The Wheel to the Web: 30 Technologies That Changed Everything

Posted 09/12/2011 at 3:24pm | by Robert Strohmeyer

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The path of human progress is paved with tiny innovations. While most technological progress has been barely perceptible throughout the history of human invention, a handful of breakthroughs have radically changed the way humans live in the world. Here are 30 of the most life-changing technologies of all time.

Proto-Technologies

Before humans began building ships, space shuttles, and iPads, the path to technological awesomeness was paved with simple discoveries and groundbreaking advances that we scarcely recognize as technology today. Yet, without these early technical achievements, none of our current gizmos and gadgets could exist at all. These fundamental breakthroughs gave humanity dominion over all the earth.

The Wheel

About 6,000 years ago, some guys in Mesopotamia had a really good idea: What if we made two things—maybe somewhat circular—stuck a pole in the middle of them, and used this new thing to move heavy stuff? That awesome thought gave birth to the wheel, which caught on fast throughout the Middle East, and appears to have also turned up in Central Europe around the same time. Before long, people were hitching wagons to domesticated animals and rolling all over the place. As the quintessential simple machine, the wheel has become so fundamental to our understanding of the world, it's almost hard to believe it had to be invented. Yet without the insight of those Sumerian and proto-Polish inventors, we'd all be hoofing it right now.

The Lever

First documented by Archimedes about 2,300 years ago, the lever undoubtedly predates recorded history—but its simplicity only adds to the wonder of its effects. Consisting of a pivot point, the fulcrum, and a stick of some kind, this two-part machine can amplify any force applied to its end proportionally to the distance between the fulcrum and the end.

In short, stick the lever under something, put the fulcrum close by, and apply torque on the other end. The longer the stick, the less effort you'll need to move the thing. We can only imagine how stoked the first discoverer of this tool must've been.

The Inclined Plane

Arguably not a technology in its own right, the inclined plane is one of the six classical simple machines. Most people recognize it as a ramp, and its most obvious use is in moving heavy things up or down its inclined surface. But the application of this simple concept goes well beyond rolling wheels up ramps and/or sliding crates down hillsides.

Image Credit: Activity Resources

It's also the underlying technology behind the blade and, more cleverly, scissors, which are able to cut through thick material not just by virtue of sharp edges, but also through the opposing force of two inclined planes coming together at a single point.

The Pulley

Bringing the rotation of the wheel together with the torque force of the lever, pulleys change the direction of force while giving the user a mechanical advantage. The result: You can do a ton of work with relatively little effort. Pulleys made the age of sail possible by giving mere mortal humans a way to move giant sheets of canvas in heavy wind. Pulleys are also the central driving mechanisms of bicycles.

Needle and Thread

Another proto-technology that contributed to human survival—but seldom gets much attention from technophiles—is the sewing needle. Coupled with some kind of thread, this vastly underrated invention allowed prehistoric humans to stitch together multiple materials into clothing for weather protection, tents to use as dwellings, and bags to use as vessels.

Without a needle and thread, our ancestors would have had little chance of survival in extreme climates. And to this day, the Inuit people produce amazingly weatherproof garments using bone needles and thread made from the sinew of animal tissue. Consider that the next time you're pulling on your khakis.

Screw

Behold, the simple screw. Composed of an inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder or shaft, it delivers the same mechanical advantage as a ramp in a more compact form, which makes it great for penetrating dense objects and fastening things together. Look around your house and you'll find screws everywhere—and not just holding your gadgets together, but also in the lids of your jars and the blades of your ceiling fan. Airplane and helicopter propellers are just specialized screws, too. Without this simple tool, we would all be, well, screwed.

Boats

Little of modern civilization would have been possible without seafaring, so we should count ourselves lucky that some insightful prehistoric person had the wherewithal to hop on a floating log and use it to navigate local waterways. The earliest examples of boats consist of hollowed-out logs dating back some 10,000 years, but it's likely that the basic technology goes back much further.

Even in ancient Mesopotamia, boats enabled trade between distant cities. Today, they bring most of our tech gadgets to us from across the Pacific Ocean. If you love your iPad, thank a sea captain.

The Hinge

Like opening doors? Thank the inventor of the hinge. While it's unclear where hinges first originated, early examples date back 3,600 years to simple pivot hinges carved out of stone. By inserting a pole between two indented stones, builders could erect heavy doors capable of opening and closing easily. But now they're everywhere. Just trying finding an electronics gadget that doesn't have some kind of hinge somewhere in its chassis or internal construction. Just try.

The Arch

Little of modern architecture would be possible without the arch. This simple curved structure allows a builder to span an opening while supporting a tremendous amount of weight, making it possible to build tall, sturdy structures out of relatively weak materials. The genius of the arch lies in the cooperation of all of its parts in distributing the tensile stresses of whatever rests against it. The structure of the material dissipates stress around the span, rather than directly onto it. Without this innovation, there'd be few stone buildings more than two stories tall, and large dams and suspension bridges wouldn't exist at all.