- Ooh, it's 2019! We're in the future! Think of all the wonderful
things we're going to invent. Okay, well yes, that's true,
but it might surprise you to learn that a lot of
the things that you think were invented recently
were actually invented as far back as thousands of years ago. Seriously, have you ever used
an automatic door or GPS, or, for that matter, Google Street View? Yeah, I know, keep watching. Here are the 10 oldest
versions of modern technology. (bouncy string music) Number 10 are automatic doors. Modern, automatic sliding
doors were invented in 1954 by Lou Hewitt and Dee Horton, but they weren't actually the first doors to open for a person on their own. Nearly 2,000 years ago,
a genius mathematician and mechanical inventor
named Heron of Alexandria, or Hero for short, invented a way to have a door open itself automatically. His idea involved steam
and water pressure, which were new concepts at the time. A fire would be lit by a temple's priest, and its heat would build up pressure inside a brass container. That pressure would, in turn,
displace water already there. The water would get pumped
into some holding containers, which would lower under the
new weight of the liquid and slowly pull open the door. The entire process took
hours, but to anyone watching, the temple doors just
opened all by themselves. That would never work nowadays. If something takes more than two seconds, people are like, "Come
on, time is valuable! "I got things to do, let's go!" Number nine is a
routefinder or navigation. These days, it seems most
people would be unable to get from place to place
without the assistance of a GPS. (chuckles) I'm definitely one. You know, the global positioning system which has personally saved me many times that tells us where we
are through the satellites at any given time. Before the invention of GPS,
however, people relied on maps and have done so for thousands of years. But in the early 1920s,
devices would appear that would bridge the gap. Wearable on the wrist, the Plus Fours Routefinder
consisted of two reels as well as an
interchangeable map cartridge which kind of resembled a scroll. Users would wind the map
as they traveled along and followed the streets
as it was laid out on it. 10 years later, versions
of this contraption came out meant for the car. Using the vehicle's speed, the scroll would move accordingly. One of those people that is very grateful for GPS right here. (laughs) 'Cause I get lost very easily. I got lost in my hometown once that I grew up in my whole life. So (chuckles) Matt's a simpleton. Number eight is an E-reader. Before Kindles began saving trees, the only way to read a book was to purchase or borrow one, right? Amazon launched the Kindle in 2007, before which, in 1998, it's predecessor, the Rocket eBook, was
unsuccessfully sold by NuvoMedia. But neither of those
were technically first. That distinction goes to a
product from the early 1920s, Fiske's Reading Machine. Terrible name, I know, but hear me out. Invented by Rear Admiral
Bradley Allen Fiske, the reading machine was a
metal, handheld instrument with a magnifying glass for one eye and a small flip-out shield to
block the sight of the other. Books were written in tiny
fonts on a long, thin strip that slid through the device and under the magnifying eyepiece. One of the first books available for it was Mark Twain's Innocent Abroad, which was around 93,000 words, but fit onto 13 cards. Again, brilliant, but something that would not last in today's society. Ain't nobody got time to be staring their eyeball into a little hole. Mama, I'm reading! Number seven is chewing gum. When you think of chewing gum, you likely think of a minty
or sweet flavored candy full of preservatives
to keep its consistency, but it actually has a history that goes back thousands of years. Before Juicy Fruit,
Bazooka Joe, and Trident, there was a tree resin,
sweetgrass, and wax, not nearly as appetizing
as a stick of spearmint, but was still enjoyed
by the ancient Mayans and several other colonies. Centuries ago, ancient Greeks
began chewing mastiche, which is made from the
secretions of the mastic tree, but the oldest pieces
of gum ever discovered were found on what is today
the island of Orust in Sweden. Three wads of fossilized
gum were found in total, each of them made of birch resin. Experts claim the chewed-up pieces are around 9,000 years old, meaning that they date
back to around 7,000 B.C. Tree resin sounds nasty. I don't know if it was good or not, but it feels like it would
have been really sticky. Someone would be chewing it and be like, "I just took my tooth out,
but hey, it was tasty." Number six are vending machines. We live in a world of convenience, able to buy almost anything
that we require from a machine. Everything from food and beverages to hygiene products,
toys, and even marijuana can be purchased from vending machines. There are actually places
where you can get everything on your grocery list
exclusively by using them. Amazon, anyone? They've taken over the world. All of that said, we're far from being the first human beings to live in a world that has automated machines
that trade products for coins. The first documented vending machine was established in ancient Egypt. It was built sometime
between 215 B.C. and 100 A.D. and housed inside a temple
