If you look back through the history of humanity; look at all we have achieved; marvel at the vast array of cultural and technological innovations that mark civilisation … did you think the iPhone would make the Top 10 list? Four thousand Tesco Mobile customers thought so.
A survey amongst 4,000 customers from Tesco Mobile in the UK came up with the Top 100 inventions of all time. The wheel made it to No 1 but that’s probably due in part to the fact that it is so obvious and not so much that there was deep thought behind it because strangely enough the iPhone was voted No 8 on the list, making a smartphone more important than the flushing toilet.
Even the internal combustion engine failed to outshine the importance of the iPhone – it came in at No 10. And it beat both the car and the camera. Hmm.
Overall, modern technology featured strongly in this list: the internet was seen as the fourth best invention of all time with the personal computer at No 5 and the telephone at No 6.
One would think that harnessing the electric current, wireless transmission of data, plastic, the battery, mass production and other such innovations would have superseded the iPhone. Well, at least penicillin made it higher on the list.
By Marie Boran
Photo: The Apple iPhone
