30-04-2005 08:35									#61
	Inflate your Upload Space

Some of those technologies are not based on the concept or technology of the printing press, however. Typewriters, yes. Fax machines, no. Even handwritten pages fax just fine. Over the last 20 years or so, the printing press and its derivatives are being phased out in large part.

You could make the argument that the concept of a typeface is what bridges the technologies, but I think that's somewhat tenuous.

To apply the concept to another example... If we look at von Braun, he has dibs on the top spot if most space transportation is done in the future by a rocket through either chemical or nuclear rocket propulsion. His stature in this area is unmatched by a long shot. If it is done by a flying saucer, then he wouldn't have dibs. If it is done by electric propulsion, then Goddard has a better claim. If it is done by space elevator, then that Russian guy gets the nod, etc.

Last edited by DanS on 30-04-2005 at 08:53

	30-04-2005 09:36									#62
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quote: Some of those technologies are not based on the concept or technology of the printing press, however.

I don't know, seems like all the things you mentioned are part of the process of mass-produced communications... which is the essential concept of the printing press.

	30-04-2005 22:55									#63
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Yeah, John T, communications by any form is what Gutenberg started.

	01-05-2005 00:52									#64
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Didn't the Chinese have the printing press some 400 years earlier? Not as developed, but the concept was nevertheless there.

	01-05-2005 01:24									#65
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

quote: Originally posted by Dauphin Didn't the Chinese have the printing press some 400 years earlier? Not as developed, but the concept was nevertheless there.

In a way, yes.

But, as with many things first invented by the Chinese, they didn't develop it to its full potential.

	01-05-2005 02:13									#66
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Ghandi

Thought that would have been rather obvious...

	01-05-2005 03:39									#67
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It's a bit of an odd question really.

If you want to make it a causal question (who caused the biggest impact) then it could be anyone. I mean, it could be the guy who woke up too late and didn't run the boy Hitler down.

Or it could be the one person who caused the tipping point at the battle of Waterloo.

If you just restrict it to causes then you aren't going to get satisfactory answers.

Similarly, the person who discovered "X" isn't going to do much either. Take Watson and Crick. Yes they made discoveries but if they hadn't someone else would have - many people were working on the problem.

Better to stick to people who had massive influence or created ideas that had massive influence and who were so original that no-one else would have got near.

Newton leaps to the mind, as does Aristotle and the Buddha.

But I'm not sure that will work either.

	01-05-2005 03:41									#68
	Remove this text

me

	01-05-2005 06:37									#69
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quote: Originally posted by Bill3000 me

Who are you?

	01-05-2005 06:54									#70
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A kid who used to talk a lot about this thing he calls "United Demesos" and likes to play World of Warcraft, apparently.

	01-05-2005 07:15									#71
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

Newton or Marx probably.

Watson and Crick are immensely over-rated, Darwin won't have a massive impact unless religion finally goes tits-up, or some nutter starts a serious eugenics program FOR SCIENCE.

Berners-Lee maybe for the next 50 years, but networking was going to be massive with or without HTML, and I think the internets will reach beyond text very rapidly.

The nuclear bomb guys if some idiot starts using them. (Unless the user is also eligable, in which case, he's in).

In terms of most important invention, the transformers which made shifting electricity around were pretty major. Home electricity pretty much changed the world.

	01-05-2005 08:41									#72
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Saddam. He may have blundered into the democratization of the middle east.

Last edited by bayraven on 01-05-2005 at 08:48

	01-05-2005 13:54									#73
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quote: Originally posted by Bill3000 me

Finally! I was wondering when somebody would say "me"