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What has had a bigger impact on humanity. The automobile or the computer?

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The automobile or the computer?

  • the computer

    Votes: 30 46.2%

  • the automobile

    Votes: 35 53.8%
  • Total voters
    65
sdifox said:
Err, stop looking at just America. What automobile gave the US is the American way of life. Plenty of other things could have filled the void left by automobile should you uninvent them. Not so with computers.
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Do you live globally or, do you reside in one city for most of the time? You don't get to redesign history. While America isn't a large chunk of humanity, I'd argue our influence has certainly affected the entire world.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
Do you live globally or, do you reside in one city for most of the time? You don't get to redesign history. While America isn't a large chunk of humanity, I'd argue our influence has certainly affected the entire world.
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I have lived in Asia, South America and now North America. Perspective is important.
 
sdifox said:
I have lived in Asia, South America and now North America. Perspective is important.
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Yes, it is. It's even more important to understand the differences in perspective in each place. My view is that the automobile and, by inference, the internal combustion engine has had a much greater impact than computers to date. That will probably change but, right now, the automobile is in the lead.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
Yes, it is. It's even more important to understand the differences in perspective in each place. My view is that the automobile and, by inference, the internal combustion engine has had a much greater impact than computers to date. That will probably change but, right now, the automobile is in the lead.
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ICE predates automobiles.
 
norseamd said:
I think you greatly misunderstand the reality of how much impact computers and the internet have, and how we are just on the cusp of the beginning of the change that computers and the internet are going to bring us.

Im guessing you really arent aware of just how many people in the world actually own a computer and use the internet daily.
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The question was the impact it has had not just how it's used today.

The internet is newish compared to the automobile and I don't think you understand how much impact in transporting items alone the automobile has had much less in allowing a population to expand and get the supplies they would need to survive.

Without these things we wouldn't even have computers.

What we really need is an age check on who voted for computers as it's going to be 95% millennials who can't live without checking twitter 5 times a hour.
 
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Newbian said:
The question was the impact it has had not just how it's used today.

The internet is newish compared to the automobile and I don't think you understand how much impact in transporting items alone the automobile has had much less in allowing a population to expand and get the supplies they would need to survive.

Without these things we wouldn't even have computers.

What we really need is an age check on who voted for computers as it's going to be 95% millennials who can't live without checking twitter 5 times a hour.
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Ever heard of the difference engine?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine

Or more importantly the analytical engine.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_Engine

And I have a millenial kid...
 
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sdifox said:
Your Chinese Fuji apple is not getting from China to you on automobile. It is probably travelling by refrigerated container filled with co2. Refrigeration and biotech (be it old fashioned grafting or gmo) is what allowd us to increase food availability.
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As I said, the OP should have used the gas/diesel engine instead of the automobile. The engine allowed vastly more land to be farmed per person and that food to be quickly transported to other areas. Like I said, before the advent of the engine 2/3rds of Americans were farmers, mostly out of sheer necessity. That along with significantly increased mobility allowed people to move off of farms and into other industries.

Sure GMO's have had a huge impact and I'm not trying to downplay their role but I wouldn't say that they have had close to the impact of the tractor and various other engine driven farm equipment.
 
sdifox said:
Your Chinese Fuji apple is not getting from China to you on automobile. It is probably travelling by refrigerated container filled with co2. Refrigeration and biotech (be it old fashioned grafting or gmo) is what allowd us to increase food availability.
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Point taken, however our Fuji apples most likely come from the Yakima valley in Washington. Less than 5% of apples and apple products in the U.S. come from China.
 
feralkid said:
Point taken, however our Fuji apples most likely come from the Yakima valley in Washington. Less than 5% of apples and apple products in the U.S. come from China.
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Was just an example. The specific produce is not the point. If only we are not conditioned into fearing irradiated produce.
 
Darwin333 said:
As I said, the OP should have used the gas/diesel engine instead of the automobile. The engine allowed vastly more land to be farmed per person and that food to be quickly transported to other areas. Like I said, before the advent of the engine 2/3rds of Americans were farmers, mostly out of sheer necessity. That along with significantly increased mobility allowed people to move off of farms and into other industries.

