If you ask me? Mobile/WiFi internet… The way and amount of time we use our phones had changed A LOT since their diffusion. I guess the release of the iPhone changed our idea of what a phone is too
Edit: when I say modern world I’m referring to the last 50 years. So stuff like “the electricity” or “the telephone” doesn’t count.
Chemical fertilizer. World population would probably be half the size without it and starvation rates much higher.
One of the guys who invented the process for large scale production was Fritz Haber, to make explosives and chemical weapons. He’s also responsible for using chlorine gas on the battlefield in WW1. His wife was a chemist and an activist, who shot herself in the heart after learning about his involvement. Haber left within days for the Eastern Front to oversee gas release against the Russian Army.
He ended up saving more lives than he destroyed, but what a story.
There’s a really good section on him in the book, How to hide an empire - a history of the greater united states.
I don’t believe this, is there a convincing argument to be made or does it hinge on destroying the environment to reduce cost to the consumer?
What a wild question.
Why? They are extremely damaging. The runoff destroys entire ecosystems like the wetlands where I used to live. Now filled with toxic microorganisms feeding on the fertiliser accumulating there
You are making a red-herring argument.
The post’s question is: “What technology made the most impact in modern times?”
A poster says “Chemical fertilizers” and detailed the reasons.
And then you come in and say “NU-UH, IT DESTROYS THE PLANET!!!” an argument that has nothing to do with the question.
If your interpretation is that “impact” includes negative sentiment and mine did not then sure
Impact
noun
a marked effect or influence.
My interpretation of impact includes both positive and negative sentiments.
Whereas you are saying that a negative thing doesn’t count as impact.