- Yeah, the human race
invented a lot of cool stuff, but nothing beats the emoji. What better way to express yourself. The human race is an incredible species. Every year we are continuously
inventing new and amazing things that make our lives better. But there have been some
specific inventions in the past that were so amazing they
changed the world forever. Here are the 10 greatest
inventions that changed the world. Number 10 is the compass. It's like early GPS, which
is something I definitely need 'cause I have no sense of direction. In the past, civilizations
were bound by their respective land masses. So ancient mariners couldn't
get far navigating by stars during daylight or cloudy nights. It was actually the Chinese
during the Quin Dynasty from 221 to 206 B.C. who
invented the first compass using load stones containing
iron oxide that aligned itself with north and south. And by the eighth century
A.D. load stone magnetized needles were standard navigation
devices aboard most ships. Through trade, the compass
found its way into the hands of European as well as Arab societies. And the compass replaced
astronomical navigation by the fourteenth century. It was this device that
ignited the age of discovery. For me it was GPS that ushered
in the age of discovery, because before that I
would just get lost a lot. It was scary. Number nine is gunpowder. Now don't let the hippies
and peaceniks fool you. Yes, gunpowder may have
resulted in deaths in the past, but it also helped human
civilization expand as well as consolidate. Chinese alchemists invented
gunpowder during the ninth century when they discovered
carbon from charcoal plus an oxidizer forms carbon
dioxide that creates energy. It was that energy that
could propel fireworks. But the Song Dynasty soon
realized its raw power against the hostile mongols. Gunpowder eventually found
its way into the Middle East as well as Europe along the
Silk Road in the 13th Century, allowing cannons and guns
to pierce armor and destroy castle walls. Prior to its invention,
military combat was exclusive to knights with broad swords, battle axes, and bow and arrows. Okay, so gun powder did
result in the death of a lot of people, but fireworks! Fireworks are good. Okay, a lot of people died, but fireworks. Number eight is the printing press. The printing press democratized
knowledge beyond a small collection of religious
scholars who regurgitated what they read to the illiterate masses. Believe it or not, books were
almost exclusively written by monks about religious
matters so only men of God and noblemen could actually read, but that all changed in
1439 when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing
press in Mainz, Germany. His device used moveable
type that could be mechanized to print up to 36 hundred pages a day. By 1500, one thousand
Gutenberg presses were in use. And by 1600, 200 million
books had been published in Europe, sparking the
Age of Enlightenment. Today we also use them to
print books, of course, but we also use them to
print comics about cats and Mad Magazine. What a time to be alive. Number seven is the steam engine. Every motorized vehicle
we use today from cars to rocket ships would
not be possible without the invention of the steam engine. Knowledge about the power of
steam has existed since the first century A.D. But it was English inventor
and engineer, Thomas Avery, who harnessed its raw power in 1698. From there, steam powered
improvements in transportation, agriculture and manufacturing
allowed super powers like Great Britain and the United States to expand their influence. The steam engine's principle
of energy into motion set the stage that allowed
for innovations like internal combustion engines and jet turbines that keep the world moving today. Look at that, and you thought
Thomas the Tank Engine was just a silly cartoon. He's an engineering marvel. Toot toot. Number six are contraceptives. Ever since humans have
started making babies, they have also tried to not make babies. Coitus interruptus as
it's officially called, dates all the way back
to the Old Testament. In addition, ancient
Egyptians used crocodile dung to absorb sperm, Chinese concubines drank
deadly mercury after sex, and Middle Ages Europeans
tied weasel testicles to their thighs. Primitive condoms were even
made out of goat bladders that were somewhat effective in 3000 B.C. Monk, Cronk have a go at you now. Just let me get goat.