inside the city of Alexandria. The "automated" device featured a system in which a worshiper would feed
it a five drachma Greek coin and receive a small amount of holy water. I just got a visual of
someone popping in the coin ad then just this little
tube like a gerbil comes out and goes (slurping). Number five is a toy car. In a discovery that has
quite a few archeologists scratching their heads, a
collection of ancient items was uncovered in Mardin, Turkey that included a tablet
that served as a deed for the sale of a garden,
dolls, working whistles, and, incredibly, what
appears to be a tiny car. Made of stone, the car, which
researchers believe was a toy or model of some kind, has
two axles and four wheels. Complete with a space that
looks like a windshield, it more closely resembles
a modern-day tractor than an automobile. But obviously, neither of
those could have been used as inspiration to complete the artifact, since it predates both of
them by thousands of years. The car was over 7,500 years old, dating back to the Stone Age. And many experts claim
it's the earliest evidence of the wheel being invented. (gasps) Flintstones were real? Joy! Number four is a calculator watch. While calculator watches
would obviously be considered a 20th century invention,
and the Apple Watches and Fitbits 21st century
ones, none of them can be called the first tiny calculators that can be worn on the hand. For that device, we have to
go back hundreds of years to the Shang Dynasty of the 17th century. Believe it or not, the
first wearable calculator was a super small abacus
that was attached to a ring. Now nicknamed the smart
ring, the device was invented by an unidentified man in China who was clearly ahead of his time. The abacus was only 1.2
centimeters in width, so small it was nearly
impossible to operate by hand, instead requiring small,
pointy items such as pins to move each bead along one of seven rods. Still, quick calculations
while out on the town were still easily handled. Sounds smart, but would
drive me up the wall if I had to just be like, "Hold on, "let me calculate the tip." Five years later. Number three are hair extensions. I've been thinking about
getting me some of those. In 2014, some human
remains uncovered in Egypt were being analyzed by researchers when a surprising discovery was made. Many of the skulls still
had hair preserved on them. However, some of them had more than that. They had hair extensions. One skull belonged to a woman
who lived over 3,300 years ago and had been buried shortly after the city she was found in, Amarna, was built. She had a total of 70 extensions, which were likely donated
by multiple donors. A number of other remains with extensions of various colors were also found. Whether they had their hair
lengthened for everyday life or were simply given it for
their funerals was unclear. But was is clear is that ancient Egyptians had the ability to add hair extensions and practiced doing so. I wonder how they handled bald people. Like, did they also have beards? 'Cause you never see
Egyptians with beards. I definitely have to have a beard. Otherwise, just an infinite loop of face. Number two is Google
Earth and Street View. Several decades before you were able to look at your home's
roof using Google Earth or at your front door
with Google Street View, there were actually
methods of doing just that, only much more difficult to obtain. In 1908, Dr. Julius Neubronner,
a German apothecary, patented pigeon photography,
in which the birds would have small cameras
strapped to their chests and would periodically take pictures while the animals were flying overhead. The resulting aerial
photos may have contained a few blurry feathers, but they managed to show the area from above. Fast forward to 1979, when a
team of students and faculty from MIT attached a camera to a car and created the Aspen Movie Map, the first version of Street View, though only of Aspen, Colorado. So not as ancient as the rest of these but still pretty cool. Side note: I've always wanted to travel to a cold place like Aspen,
maybe on a little scooter, with a friend behind me that's
really dumb, helmets on, and be like, "Samsonite! I was way off!" If you didn't get that reference, please watch Dumb and Dumber. What are you doing with your life? And number one are your mama jokes. Over the years, the your
mama joke has evolved, with more and more people
adding their own brand of comedy to it to adapt
to the changing times. But while many of you may
be thinking that the insult is something that was invented
within the last 50 years, or the Shakespeare fans
may be crediting him with its creation, its actually much older than any of you think. It turns out the rude
insult has been around for a very long time,
the oldest one discovered in modern day Iraq in 1976 on a tablet that dates
back over 3,500 years. That's right, the world's
first yo mama joke was etched into stone in ancient Babylon, somewhere around 1,500 B.C. It was inscribed by a student who was writing out six
riddles on the tablet. It's hard to translate, but experts agree that it's definitely an
attack on a mother's dignity. Was that really a joke, or
was this guy really ticked off and he was just like,
"Your mama was a ... "? You know what, I can't say it. This is a family-friendly event. (bouncy sting music)