Sure GMO's have had a huge impact and I'm not trying to downplay their role but I wouldn't say that they have had close to the impact of the tractor and various other engine driven farm equipment.
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And I would have said ICE > computer. But op said automobile.
 
I think the problem most have had is the current impact they have compared to their total impact with includes their past as computers have really not had a massive impact except for the past 40-50ish years for most people and the question was bigger impact.

Some don't realize what would life would look like right now without automobiles.
 
Newbian said:
The question was the impact it has had not just how it's used today.

The internet is newish compared to the automobile and I don't think you understand how much impact in transporting items alone the automobile has had much less in allowing a population to expand and get the supplies they would need to survive.

Without these things we wouldn't even have computers.

What we really need is an age check on who voted for computers as it's going to be 95% millennials who can't live without checking twitter 5 times a hour.
Click to expand...

You might want to think about my last question. Can you answer it?
 
Darwin333 said:
As I said, the OP should have used the gas/diesel engine instead of the automobile. The engine allowed vastly more land to be farmed per person and that food to be quickly transported to other areas. Like I said, before the advent of the engine 2/3rds of Americans were farmers, mostly out of sheer necessity. That along with significantly increased mobility allowed people to move off of farms and into other industries.

Sure GMO's have had a huge impact and I'm not trying to downplay their role but I wouldn't say that they have had close to the impact of the tractor and various other engine driven farm equipment.
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I would lump any wheeled motorized vehicle as an automobile as they were all invented afterwards - ie. motorcycle, bus, farm tractor, semi-trucks, etc. All you need to do is google history of any of these vehicles.
 
computers in cars.

fuck you carburetors.

40 years ago pump the gas and start the car and hope it stays running.

today push a button, done.
 
Computers. Many cities around the world work very well with very few people driving and rely primarily on a well designed rail system.
Automobiles were an evolution to transportation. Computers is a complete revolution to the way information is stored and transmitted. The vast majority of the people now spend most of their time in front of computers.
 
obviously the computer.

Trade, shipping, finance, communication, it's all computer-enhanced. Globalization without computers wouldn't exist. Globalization actually changed the world. Science without computers wouldn't have come this far either.

The car just changed parts of the urban landscape in the first world and some developing countries and created a new lifestyle in certain areas but it's just a cheap horse and buggy really. They're an incremental step in affordability of private mobility, and never became critical in the big cities that lead the world anyway. London, New york, etc., would they be different without cars? They existed as economic centres before mass adoption of cars and didn't cease to be because of the car, and dense non-car dependent cities still lead the world and are where the economic growth happens.

The suburbs is just what happens when a mansion out of the city + buggy and horse becomes something most people can afford and not just a few noblemen and merchants of a city. There's nothing revolutionary about it.
 
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Murloc said:
obviously the computer.

Trade, shipping, finance, communication, it's all computer-enhanced. Globalization without computers wouldn't exist. Globalization actually changed the world. Science without computers wouldn't have come this far either.

The car just changed parts of the urban landscape in the first world and some developing countries and created a new lifestyle in certain areas but it's just a cheap horse and buggy really. They're an incremental step in affordability of private mobility, and never became critical in the big cities that lead the world anyway. London, New york, etc., would they be different without cars? They existed as economic centres before mass adoption of cars and didn't cease to be because of the car, and dense non-car dependent cities still lead the world and are where the economic growth happens.

The suburbs is just what happens when a mansion out of the city + buggy and horse becomes something most people can afford and not just a few noblemen and merchants of a city. There's nothing revolutionary about it.
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What do you think farm/mining equipment are based on?
 
Capt Caveman said:
What do you think farm/mining equipment are based on?
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Automobile <> ICE.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_car
 
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yhelothar said:
Computers. Many cities around the world work very well with very few people driving and rely primarily on a well designed rail system.
Automobiles were an evolution to transportation. Computers is a complete revolution to the way information is stored and transmitted. The vast majority of the people now spend most of their time in front of computers.
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And how do all of the goods that stores need get delivered? Raw materials to build the city? Sourcing the raw materials?
 
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