A recent article by Neil Irwin looked at how innovations in technology, medicine and more have changed the lives of Americans and fueled economic growth over the past 150 years or so. In response, readers weighed in with their own ideas of what was truly life-changing. Birth control came up a lot, as did indoor plumbing. The comments were impressive in their range and verve.
But it was a comment by Reasonable Facsimile of Florida that inspired me to take another look through the archives, where I had spent time finding photographs to accompany the article: “Just look at the quality of that image of the Brooklyn Bridge. You can take a magnifying glass and see fine details.” Reasonable is right — it’s amazing.
Here are some of our favorite comments, together with a few more old pictures.
Mark of Columbia, Md.:
Control of infectious diseases and parasites, for sure. Look how we freak out today over the threat of anything transmissible. What must it have been like to live in fear of tuberculosis, smallpox, yellow fever, plague, tetanus, etc. Imagine watching half your children die. One of the greatest fears was over a disease we hardly think about today — rabies. The South was plagued with hookworm around 1900, with almost half the population infected. It blows me away when I hear people seriously consider the iPhone as the greatest invention of all time. I put the iPhone well behind the pizza.
Bob Castro of NYC:
You forgot to include the development of the safety bicycle during the late 1800s. Its advanced technology (chain drives, wire spoke wheels, pneumatic tires, etc.) was an essential step before automobiles could become practical. Even aviation (think Wright brothers) was based on bicycle technology. Besides causing a technological revolution, the bicycle also caused a social one — women’s emancipation. As Susan B. Anthony famously said, “I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.”
What Was the Greatest Era for Innovation? A Brief Guided Tour
Ipsa of D.C.:
My grandmother passed away several years ago at 101. She had lived through two world wars, a man on the moon, television, phone (initial and cellular), the polio vaccine, 9/11… I asked her what she thought were the greatest innovations that had occurred during her lifetime. Without missing a beat, she replied electricity and women obtaining the right to vote. Indoor plumbing came in a close third.
Kelly:
You are not even close. The biggest advancement in all of human history is effective birth control. It changes every aspect of life: economic, social, day-to-day life, moral. Impacts everyone and every social structure.
Sridhar Chilimuri of New York:
Since the origin of homo sapiens, there was little recording of anything until perhaps 40,000 years ago when they began to paint in caves and on rocks. To me, speech and the ability to tell a story is the greatest innovation ever.
Terry Robinson of New York:
The biggest innovation is education and allowing even the poorest girls and boys to reach their full potential. For education to be available, kids have to have time to go to school (so no chores fetching water or firewood) and they have to survive long enough to make it to school (so neonatal care, food for healthy mother, antibiotics and vaccinations). This article didn’t try to cover the social changes in the years 1870-1916, but the biggest was the idea that people should be educated (especially girls) and that everyone should have a chance. That wasn’t the case in 1870, when sprawling families were there to work the land.
Jay of Florida:
In my view the era that began with Sputnik in the late 1950s and ended with moon landings was the greatest era of innovation. We watched as the first communication satellites were built and launched. Nuclear submarines became the norm. The Concorde was built, as was the Saturn rocket that launched men to the moon. The Lockheed corporation built the world’s fastest aircraft, the Blackbird, and the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Enterprise was also launched. Telstar too was launched in the early 1960s. The New York World’s Fair in 1964-65 demonstrated touch tone dialing, and I.B.M. built the first small computers for schools and business. Many colleges began to offer computer programing courses. The Bell Telephone Laboratories were doing experiments with lasers and other optical-electrical devices. Even the Armalite rifle was built by Eugene Stoner, changing the combat rifle forever. Microwave radio transmissions and color TV technology raced ahead, as did FM stereo multiplexing. And don’t forget the introduction of the Mustang and other pony cars! I’m lucky. I got to live in the most innovative time of all. The time of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys, too. Great time to be a young teenager.
Steve from Virginia:
Invention/discovery does not occur over a straight line. Use of a tool for cutting, use of fire for cooking, language and the narrative myth to put these diverse items to use (hunting and eating animals) occurred over hundreds of thousands of years.
Joe Smith of Newark:
Express tracks. Whoever thought to build four New York subway tracks on many lines instead of two was brilliant, and still affects the lives of millions of commuters every day.
Vulcanalex of Tennessee:
Pretty simple: Indoor plumbing is more important than jet travel or cellphones. Try living without each and see what happens to most people.
G.P. of Kingston, Ontario:
I know this article has an American bent, but to me from a purely public health point of view the invention of soap and sewers advanced the human cause more than any machine invention. In Europe a long, long time ago, the tradition was for the man to walk closer to the buildings on the street while dating a woman. Why? Because, if anyone living above decided to throw out the day’s household waste out the window, the man took the brunt. A second after the date, scrubbing with soap would be required.
Bill of Fairbanks Ranch, Calif.:
American innovations in commercial banking and finance made all the other innovations possible. Without our financial infrastructure, largely perfected in 18th, 19th and 20th century America by our illustrious robber barons, we would have been unable to produce telephones, aircraft, trains, roads, bridges, a stable food supply, clean water, government services and all the rest. Our entire modern world rests on the bottoms of shiny-pants bookkeepers with green eyeshades and sleeve garters. The accountants and bankers are the modern masters of the universe.
George Jackson of Tucson:
Sorry to let you know, but there has been nothing truly new for decades. Internet, personal computer, email, cellphone. These are all stemming from one thing: 1947 transistor/semiconductor; integrated circuit, 1958. The theory for these … 1905-1927 mostly. But electrical systems created lighting, heating, and allowed immense productivity in the workplace and home: washers, dryers, toasters, clocks, factory machinery, automobile plants, aluminum. Vastly more impactful to humankind.
Richard Frauenglass of New York:
The greatest era is always now, for it builds on the advances of the past, without which it would have to start from the beginning. The greatest “innovation” was the Roman aqueduct, the knowledge of water, and subsequently, by others, much later, the flush toilet. More important for all — the Gutenberg first and the printing press second.
jb of Brooklyn:
I was promised a flying car by now, and all I got was Facebook.