Inventions we DON'T need

There are many great inventions; the fridge, washing machine, telephone, phonograph etc. - you name it. But what is the ONE thing you wish had never been invented?

Spyware.

Does it count.

Originally Posted by hibgal

There are many great inventions; the fridge, washing machine, telephone, phonograph etc. - you name it. But what is the ONE thing you wish had never been invented?

Guns, obviously. (Chinese invention of powder), (I mean any kind of weaponnery-A-bomb, H-bomb(the best one!))etc

Anything counts, Aimee. Computer viruses got to be up there as the most useless invention!

Henry Miller the writer once said the telephone is the invention of the devil because his phone rang constantly, price for being famous I guess, Henry.

Originally Posted by pattiboyd's slave

Henry Miller the writer once said the telephone is the invention of the devil because his phone rang constantly, price for being famous I guess, Henry.

I can communicate with him. I've become a medium.

Artificial flowers. Natural ones look better, produce oxigen and they're biodegradable.

heated toilet seats

any war weapons

anything created with the intention of maiming and/or death

I agree about the A-bomb.

Originally Posted by hibgal

phonograph

Anything harmful, really:
Guns. What's the point, really?
Cigarettes. Has killed too many people I have loved.
Drugs like crystal meth, heroine, etc. I know some jerk in a lab came up with those.
Those come to mind...

Speedos! Unsightly on any male body.

Originally Posted by Magill

Anything harmful, really:
Guns. What's the point, really?
Cigarettes. Has killed too many people I have loved.
Drugs like crystal meth, heroine, etc. I know some jerk in a lab came up with those.
Those come to mind...

Just to clarify. If you meant heroin, it's a semi-synthetic opioid synthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. It is the 3,6-diacetyl ester of morphine (hence diacetylmorphine). The white crystalline form is commonly the hydrochloride salt diacetylmorphine hydrochloride.

The opium poppy was cultivated in lower Mesopotamia as long ago as 3400 BC. The chemical analysis of opium in the 19th century revealed that most of its activity could be ascribed to two ingredients, codeine and morphine.

In 1803. an active compound of heroin was discovered: morphine.

Heroin was first synthesized in 1874 by C.R. Alder Wright, an English chemist working at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, England. He had been experimenting with combining morphine with various acids. He boiled anhydrous morphine alkaloid with acetic anhydride over a stove for several hours and produced a more potent, acetylated form of morphine, now called diacetylmorphine. The compound was sent to F.M. Pierce of Owens College in Manchester for analysis, who reported the following to Wright:

Doses ... were subcutaneously injected into young dogs and rabbits ... with the following general results ... great prostration, fear, and sleepiness speedily following the administration, the eyes being sensitive, and pupils constrict, considerable salivation being produced in dogs, and slight tendency to vomiting in some cases, but no actual emesis. Respiration was at first quickened, but subsequently reduced, and the heart's action was diminished, and rendered irregular. Marked want of coordinating power over the muscular movements, and loss of power in the pelvis and hind limbs, together with a diminution of temperature in the rectum of about 4° (rectal failure).
Wright's invention, however, did not lead to any further developments, and heroin only became popular after it was independently re-synthesized 23 years later by another chemist, Felix Hoffmann. Hoffmann, working at the Bayer pharmaceutical company in Elberfeld, Germany, was instructed by his supervisor Heinrich Dreser to acetylate morphine with the objective of producing codeine, a constituent of the opium poppy, similar to morphine pharmacologically but less potent and less addictive. But instead of producing codeine, the experiment produced an acetylated form of morphine that was actually 1.5-2 times more potent than morphine itself. Bayer would name the substance "heroin", probably from the word heroisch, German for heroic, because in field studies people using the medicine felt "heroic".

From 1898 through to 1910 heroin was marketed as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough suppressant. Bayer marketed heroin as a cure for morphine addiction before it was discovered that heroin is rapidly metabolized into morphine, and as such, "heroin" was basically only a quicker acting form of morphine. The company was somewhat embarrassed by this new finding and it became a historical blunder for Bayer.

As with aspirin, Bayer lost some of its trademark rights to heroin following the German defeat in World War I.

