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The Greatest Invention is….
Day One is a great journaling service. And every so often it has a good prompt (via the JetPack app) to help you get started. I have no problem with journaling. But sometimes, the prompts are good enough for me to noodle on. Today was one of those very interesting prompts:
The most important invention in your lifetime is….
I had to think about this all day. Why?
Before I could answer, I had to remind myself: what exactly is an invention? An invention is defined as something that didn’t exist before. It could be a device, a method, or a process that solves a problem in a way no one had quite thought of. It doesn’t have to be flashy. It just has to change what’s possible. So it can be a collection of many technologies, woven together.
There have been quite a few. And it made me realize how fortunate I have been. It has been a great and wonderful life. I have seen so much happen. From fax machines, to word processing software, to wireless phones.
My first thought was, well, it had to be the microprocessor. You know, chips like the x86. Then I thought, no, it has to be the PC. No, no, the smartphone. Of course, there were other inventions. There are inventions that are not often thought about as major inventions, but they really are very impactful. The stent, for example. As a cardiac patient and survivor of cardiac events, the stent may seem like the most important invention in my life. I mean, I am alive because of it. Sure, it saves millions of lives every year, but is it the most important invention?
I ended up thinking about this all day. I thought it would be good to narrow down the invention to something that not only came into existence when I was coherent—you know, older than a teenager—and I had a living experience with it.
By that yardstick, chips and PCs don’t really add up to my most important experienced invention. The smartphone probably is the most important from a computing perspective, anyway. It changed how we communicate, how we work, how we navigate the world. But even that didn’t fit the bill as per my own judgement.
The only invention I can really think of that weaves it all together is the internet.
I have seen it come together from its earliest days—the pipes, the software, the browser, the applications, the devices to get access to it; to harness it, to abuse it. Back in 1999, Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr commented: “Believe it or not, the Internet is actually underhyped.” He called it “the largest legal creation of wealth in the history of the planet.” He was so on the money. Twenty-five years later, 10 out of the world’s 12 trillion-dollar companies are internet or internet-related companies.
It is a great societal engine as well. Like all great inventions of the past—the wheel, the steam engine, and the internal combustion engine—it has compressed time and distance. It is like a time machine. It has essentially made us question every premise.
What is a bookstore?
What is a library?
What is a border?
Who is a friend?
Where and how do we find love?
What do we do?
How do we do it?
Why we do what we do?
What is reality, even?
It is because of it that we are now looking at who we will be as a species—a carbon-based life form that coexists with robots and machines, or one enslaved to its own past, its digitized form.
So yes, the internet is indeed the greatest invention of my time. It is central to who we are as a species now. And all other inventions, in one way or another, run through it.
Let me know if you agree or disagree with me.
February 6, 2026. San Francisco.
PS: I first wrote this as an entry in my journal. With a fountain pen, of course. And then decided I would share this with you all. Have a great weekend.
Day One rang a bell and sure enough the app is on my phone; latest entry was from 9-27-2019 (and it was a nothing burger).
The internet is certainly a big deal. The always being connected is helpful and gives me anxiety too. It’s fun to look at my Google account to see where I’ve been, but I’m really uncomfortable with a service called Fog Reveal that uses similar, seemingly harmless data and allows law enforcement to track me – how did that happen?
Starbucks might be my big deal. I can order the same cortado anywhere and it’s the same beverage. That’s one less variable in my day.
I got the same prompt :-). The Internet was my pick closely followed by wireless technologies. Without wireless much of the utility and apps wouldn’t have nearly as much value. Maybe a close second.
💪🙌🙏 Thanks for sharing Om.
Yes, the internet is extraordinary, but I think of it as a collection of ideas and processes, originating with ARPANET, and still evolving. But the most important invention in our lifetimes? For me it would be the microprocessor, invented by Federico Faggin in 1971 and without which no modern electronic device or process would be possible.
Of course you’re right but,
What about… you know 🔥?
or the wheel…🚴♀️ (there’s no wheel emoji on my phone so thats out)
Recently for my I discovered what I think is the greatest invention (for me lately):
I found it in LA at a Sallys in Little Korea.
