> Now I'm wondering if the sum total of all inventions prior to 1800 is more or less than the total since 2000 Not sure why you have the gap between 1800 and 2

> Now I'm wondering if the sum total of all inventions prior to 1800 is more or less than the total since 2000 Not sure why you have the gap between 1800 and 2000. But the number of things 'invented' before 1800 is massive in terms of the broad categories of things we consider essential to life e.g. (in no particular order) fire, transport, cooking, metal working, agriculture, animal husbandry, buildings, weapons, health care, books, paintings, music, optics, etc. There are very few things after 2000 of such importance. I suspect that if you had a single cut-off at 1800, 'before' might still win, if we stick to these high-level categories, rather than, say, patent applications.