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Inventions the world didn’t need

(104 Posts)
watermeadow Tue 19-Sep-23 15:52:36

A boiling water tap
Pop up plugs
Blogs
Artificial grass
Nylon
What can you add which the world can live better without?

Grannybags Tue 19-Sep-23 15:54:56

Disposable vapes
Chinese lanterns

GrannyGravy13 Tue 19-Sep-23 15:56:38

Totally disagree with the boiling water tap, have had one for 25+ years and there is no way I will ever go back to a kettle.

Agree with artificial grass in 95% of installations.

I would add clingfilm.

Nell8 Tue 19-Sep-23 16:06:22

Loaves of bread topped with poppy seeds which escape all over the kitchen.

AGAA4 Tue 19-Sep-23 16:08:23

Plastic.

shysal Tue 19-Sep-23 16:10:06

High heeled shoes.
Cigarettes.

Skydancer Tue 19-Sep-23 16:42:06

Plastic definitely. Here's a thought: every toothbrush that has ever been made is still here somewhere.

Marydoll Tue 19-Sep-23 16:55:23

I have to disagree about blogs.

They were an integral part of children's digital portfolios, when I was teaching. They followed the child all the way to high school.
Staff and parents could access them.

I use a blog to publish our weekly parish bulletin on the website, I couldn't manage it without it.
They have their uses.

MrsThatcher Tue 19-Sep-23 17:00:54

Mobile phones!
I know they are a great invention etc but people are glued to them!

grandtanteJE65 Tue 19-Sep-23 17:00:56

The internal combustion engine fueled either by petrol or diesel. Admittedly, at the time it was invented it seemed a godsend, but just look at the environmental disaster it has turned out to be.

There is also a long list of man-made fibres, plastic, vinyl and things like asbestos to say nothing of the atomic bomb.

TwiceAsNice Tue 19-Sep-23 17:05:31

Agree with plastic
The Atom Bomb
Cigarettes and vapes
Vegan food
Artificial sweeteners
Anything that’s impossible to recycle

Kate1949 Tue 19-Sep-23 17:14:24

Facebook

Callistemon21 Tue 19-Sep-23 17:17:00

AGAA4

Plastic.

👍

Caravansera Tue 19-Sep-23 18:10:15

I am not a fan of DuPont because of the PFAS/PFAO scandal (watch the film Dark Waters starring Mark Ruffalo) but the world did need DuPont invention nylon.

In WW2 when Japan blocked the export of silk, nylon was subsituted to make parachutes and other war materials, such as airplane cords and ropes. There were riots in the USA when production of nylon stockings was halted and the material diverted to military supply.

When you brush your teeth, wear a swimsuit, drive a car with an airbag, eat fish caught in a net, you’ve taken advantage of nylon.

M0nica Tue 19-Sep-23 18:11:27

But without plastic, the internal combustion engine etc etc w would be trapped in a world like that in the early 19th century or earlier, much poverty may women dying in childbirth, with out all the other technical miracles that have followed

SueDonim Tue 19-Sep-23 18:14:32

Imagine what medical treatment today would be like without plastic! Those giant metal & glass syringes for injections, rubber tubes for drips, metal cannulas and speculums and so on. No thanks!

AGAA4 Tue 19-Sep-23 19:50:54

As there are many brilliant people in the world if plastic hadn't been invented something similar would have been that may not have polluted our earth and sea as plastic has done.

Chardy Tue 19-Sep-23 19:51:01

TwiceAsNice

Agree with plastic
The Atom Bomb
Cigarettes and vapes
Vegan food
Artificial sweeteners
Anything that’s impossible to recycle

What's wrong with vegan food, TwiceAsNice?

M0nica Tue 19-Sep-23 19:59:40

Tobacco,
if someone hadn't decided to put it in a pipe and smoke it, but just left it to grow in the wild and in gardens. How many lives and how many years of ill health would have been saved.

Smileless2012 Tue 19-Sep-23 20:02:27

I blame Sir Walter Raleigh but he did bring us the potato.

VioletSky Tue 19-Sep-23 20:09:18

Nuclear weapons
Genetically modified food, especially wheat
Whatever it is that keeps jamming my kitchen drawer shut

Callistemon21 Tue 19-Sep-23 20:26:17

Smileless2012

I blame Sir Walter Raleigh but he did bring us the potato.

First the bad news ...
www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D_XDxAzVEbN4&ved=2ahUKEwj6q6nKs7eBAxUPUkEAHaa4AugQtwJ6BAgfEAE&usg=AOvVaw2gkBSuxJ0ih4Spq8gQD_St

SachaMac Tue 19-Sep-23 20:29:46

Noisy fireworks
Lip Fillers
Selfie Sticks
Electric sauna suits

Gillycats Tue 19-Sep-23 20:29:59

Junk food
Plastic
Chinese lanterns
Noisy fireworks
Cigarettes and vapes
Zoo’s
Processed food

I’m interested to see what the problem with vegan food is!

GrandmaKT Tue 19-Sep-23 20:30:20

Sliced bread!