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The basic internal combustion engine. Without it, we'd still be spending half our lives travelling places.
by Jaruzel 7y ago
The basic internal combustion engine.
Without it, we'd still be spending half our lives travelling places.
- abrax3141 7y agoImportant, def! But I don't think that this could count as "simple".
- abyssin 7y agoNot saying it didn't have an impact, but I'm nitpicking about the impact it had on how we spend our time: "Marchetti's constant is the average time spent by a person for commuting each day, which is approximately one hour. [...] Ever since Neolithic times, people have kept the average time spent per day for travel the same, even though the distance may increase due to the advancements in the means of transportation." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marchetti's_constant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marchetti's_constant
- zip1234 7y agoI would say the internal combustion engine has not meaningfully cut people's day to day travel. Where prevalent, many just live further away and travel a long time still. I understand that long distance travel has been revolutionized by engines (steam and internal combustion), but I'm not certain about day to day travel. Many people near me are in a car for multiple hours per day. I would love to see a study on average 'commute' times in the 17-1800s.