Yeah, the app store is overwhelming. Love that touch screen. It’s an all-in-one picture album, GPS, media archive, game platform and know-it-all gadget that’s assuaged the boredom of technophiles everywhere. I hear rumors you can even make calls on it.
But iPhone users, tell me: Is America’s too-cool-for-school smartphone really better than the flushing toilet?
Some folks think it is. According to a new study by Tesco Mobile in Great Britain, the iPhone ranked eighth on the list of history’s greatest inventions—finishing behind such things as the wheel and lightbulb, but ahead of the internal combustion engine, central heating and the ever-popular commode.
Cynics might suspect Tesco—being a mobile phone retailer and all—might’ve finagled with the results a bit. Still, the poll is pretty interesting. Tech stuff invented in my lifetime claimed three of the top 10 spots (the Internet at No. 4, PCs at No. 5 and the aforementioned iPhone), leaving such staples as refrigerators (No. 14), cars (No. 19) and shoes (No. 30) on the outside looking in. The list confirmed that we’re positively addled by our sheer inventiveness, with laptops, Wi-Fi and Google all ranking ahead of bicycles, matches and chairs.
All these items turned out to be more highly thought of than sliced bread, though, which polled at a modest No. 70.
The compass, which allowed humanity to circumnavigate the globe, came in at No. 31 on Tesco’s poll—two slots below “hot water,” which to my mind wouldn’t seem to be an invention at all. Paper (No. 38) ranked below hair straightener (No. 34), , and the push-up bra (No. 77) was apparently far more important than the calendar, which barely beat out the cheese grater for the No. 87 spot.
Plugged In, for some reason, didn’t make the list.
Clearly the best inventions are underappreciated.
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