25 Most Significant Inventions In Human History

Out of all the inventions and creations in human history, the ability to preserve one’s knowledge on something external and keep a permanent record of it is the most important.

Writing enabled humans to share knowledge long forgotten, keep track of important changes, and, when putting new ideas together, it became easier to put more complex ideas together when there was a record of what occurred earlier.

Many major ideas and breakthroughs in science and technology could only come to fruition because of writing and having something to write on. It was writing that allowed the study of mathematics, the technical reading of maps and charts, the creation of language and important texts, and the first form of long-distance communication.

While cuneiform was able to be recorded on stones, papyrus scrolls set the template for the future. Without these, it would be extremely difficult to remember important details and essential pieces of knowledge, especially if they are lost for long periods of time. Though there are still some groups who pass on their traditions exclusively through oral communication, it’s much simpler to write them down and have a (nearly) permanent record of that knowledge.

In the end, humanity’s knowledge of everything known today comes from something that was written somewhere and recorded for future generations.