It’s hair touch up powder for my bald spot.
I found it thru the internet tho so
of course you’re right.
all the best.
I read something a while ago about the history of water, clean water, specifically. Water that’s safe to drink, and bathe in. We take it for granted in developed nations.
There’s an evolution of water drawn from springs, rivers, and lakes, then reservoirs, and wells. And then the invention of municipal systems and indoor plumbing that brings clean water to sinks, bathtubs, showers, and toilets.
I’m reminded of that every time there’s a big storm or hurricane and I’m filling 5 gallon jugs with filtered water just in case the infrastructure is damaged. Thankful I have not lost water service yet.
There’s also hot water that’s a luxury, as well as a necessity. I added solar panels to my home, to lower my carbon footprint. I paid extra for a battery back up system that powers a few electrical circuits, and ditched the electric water heater that heated water 24 – 7 and represented almost half of my electric bill, in favor of on-demand water heaters, one at each end of my home near the kitchen, laundry, and bathrooms, so I could have hot water during a power outage, and deliver hot water quickly, reducing wait time, and reducing water usage.
The solar installers were surprised I made that a priority. I’ve been through hurricanes and lost power for over a week. Having hot water pouring out of a shower when there’s no power, and no HVAC system, brings comfort and hope. Sharing that with neighbors and friends is a kind act.
Water is life, or so they say. Clean water is priceless.
Ask the people in Asheville, NC and surroundings.
Robert
I think the idea here is “invention” in your lifetime. Basically clean water has been part of our society for a much longer period of time. It is not an invention, though you can say that using artificial cleaning methods and sanitizing the water is modern invention.
I absolutely agree. Internet hands down. There are very few lives that have not been impacted, either directly or indirectly, by the Internet.
My first reaction was to agree – of course, the Internet is the greatest invention in my lifetime. But then I realized the microprocessor is what enabled the Internet (and many other things) to be invented. So, I’ve changed my mind. Final answer — the microprocessor!
The Internet doesn’t exist without the microprocessors. Moore’s Law made everything possible. It could be I’m just trying to sell a book but I don’t think so. https://www.amazon.com/Moores-Lore-Better-Faster-ebook/dp/B003552M30
Responding to your prompt. The internet is the most important invention of my lifetime, too. I thought about and rejected the TV, and the fax machine. My first thoughts were of technology devices. But what about the heart bypass operation. The polio vaccine, the stent.
Yes to all those innovations and inventions, but globally internet has had more of an impact than anything else, both in a good, and now as we are seeing in an increasingly terrible way.
I agree.
(my background – started working with computers in 1965 with punched cards. I was hired by the Great Northen Railway to program on the Univac III, and the Univac I was still giving us the grain report – 60% of our annual income. The Univac I had one thousand words of vacuum tube memory; you could walk into the memory and watch the flashing lights. Now, I have a pacemaker on my heart that has a much larger CPU. Like you, I have a stent. It’s amazing that we are here at all.)
An unappreciated aspect of the Internet is openness. I worked with various distributed systems, but they were all proprietary. Now, almost anyone can plug into the internet from anywhere, and it will work. Okay, it will work, mostly.
I’m a fellow fountain pen nerd, so I’m curious what pen (and ink!) you used when journaling. Also, I agree with your answer. I mean, how could it not be the internet?
I used my Nakaya Piccolo in Aka Tamenuri with the Octopus Fluids Barack 1910 Bordeaux ink.
I agree. It may also end up being one of the most damaging inventions of our life. We continue to see a cascade of mental health issues with the youth, who spend most of their time online.
It is both positive and negative at the same time. Most technology usually is like that to be candid. Just look at the entire history of everything.
Hi
A great post, thanks for sharing. Initially I agreed with you but then a colleague said that the transistor was more important. Finally another colleague captured imo the true essence of our digital world:
“ The internet is the nervous system, but the transistor is the cell it’s built from”. Software and hardware combining to share data anytime and anywhere.
Declan this is the eternal debate 🙂 I am not sure I can disagree with either argument.