What are the top 10 inventions of history?
Take your pick…here’s Encyclopedia Britannica's Greatest Inventions.
It’s fun reading…I mean, afterall, WHO considers the bikini an “invention”? Anyway, we can always narrow down the lists by imposing some purely arbitrary classifications, ie Foods, Clothes, Transportation, Tools, Toys, Things-That-Just-Make-Sense-To-Have (cat litter and paper clips for example).
If you take a look down the list and pick out some really great inventions that are now commonly used, like, oh, say toilets, clocks, cars, telephones, and computers. And, of course, The World Wide Web, invented in 1989 by Al Gore Tim Berners-Lee.
Here’s the thing to consider – every great invention and innovation down through history has had it detractors – – – naysayers who stood on the speech stumps and condemned one invention or another as evil, as a tool of the devil sent to destroy man’s work ethic or sense of moral righteousness. And somewhere along the way people questioned every device when it first emerged…
Who needs television? We have a radio.
Telephones are interruptions.
Wal-Mart will destroy the free market economy.
The railroads will destroy the environment.
Flush toilets waste water.
The internet is nothing but porn.
Innoculations will poison the children.
Microwaves will cause heart attacks.
Web 2.0, Classroom 2.0, School 2.0 is all a poorly defined, irrelevant bit of semantic-educationese.
Blogging is just a fad, electronic diary keeping.
Well, gosh darn, Nellie, get down off that four-wheel-contraption, you’re scaring the horse!
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I say, let the naysayers say nay. Let critics criticize. In the meantime, time is a natural equalizer. (Darwin, anyone?) A new bit of technology, invention, or innovation will be gradually – and naturally – assimilated into everyday use, or it will wind up over in the corner next to the ChiaPets, SeaMonkeys, Sporks, or any of a thousand other great ideas.
So all the hub-bub going on about the “validity” and “usefullness” of the web, wikis, blogs, and AnyThing2.0 should be nothing more than a passing amusement. Time will filter out the superfluous from the meaningful…and in the meantime, I’m planning to sit in the stands and watch. I figure if something truly provocative comes along I’ll join in the fray. I mean what’s the worst that could happen?…it’ll be like joining in at a Nascar Race…if I get tired, and want to get out of it, all I have to do is turn right.
Crud. Tried to e-mail you back tonight but it seems everything electronic in your life has abandoned you. Watch out for your cell phone. Here are the contents of that e-mail.
"Heh. Yeah, just got word from her. Depending on how you painted me in all this and depending on the angle she's taking on School 2.0, this here could be a very awkward interview. I wouldn't expect to see too much of me in the final draft is all I'm saying, but thanks for passing me along anyway."
Posted by: Dan Meyer | October 22, 2007 at 09:09 PM