In a way, I want to say the printing press, but it gave us books, literature being shared beyond just what a pen could scroll. But it also let the industrial revolution happen, between concepts and a means to force bills. Without you'd never have credit card companies/banks with crushing fees, but really it was people who twisted that invention. So I guess, in a sense, are you asking the invention that twisted people, or the invention that let people twist themselves selfishly. Next runner up, Alexander Graham Bell probably never imagined the invention of the phone call would lead to phones being these rectangular things people would ignore the world around them with while on a walk
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Theyitis · 36-40, M
@LordShadowfire Maybe I don’t have anything my neighbor wants at the moment. That’s what money is for. It’s something that has value no matter what. I use money to buy what I want from you, then you can then take that money and go buy something from someone else that you really do want. Money really just makes life easier.
The concentration of obscene amounts of money into just a few hands was not inevitable. Look at the Nordic countries. All we have to do, as Bertrand Russel once said, is set up a system where everyone has enough money but no one has too much. Then the desire for money, which is the primary cause of evil, won’t have much pull.
The concentration of obscene amounts of money into just a few hands was not inevitable. Look at the Nordic countries. All we have to do, as Bertrand Russel once said, is set up a system where everyone has enough money but no one has too much. Then the desire for money, which is the primary cause of evil, won’t have much pull.
LordShadowfire · 46-50, M
@Theyitis Why not just share what we have with each other instead of creating this artificial system that basically amounts to video game points?
beermeplease · M
bijouxbroussard · F
@beermeplease I was thinking the very same thing. Folks have been waging wars over "who has the more powerful invisible friend" since the beginning of time. 🥺
beermeplease · M
@bijouxbroussard exactly ❤
4meAndyou · F
I was just reading about this. Apparently Alfred Nobel invented dynamite in 1867. Prior to this, gunpowder caused a lot of death, but the invention of dynamite has killed more people than gunpowder, and more people than the atomic bomb.
Nobel changed his ways very slightly after the death of his brother was misreported as his OWN death, and he was SHOCKED to read the opinion of the world in the newspapers, who rejoiced that he was "dead", and called him "The Merchant of Death".
He was so horrified by his legacy that he established the Nobel Peace Prize to try to leave a "better" aroma around his name.
Dynamite and it's descendant, the bomb, became weapons during WWI and WWII. Bombs were flown overhead and dropped, with devastating results.
Dynamite factories had so many accidents and explosions that they were built in rural areas, near centers of great poverty, in order to attract desperate and impoverished men to work in dangerous and horrifying conditions.
Nobel changed his ways very slightly after the death of his brother was misreported as his OWN death, and he was SHOCKED to read the opinion of the world in the newspapers, who rejoiced that he was "dead", and called him "The Merchant of Death".
He was so horrified by his legacy that he established the Nobel Peace Prize to try to leave a "better" aroma around his name.
Dynamite and it's descendant, the bomb, became weapons during WWI and WWII. Bombs were flown overhead and dropped, with devastating results.
Dynamite factories had so many accidents and explosions that they were built in rural areas, near centers of great poverty, in order to attract desperate and impoverished men to work in dangerous and horrifying conditions.
reflectingmonkey · 51-55, M
the process by which we extract cocaine from the coca plant is certainly a discovery that we could have went without, this substance has caused so much suffering everywhere it goes. every form of explosives used to kill people is another one, from guns to nukes. we should have stuck to swords. at least with a sword you have to work hard for your kill and your adversary has a chance to fight back. a third one is all technology based on petrolium, I know it brought so much cool stuff but the price our ecology is paying can't be worth it. we should have stayed more simple until we come up with technology that is actually sustainable.
Shybutwilling2bfriends · 61-69
sirweighsalot · 22-25, M
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
Religion
Elessar · 31-35, M
Facebook
mindstruggle · 31-35, F
Good question....
ScreamingFox · 41-45, F
RedBaron · M
This question. 🤣
DearAmbellina2113 · 41-45, F
Guns
LordShadowfire · 46-50, M
@DearAmbellina2113 Sarah Winchester definitely thought so.
YoMomma ·
The UN
DeWayfarer · 61-69, M
First religion, then money. Because money was created by religion.
BTW it was the Greek religion of the 7th century BCE where coins were first used. And yes the Greek deities were on the coins.
BTW it was the Greek religion of the 7th century BCE where coins were first used. And yes the Greek deities were on the coins.
Deities and Symbols: Many Greek coins featured images of gods and goddesses, such as Athena, Zeus, and Apollo. This not only reflected the religious beliefs of the time but also served to legitimize the authority of the city-states that minted them.
GuyWithOpinions · 31-35, M
Prettybratbi1tch · 26-30, F
scorpio611 · 41-45, M
tobynshorty · 51-55, F
AI, cryptocurrency, smartphones, nuclear fission, petrochemicals, dams, religion (and derivatives, like any civil calendar that cannot be reformed due to relgious objections, even though we have better perennial calendar options available), daylight [savings] time, borders / nations / arbitrarily subdividing a single planet even though nature clearly doesn't respect such ttribal fantasies, private property, the notion of unfettered procreation as an individual human right, the notion that human settlements in deserts is a smart idea, laissez-faire capitalism, normalization of vast wealth inequality, any form of alternative medicine that depends on poaching / extinction of various animal species, societal decisions being made based on emotion (and its derivative, tribalism) rather than reason (e.g., preservation of culture rather than making communication frictionless) among others
bijouxbroussard · F
Elessar · 31-35, M
@bijouxbroussard The most disappointing thing however is that nothing of that is new. You can find virtually every single policy and talking point is past failed regimes and populist movements..
You'd expect modern societies to have antibodies against this sort of stuff, instead here we are, and it's global too 😑
You'd expect modern societies to have antibodies against this sort of stuff, instead here we are, and it's global too 😑
therighttothink50 · 56-60, M
The hell phone.
MethDozer · M
Agriculture
dubum · 51-55, M
1. Law of Interest
2. Nuclear weapon
2. Nuclear weapon
alongalone · M
YMITheWayIM · 46-50, M
Lie
FeetAreFantastic · 41-45, M