(chuckles) American inventor, Charles
Goodyear, was the first one to patent the condom in
1884 using vulcanized rubber techniques also patenting
cervical caps called womb veils. But it still took another
century for effective contraception to be created
when Austrian scientist, Carl Djerassi, created
the progesterone pill that blocks ovulation. And finally in May of 1960, the FDA officially approved the pill. That also brought along
the Sexual Revolution, as well as bell bottoms for some reason. It's a weird time. Number five is the light bulb. It's actually hard to
overstate the importance of the light bulb for civilization, but here's one way. Spend the whole day with your eyes closed. Life before light bulbs
was literally in the dark, with most people just
going to bed after sundown, because there was nothing
else to do or see. Thomas Edison is typically
credited with the invention of the light bulb, but it
was actually British Humphry Davey who invented the first
electric light in 1802. Other inventors like Warren
De La Rue helped advance the light bulb by
coiling platinum in 1840. But Thomas Edison filed the
first patent for a practical incandescent lamp in
1878 for everyday use. The light bulb has since
changed mankind's sleeping patterns and allowed
us to become nocturnal. And also allowed us to not
get eaten by scary things that go bump in the night. Number four is the refrigerator. Is your refrigerator running? Then you better go catch it,
because without the ability to keep your food cold,
a hostile bacteria party in your body is assured. Refrigeration has been
around since about 1000 B.C. in China, but later in about
500 B.C. Egyptians and Indians used earthen pots to make
ice and later cellars, caves and salts to keep food fresh. Scotsman William Cullen
observed in the 1720's that evaporation has a cooling effect. That propelled Englishman
Michael Fairaday's discovery that liquified ammonia causes cooling. The science behind modern
compression refrigeration. Commercial refrigeration
became available in 1890, and General Electric's "The
Guardian" became available in homes by 1911. As of today, 99.5% of American
homes have a refrigerator, which accounts for about
20% of energy consumption worldwide. Well, us North Americans
definitely love to eat our food. Specifically Chick-Fil-A
and In and Out, mmmmm. If there's leftovers,
you can't throw them out. You gotta store them somehow. Delicious! Number three is penicillin. Picture this, before antibiotics, pneumonia and diarrhea
were the number one killers in a civilized world. Ancient civilizations
used antibiotics without understanding bacteria,
like the Egyptians, who treated wounds with moldy bread. Huh, I'm shot. Just put a piece of bread on it. German physician, Paul
Ehrlich discovered the first modern antibiotic arsphenamine
in 1909 to treat Syphilis. But the real game changer
in modern medicine, was the clumsy discovery in
1928 by Scottish microbiologist, Alexander Fleming, who left
cultures undiscovered in his lab during his vacation
and discovered the fungus pena cilium. The pena cilium notatum that
had grown created bacteria free zones and thus penicillin
the wonder drug was born. It reduced the pneumonia
deaths during World War Two down to 1% and extended
human life spans by decades. All because a guy couldn't
keep a clean work area. Learn from that, kids,
don't clean up ever. Just kidding, I don't want
your parents to kill me. Number two is the telegraph. Before the telephone, the
internet, or even Tinder, the telegraph modernized
long distance communications and launched the Information Age. Ancient civilizations used
drum beats and smoke signals to exchange information between distances, but minor things like
weather could interfere with effective communication while
letters carried on ships often came too late. Samuel Morse, of Morse code
fame, changed all of that when he used his single
circuit telegraph to send the first dots and dashes
message from Washington DC to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1844. By 1866 a telegraph line
connected the United States with continental Europe,
which changed the way humanity communicated and impacted everything, including government,
trade, banking, industry, warfare, and media. And if you think you
don't have patience now, imagine back then when you
had to wait for a "I love you" by doot, doot doot, doot doot doot. It's just annoying. And number one is the internet. My personal favorite thing, I live here. For all of you that use the
internet on a regular basis to communicate with people, back in the day people actually
used to talk to each other. I know, it's crazy. Now the internet doesn't
really have a single inventor, but it all began with a paper
written by Leonard Kleinrock in 1961 called "Information Flow in
Large Communication Nets." 1969 was huge because we
put a man on the moon. But the US defense department
also launched the advanced research projects agency
network known as ARPA Net. It was that, that created
the internet communication protocols that we use today. The internet for decades
was exclusive to military and universities who shared
large swaths of information on closed networks. But in 1991, the world
wide web was created by Tim Berners Lee that
democratized the internet that we now know. Now we can eat, shop, and date without even leaving the house. Remember outside? I don't. And those were the 10 greatest
inventions that changed the world. But if you guys enjoyed this, remember to give it a big thumbs up. Also be sure to subscribe
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new videos all the time. Thank you guys for watching, and I'll see you next
time on the inter webs. (evil laugh)
Bye.
