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What is a celebrated invention/discovery attributed to a single person but, had they not done it at the time, it is likely that someone else would have done it anyway not long after? (mander.xyz)

submitted 2 days ago by narwhal@mander.xyz to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

30 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Bonus question: What is an invention that was really important and there is no telling how long we would have to wait for it to appear had it not been discovered by the one credited with it?

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[–] narwhal@mander.xyz 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

I think time is an important variable, I should have stressed it more in the question. Sure, we would eventually get to the same ideas, but how long would it take? I suspect some development are somewhat expected as multiple people are simultaneously looking at the same underlying problem, while others come as a little more surprising.

[–] bufalo1973@piefed.social 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Maybe you know it but iron was known in Center Africa before than in Europe or Middle East... but they didn't know bronze at that time.

Time and "order" are very unimportant with discoveries.

[–] narwhal@mander.xyz 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Time and "order" are very unimportant with discoveries.

Im pretty sure historians would disagree with this statement.

[–] bufalo1973@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago

What I mean is that there's no "correct order" in discoveries except if one is needed for the other. Horse riding and the wheel are not linked.