Bad History
The History Channel asks its readers to vote for the most important invention of all time. They give these four poor choices:
Light Bulb
Television
Personal Computer
Airplane
The wheel is obviously the most important invention of all time. No argument. We're left, therefore, with discussing the most important modern invention.
The light bulb? Edison did not invent the light bulb. He made a better incandescent bulb, true enough, but his real accomplishment was developing a practical and economical electrical system, from the generator at the powerplant right through to the electrical sockets in a home.
The television? Please. The contribution radio made to the last century far exceeds anything television provided.
The personal computer? The silly thing didn't come into widespread use until the mid-1980s.
The airplane. Hmm. A much wiser choice. I will ruminate on this some more.
I think the telephone, radio, or the transistor were the most important modern inventions. Radio let news flow instantaneously to a nearby city or around the world. For the general public, however, its importance was limited since it worked only one way. You got news, you couldn't send news back.
The telephone eventually tied the world in a web of immediate, back and forth, two way conversations. Knowledge bulding in the last century was so rapid that it can only be compared to the days before and after moveable type was invented. And that building was because of the telephone.
Still, I could argue that the transistor is the most important modern invention. It enabled the Modern Age. Look around you. Your life today could not be conducted with only vacuum tube technology. I'll quit here. Mindless speculating is perhaps only for the mindless.