In the United States the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was passed in 1914 to control the sale and distribution of heroin and other opiates. The law did allow heroin to be prescribed and sold for medical purposes. In particular, recreational users could often still be legally supplied with heroin and use it. In 1924, the United States Congress passed additional legislation banning the sale, importation or manufacture of heroin in the United States. It is now a Schedule I substance, and is thus illegal in the United States.

In the Netherlands, diamorphine(heroin) is a List I drug of the Opium Law. It is available for prescription under tight regulation to long-term heroin addicts, to whom methadone maintenance treatment has failed. Heroin is exclusively available for prescription to long-term heroin addicts, and cannot be used to treat severe pain or other illnesses.

In the United States, heroin is a schedule I drug according to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, making it illegal to possess without a DEA license. Possession of more than 100 grams of heroin or a mixture containing heroin is punishable with a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years of imprisonment in a federal prison.

In Canada, heroin is a controlled substance under Schedule I of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). Any person who seeks or obtains heroin without disclosing authorization 30 days prior to obtaining another prescription from a practitioner is guilty of an indictable offense and subject to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years. Possession of heroin for the purpose of trafficking is guilty of an indictable offense and subject to imprisonment for life.

In Hong Kong, heroin is regulated under Schedule 1 of Hong Kong's Chapter 134 Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. It it available by prescription. Anyone who supplies heroin without a valid prescription can be fined $10,000 (HKD). The penalty for trafficking or manufacturing heroin is a $5,000,000 (HKD) fine and life imprisonment. Possession of heroin without a license from the Department of Health is illegal with a $1,000,000 (HKD) fine and/or 7 years of jail time.

In the United Kingdom, heroin is available by prescription, though it is a restricted Class A drug. According to the 50th edition of the British National Formulary (BNF), diamorphine hydrochloride may be used in the treatment of acute pain, myocardial infarction, acute pulmonary oedema, and chronic pain. The treatment of chronic non-malignant pain must be supervised by a specialist. The BNF notes that all opioid analgesics cause dependence and tolerance but that this is "no deterrent in the control of pain in terminal illness". When used in the palliative care of cancer patients, heroin is often injected using a syringe driver.


The UK Department of Health's Rolleston Committee report in 1926 established the British approach to heroin prescription to users, which was maintained for the next forty years: dealers were prosecuted, but doctors could prescribe heroin to users when withdrawing from it would cause harm or severe distress to the patient. This "policing and prescribing" policy effectively controlled the perceived heroin problem in the UK until 1959 when the number of heroinists doubled every sixteenth month during a period of ten years, 1959-1968. The failure changed the attitudes; in 1964 only specialized clinics and selected approved doctors were allowed to prescribe heroin to users. The law was made more restrictive in 1968. Beginning in the 1970s, the emphasis shifted to abstinence and the use of methadone, until now only a small number of users in the UK are prescribed heroin.

In 1994 Switzerland began a trial heroin maintenance program for users that had failed multiple withdrawal programs. The aim of this program is to maintain the health of the user in order to avoid medical problems stemming from the use of illicit street heroin. Reducing drug-related crime and preventing overdoses were two other goals. The first trial in 1994 involved 340 users, although enrollment was later expanded to 1000 based on the apparent success of the program. Participants are allowed to inject heroin in specially designed pharmacies for 15 Swiss Francs per dose.

The success of the Swiss trials led German, Dutch, and Canadian cities to try out their own heroin prescription programs. Some Australian cities (such as Sydney) have instituted legal heroin supervised injecting centers, in line with other wider harm minimization programs. Although heroin is decriminalized inside the injection room, the drug is not available by prescription, and remains illegal outside the injecting room.

wiki

Guns and Drugs already mentioned.

Apart from those...

Reality TV

Originally Posted by VersusBatman

Reality TV

I agree 100%.

The cell phone. I miss the days of getting away from it all simply by walking out my door.

Originally Posted by digdad

The cell phone. I miss the days of getting away from it all simply by walking out my door.

You can also leave the cell phone in your room. What's the problem?

Yeah, cell phones can be turned off if you wanted to get away from everything, or be left behind. I think they're essential in case anything happens and you need to contact someone in an emergency you always have a contact.

An invention that bugs me... empty corporate buzzwords.

Originally Posted by Harbidge

An invention that bugs me... empty corporate buzzwords.

Me, too. Another that gets me is when people coin redundant words like "colorize" when they really mean color. I hate that.