Invention

[Ed W]

My pick for the top invention of the last twenty years would be the memory chip and its continuing development.  Computer memory chips are smaller and use far less power than they did 20 years ago, meaning that your portable devices like cameras, cellphones, GPS, and whatnot, don't have to include enormous batteries.  Memory is physically smaller, yet contains far more storage, allowing for more complicated programs or more functions on a single device. 

Honestly, random access memory for 8080 based systems used transistor-transistor logic and sucked down huge quantities of current.  That also produced a lot of heat.  You could set a coffee cup on top of a computer and it would stay warm all day.  Modern flash memory, SRAMs, or NVRAMS only get hot when something is terribly wrong.

My first 'real' computer was an IBM PS2 Model 30 with a 'gigantic' 20 megabyte hard drive.  (I won't count the TI99/4A as a real computer.  It was a tinker toy.)  This morning I bought a USB flash memory stick with 4 gigabytes of storage for $10.  I can put it on my keyring.  Oh, sure, I could put the PS2 on a keyring, but I wouldn't expect to be able to go anywhere!

[Conan71]

Ed, the first PC I owned had 1 meg of memory, 386 processor, and a "gigantic" 40 meg hard drive.  The sales person assured me I could never possibly fill that hard drive.  Are there even any programs which are less than 40 megs these days? LOL.

I had a vendor send me about 10 photos over the weekend of some equipment he wanted to sell. He has no clue about compression and all the photos were 5-6 megs each.

[Red Arrow]

Not counting the Commodore 64 since it wasn't a "PC", my first "PC" compatible was a Compaq Desk Pro, 286 with  6 MHz or 8 MHz speed choices.  I think I started with 640K memory but later expanded it for several hundred $ to 2.2M.  It had 2 FDD of 360K each.  I turned down the 1.2M FDD because they had reliability problems.   I think it had a 30MB drive since anything over 32MB had to be partitioned.  A real plus was a monochrome display that simulated VGA.  I later added a real color monitor.  Long time ago.

[Gaspar]

Not counting the Commodore 64 since it wasn't a "PC", my first "PC" compatible was a Compaq Desk Pro, 286 with  6 MHz or 8 MHz speed choices.  I think I started with 640K memory but later expanded it for several hundred $ to 2.2M.  It had 2 FDD of 360K each.  I turned down the 1.2M FDD because they had reliability problems.   I think it had a 30MB drive since anything over 32MB had to be partitioned.  A real plus was a monochrome display that simulated VGA.  I later added a real color monitor.  Long time ago.

Mine was the Heathkit Z80.  We built it when I was about 8 years old.  I still have a scar on the bottom of my left foot from stepping on a prom in the middle of the night. My dad wanted me to know how to build a computer before learning to use one.

My second was a TRS-80, then Apple II, then IBM 286, 386, Pentium, Apple G3, G5. . .

[heironymouspasparagus]

Nothing.  There have been no inventions in the last 20 years.  Only refinements and derivatives of inventions from long ago.

The transistor was 1947 and the entire computer revolution is a derivative and serious refinement.  Instead of 1 transistor on a chip, there are 500 million.  Just a matter of scale.

Before that, the next previous invention was probably the photo copier, but that is easily arguable it is derivative of the mimeograph - just loose powder rather than coated.

From the TV ads, one MIGHT be able to argue that Viagra is the greatest invention.  But then one could argue that it is derivative, at least functionally, of phentolamine.  And Viagra was created just over the 20 years in the 1980's.  Trials started in 1991, so it was around a while before that under development.

Nope, no new inventions.  Guess we might as well shut down the patent office...

[custosnox]

Nothing.  There have been no inventions in the last 20 years.  Only refinements and derivatives of inventions from long ago.

The transistor was 1947 and the entire computer revolution is a derivative and serious refinement.  Instead of 1 transistor on a chip, there are 500 million.  Just a matter of scale.

Before that, the next previous invention was probably the photo copier, but that is easily arguable it is derivative of the mimeograph - just loose powder rather than coated.

From the TV ads, one MIGHT be able to argue that Viagra is the greatest invention.  But then one could argue that it is derivative, at least functionally, of phentolamine.  And Viagra was created just over the 20 years in the 1980's.  Trials started in 1991, so it was around a while before that under development.

Nope, no new inventions.  Guess we might as well shut down the patent office...

Well, if we go that route, then we might as well say there is no such thing as inventions, since they are all derived from nature in some way, form or fashion.

[heironymouspasparagus]

That would be the logical extension.

In truth, it is much more likely that we have just been "hand-held" and lead down the path of progress by alien mentors...and probably the best and most absolute evidence of that is the fact that they have had the good sense not to contact us (idea of someone I know, but it is logical...)

[DolfanBob]

After looking around the number one invention(In my opinion)the internet. There really hasnt been a thought put to paper put to test put to production then use and made the standard. In the last 20 years.
I saw answers of ATMs, Air bags, GPS, Prozac, Laptops, Kiosks, Cell Phones, IPods, DVDs etc.etc.
Nothing really Alexander Graham Bell kind of stuff. And Microsoft can be argued as a product of theft and not invention. So where are todays Benjamin Franklin and Jonas Salks ? We have come so far, but not really.
By todays standards. Have we stopped dreaming or is it just that hard to be heard or taken seriously. Todays kids really have no idea the kind of things that came before the overlooked standards of this age. If the last 20 years have netted us nothing unique. What really can the next 20 possibly bring but much of the same.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Internet is closer to 40 years old than 20.  DARPA in the '70s/80s.
Same with Microsoft - old.  And they stole every idea they had from Xerox.  As did Apple with the first Mac.  (Windows interface style.)

We have been filling in the blanks.  When there is a truly new, unique idea, it takes a long time to make full use of the concept.  Transistor is a classic.  Internal combustion engine.  Steam engine.  We are still filling in all the gaps for the transistor.  And when one of those big solar flares hits, destroys every semiconductor in its path, think of the economic opportunity for replacing all those iPods, etc!!  Biggest economic boom the planet has seen, and it will mostly go to the benefit of China! 

Again, history will repeat itself because we ignore or are ignorant of it.

[nathanm]

Biggest economic boom the planet has seen, and it will mostly go to the benefit of China!  

Or would be, if it wouldn't also destroy the semiconductor-based machines used to make microchips, and most every generator connected to the electric supply. I hope they have a few buried in a mountain somewhere. The tiny wires used to connect the chip itself to the pins on the package can't be done by hand. Re-winding generators and transformers seems like child's play by comparison.

[bugo]

The modern World Wide Web.  The Internet was initially created back in the 60s but it wasn't available to the masses until the 1990s.  It technically wasn't invented in the last 20 years, but its public accessibility has caused a revolution that has changed life far more than anything else.