed and ability to move information instantly from one end of the globe to the other. This device could have been called the first invention of the Internet, it advanced international business and diplomacy.
7) The Lightbulb - Invented by Thomas Edison in 1879. The ability to bring convenient illumination at the flick of a switch allowed man to extend his wakeful hours and increased production. It also reduced fire hazards and probably reduced headaches and sickness due to burning of fuels in your house.
8) Penicillin - Invented in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, Penicillin allowed man to cure bacterial infections and extended man's life spans by generations. It also caused the extinction of many fatal diseases.
9) The Internet - Created in the 1960's by Lawrence Roberts (Not fricken Al Gore). It evolved from a defense department project that was designed around connecting defense computers for instant data sharing. The key to this invention was the creation of packet switching. Once it became commercially available, it shrank the world significantly allowing all of mankinds knowledge to be shared globally. It also allowed the Adult Industry to go from an underground industry to a social acceptable trillion dollar industry
10) The Computer - Basically the creation of the transistor, but the computer allowed for the easier mass computation on large scale projects. The Space Program, the Manhatten Project, telephones, and railways wouldn't have existed or wouldn't have progressed so quickly without the Computer.
Historical List - Inventions that changed the world
