With technology and nearly everything around us developed in leaps and bounds nowadays, it’s clear that innovation has become one of the driving forces for change in our world. However, not all inventions or innovative solutions have resulted in positive change only, which is why some people would rather that they weren’t invented in the first place.
Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently discussed what things they would like to “dis-invent” if they had a chance. With answers ranging from cigarettes to social media, netizens provided some interesting perspectives, which you can find on the list below. Scroll down to view their answers and learn what inventions might not have changed our world for the better.
#23
Patents for Insulin.
lutz164:
I'd say medicinal patents In general, let the prices fall, and the diabetics rejoice.
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#29
A lot of inventions mentioned here that have had positive outcomes alongside of negative ones. HOA’s however may look good on paper, but hath wrought no good to this world.
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#31
CAPTCHA. That's not a motorcycle, that's a moped. And I still don't think the rider should count as part of the motorcycle.
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#32
AI.
OftheGates:
AI for practical purposes like medicine is great. But generative AI in the way we're mostly seeing it applied has the dual effect of putting us in an information dark age by making anything able to be fabricated, while also ruining industries based on art. Hands down my choice for what needs to be disinvented.
AI for practical purposes like medicine is great. But generative AI in the way we're mostly seeing it applied has the dual effect of putting us in an information dark age by making anything able to be fabricated, while also ruining industries based on art. Hands down my choice for what needs to be disinvented.
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#33
Advertising. The primary goal of advertising is to manufacture desire, and the Buddhists are on to something with the claim that desire is the root of all suffering. It’s the enemy of being content and satisfied with your life. It’s an omnipresent lie that’s repeated over and over that says this or that product will finally make you happy when it never will. It’s contributed to the worst parts of consumer capitalism. Cigarettes, the obesity epidemic, and more generally the mass overconsumption that has led to the rapid degradation of our planet.
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#37
The algorithms used by real-estate moguls to buy up new homes the moment they're listed on the market.
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#39
Everything that Thomas Midgley Jr invented - specifically leaded gasoline and CFCs (the things that destroyed the ozone layer).
He is the person in history who can be directly attributed to the most environmental damage done by the inventions of a single person.
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#40
Autocorrect. It's like that well-meaning friend who jumps into your conversations with totally off-base corrections. You’re trying to type something heartfelt or important, and it’s over there like, “Did you mean 'duck'? No, Autocorrect, I did not mean to tell my boss I'll have the report done 'ducking soon.
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