MOBILE phones were branded one of the worst inventions yesterday.
Guns, explosives, atomic bombs and biological weapons topped the poll, disliked by 35 per cent of the 4,100 surveyed.
The car and cigarettes got six per cent of the votes, followed by fast food and speed cameras with only three per cent. Religion was 10th in the BBC Focus magazine’s study.
Weapons 35%
Mobile Phones 17%
Nuclear Power 9%
Sinclair C5 9%
Television 9%
The Car 6%
Cigarettes 6%
Fast Food 3%
Speed Cameras 3%
Religion 2%
I wonder if we have higher percentages — in which categories — at DU?
Let’s do this type of poll at dvorak.org. I’m sure religion would take a more prominent place.
If Religion is a modern invention than I would vote for War. but I would define both as being amoung our Oldest Professions, and would vote for Nuclear Power as Worst Modern Invention as it could still be be our undoing, accidentally or intentionally.
and whay can you say about the 120+ who voted for speed cameras? Wannabe NASCAR drivers maybe?
I would think people on this site would know that religion is not a modern invention, unless you’re talking about a specific few.
And how are cigarettes a modern invention? Or guns?
I’m not sure if fast food counts either but I’ll give that a pass.
I would call religion an incurable meme virus.
The headline is a little bit misleading… it’s not just modern inventions, but inventions in general.
“I would call religion an incurable meme virus.” A parasitic meme, you mean, Smartalix? Fortunately, the so-afflicted *can* be cured.
Speaking of…diseases of the mind, read an article on the high incidence of toxoplasmosis in France and its effects on human behavior. Guess that would make Marcel Marceau a parasitic mime.
4, 6: A personal religion’s OK, until the person figures out it’s a profit center and converts others to increase the profit.
“My brother’s a poor missionary,
He saves fallen women from sin.
He’ll save you a blonde for a guinea,
My God how the money rolls in.”
4, 6: A personal religion’s OK, until the person figures out it’s a profit center and converts others to increase the profit.
“My brother’s a poor missionary,
He saves fallen women from sin.
He’ll save you a blonde for a guinea,
My God how the money rolls in.”
http://www.odps.org/glossword/index.php?a=term&d=5&t=119
“Guns, explosives, atomic bombs and biological weapons topped the poll…”. Um, that is not what the poll results said. I think you are reading in too much into the word “weapon”.
The first weapons were probably rocks. And I would hardly call those a “modern invention”. This poll is pretty vague. I would rather see a poll of worst (and best) inventions of the twentieth century.
If you broke weapons into all their respective categories (which would be a very long list), I would suppose that this British poll would put the Sinclair C5 nearer the top of the list and the mobile phone at the very top.
Also, I would bet that many of the least liked inventions would also be many of the most liked if taken in a converse poll.
#10 – OTOH, “Power comes from the barrel of a gun.” Mao Tse Tung
I like Jägermeister’s idea (#1) – is there a way to do the poll here at DU? Aside from religion probably zooming up toward the top (even if limited to new religions or, as I think Angel once said, *coughscientology*) it’s be interesting to see the other rankings.
I think that the hydrogen bomb would be the winner, far and away. When it was invented, we became the first species on Earth to be able to purposely commit suicide. every other weapon (including chemical and biological) is but a pointy stick by comparison.
I’ll say (highly) processed foods is a general category of invention that probably has hurt (and will continue to hurt) more than it helped.
To be more specific, some believe that refined sugar and its cousin, corn syrup, are the main factors behind the increasing rates of obesity and diabetes in this world. Would consider adding refined flour to the list.
#12 BHK – Tickle Me Elmo would rank higher than Barbie & Ken on your list? Really?
I think it’s funny that the Sinclair C5 was mentioned specifically, while the other “winners” are broad categories. Why not just say “all goofy looking one-man transportation devices” and catch the Segue in there as well.
The “Frazz” comic strip had a “10 Worst” list today. The Frazz character is a janitor at a middle school and the list entries supposedly came from the kids in the classroom. Winners included:
S.U.V.s
Singing fish plaques
Bike shorts
“Three of one kind of spam and one of the other”
Ring Tones
Celine and Ozzie
A neighbor’s leaf blower
Television sweeps week
I’d say the nightly news and/or cable news networks: Summarizing today’s most important news into easily digestible 30 second sound bites to make the masses ignorant, guaranteed!
Government 2.0
psychology and Focus groups.
How they learned to PUSH our buttons to make us Pay MORE for something PRETTY, and NOT as functionable.
Upper class University and Colleges…
for their share in trying to make the SMART person seem DUMB..
and remembering that These institutions were NOT required until about 20 years ago, to MAKE any decent money.
Actually I would put SUVs, mobile phones, TV, nuclear power and high-tech weapons (including the H-Bomb) as some of the best inventions ever.