Penicillin, Microchip, SatNav, Internet

I skipped last week’s ToTW entry because – quite honestly – the news that was being reported in this country made me sick. There was nothing I could even come close as describing as "my favourite story" and I suspect if I had started talking about any of them, I would have filled up pretty much the entire entry with ranting and abuse.

There are thousands of inventions in the world – literally thousands of thousands.

Some of them make the world a lot worse than they were – the atomic bomb, for example, was pretty much one of the most horrific inventions in the history of humanity. Even though it has only been (actively) deployed twice, it still ranks as one of the most evil and horrific acts humanity has ever perpetrated, and off the top of my head I would say that (in recent history at least) only The Holocaust exceeds it in terms of the sheer scale of evil that it introduced in to the world.

(I am, of course, excluding reality tv from this, because otherwise the question would be moot).

Some inventions don’t really have an impact, and vanish in to the midst’s of time. To the point where I can’t really remember any that came and went in the blink of an eye.

Some inventions don’t have a massive impact, but are still around. Electric toothbrushes are used, but haven’t taken the world by storm. Heated toilet seats – some people use them, but they aren’t in every house in every country. Personal organisers – useful, helpful, but not everyone needs them or uses them.

And then there are some inventions that do take the world by storm, but aren’t entirely useful or productive. The Rubik’s Cube – still popular, still fun, but they haven’t saved lives or revolutionised the world. Same with yo-yos, cat shaped speakers and ergonomic keyboards (side note – I have three. One each for the computers I have at home, and one for the computer I use at work. I can’t live without them because my hands have just got used to being in that position).

But every so often there are inventions (or discoveries in some cases) that just turn the world on its head and make sure life will never be the same again. And they do it to make sure life will be BETTER.

Penicillin (and most of modern medicine in general) literally changed the world. The fact people can now be cured of pretty basic diseases that were killing people less than a hundred years ago is just phenomenal, and a true testament to what humanity can achieve when it puts its collective mind to it. (On a related note – the fact we wiped smallpox off the face of the earth is truly brilliant and something I am truly in awe of). And the fact that the more advanced diseases can be staved off, if not entirely cured, is equally impressive.

The microchip also literally changed the way the world works. There is almost nothing in the world that is not powered by microchips and other assorted electronics. From the watch on your wrist to the server that manages your bank account. From the computer systems that manage the ICBMs to the ones that manage the traffic lights on the end of your street.

Try to start imagining the world without microchips and all of the systems managed by micro-electronics and I am pretty sure you would realise just how bad a world it would be.

The Global Positioning System and the Sat Nav network is also something that has improved the world. The ability to get automated directions to places you’ve never been, to have a fair idea of when you will arrive, what to do if there is a massive accident on the motorway and how to avoid roads you don’t like using is almost incalculable (especially for someone like me who has troubles with directions, not to mention getting horribly lost).

And before you come back at me with the "it drives you in to the river" argument, don’t, because it is a stupid argument made by stupid people who aren’t paying attention to where they are going and would almost certainly have driven in to the river even if they hadn’t had a sat-nav advising them where to go. Assuming they could actually work out how to get out of their drive without the sat-nav telling them how.

But I would say that the single biggest thing that has improved the world in the last twenty years or so is the internet.

Quite aside from making the world a smaller place (which is always a good thing), it – in theory – means that there should be a greater understanding between nations, people and religions.

Someone tells you something about Islam that confuses you? Look it up – check it out for yourself.

Someone tells you President Obama is going after your guns? Check it out – don’t just take their word for it – research it. The internet is right there, and there will be sites with official statistics that will offer you proof rather than gossip.

Confused about the 47%? Look it up and decide for yourself. It’s what free will is all about.

Someone tells you Cameron is looking out for the poor? Well – that’s obviously a lie, so you don’t really need to look it up, but should you not want to just take my word for it, look it up on the internet.

The biggest danger to a corrupt government is a well-informed populace. The foundation of democracy in any country is that we have all the facts at our disposal, and can make up our minds about the issues, rather than simply listening to biased opinions from papers paid by the people who are trying to buy your vote.

The biggest threat to the lies our government tells us is our ability to find the truth. And the internet – the internet is what you can use to do that.

I use it for work almost all the time. If I can’t figure out how to get the drop down list to display what I want, I go to the internet and there is an answer. If I want to find a toolkit that will let me show GPS tracking on my application, I go to the internet and there are hundreds to try out. If I want to get in touch with one of our customers in America (assuming we ever get customers in America), I can e-mail them first thing (when they are still in bed and asleep) and they get back to me when I get in to the office.

I can also work from home when necessary – something that has made life a great deal easier and better.

Without all this, my job would be infinitely harder to the point of being almost undoable. And yes – I know people wrote decent, even brilliant, software before the internet came about, but people also used to tell time with sundials, and I’d suggest that no one wants to go back to that because – why the hell would you?

And then you get to my personal life.

I can mail my parents, my twat of a brother, my friends. I have a friend in Australia (we met and bonded over the wonder of Anne of Green Gables) because of the internet – there i no way I ever would have started talking to her if there was no internet.

I have a Kindle – a device that would be pretty useless without the wonder that is the internet. I wouldn’t be able to download e-books, and instead I would probably have to order them on disc and go through some dumb-ass uploading procedure.

If I want to look up a Shakespeare quote, or who played Ensign Ro in The Next Generation, or the exact details of The Treaty of Versailles, I can just sit down at my keyboard and type

a few things in to a search engine (not Google, because I have a soul) and hundreds of pages pop-up, telling me exactly what I need to know.

I rarely watch tv news any more, because most of it is either too involved in trying to get an audience (rather than reporting the news) or is almost entirely biased. However if I need to find out what is going on in the world (which I sometimes do), or need to look up what moronic piece of elitist legislation our government is trying to pass off as helping everyone when really they are just trying to help their rich buddies get a few more thousand back in tax, I can.

I can sort out my finances, my bills, my schedule, my car services – almost everything I need to do, I do on line, because it is easier and quicker and simpler.

For her last but one birthday, I took my girlfriend to London for a holiday. We went to see Wicked, went on The London Eye, visited any number of attractions and tourist spots and I arranged all of it on line. It was so simple and easy that I can’t imagine having to do it any other way.

And, most importantly of all, I can easily talk to my girlfriend who lives 200 miles away. We talk on line all the time, rather than on the phone. Not because we dislike each other’s voices, but because – with the mobile and land line charges the phone companies charge – we can’t afford it. But with high speed broadband and the multitude of free chat software out there (MSN, Yahoo, ICQ etc) we can talk all night and all day for free. Plus, with the chat interfaces being text based, it is easy to share pictures, links, videos and other such fun things.

And there is, of course – the most important fact that we met on line. Since she lives 200 miles away, I would never have met her otherwise, and my world would be a much darker and sadder place than it is.

There are occasions where my router breaks, or the ISP have issues that can’t be easily resolved.

And it drives me mental. Not being able to look something up, check on a fact, catch up on the news, talk to my girlfriend – it’s infuriating to the point of making me utterly insane.

Could I live the rest of my life without the internet? I am not sure I could live the rest of the week without it.

How do I imagine that would be like? I don’t want to even contemplate it.