Most useful tool

[Amador]

What do the playgrounders think is the most (a) useful and (b) useless tool that mankind has ever developed?

[Coidzor]

A. Flint Knife. Likely one of the most basic tools developed to aid in hunting, skinning, getting the meat off the bone, etc. And served to develop into other hunting tools such as flint-tipped spears and other weaponry.

B. Handheld Back Massager. (and no, not the saucy kind)

[arguskos]

Useful: Pocket multitool. It's not the most heavily used thing ever, but damn if it isn't amazingly useful to have!

Useless: Handheld back massage thing. Coid totally called it.

[J.B. Ganning]

a) A hammer.

b) A weak magnetic stud finder.

[Innis Cabal]

The ramp. Without it we'd not be here today.

[Tharivol123]

Most useful: Multi-tool, like the swiss army knife
Most useless: Same, only the "on steroids" version: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/8b97/

[Amador]

Hmm, these are interesting replies.

I was debating between knife and fire as the most useful and thought that the sword was the least useful.

[Jack Squat]

Most useful, I would say a knife. Can prepare food, open crates, kill animals, defend yourself, wage war, start fires, and craft objects, and much more with but a knife.

Least useful: tamagachis. Seriously, you leave them alone during class and they die.

EDIT: I would say fire would be most useful, but we didn't really invent it, just discover how to create it ourselves.

[reorith]

most useful: the 1911A1, John Moses Browning's magnum opus and the .45ACP +P cartridge. the +P stands for +pain!
most useless: idk, somethiong made by apple

[Eon]

A) A nalgene water bottle.

B) and Tamagachi things

[Gorgondantess]

Most Useful: Ehem. The wheel. No, seriously. Technology as we know it today without the wheel would not exist. The knife is a close second.
Least Useful: Off the top of my head, a clam shucker. It's a bloody knife, so why not just use a knife!?!? It does everything a knife could do but worse. Yes, even shucking clams.:smallyuk:

[ghost_warlock]

Most useful:
http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq339/ghost_warlock/mjk086.jpg

Least useful:
{Scrubbed}

[Terumitsu]

Most useful tool?

Language I would say. Communication is rather handy if one wants to tell others of this or that awesome tool they have.

Least useful tool?

Those crank operated apple peelers that slowly take off the skin of an apple... The apple, of course, has to be just the right shape, size, and type and it takes longer to do than if one used a knife... Though I like the skin on my apples anyway...

[Ravens_cry]

I am not sure language, at least spoken, counts as a tool. We are made to use language, so it would be like saying the heart is the most important tool.
I am going for knife. From it, come all others, somewhere down the line.

[Blackjackg]

Most useful tool is the inclined plane. Yes sir, you can talk about your knives and your screws, but not a one of them could exist without the inclined plane.

That or the towel.

Most useless is, without a doubt, the Snuggie (https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next).

Also known as... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h05ZQ7WHw8Y)

[Partof1]

Most:I'd say an axe. The weight means one can cut larger things, but can still be used carefully like a knife if held differently. Not to mention the hammer side

Least:Citrus zester. Essentially a mini cheese grater that is used only to take strips of the peel off fruit to flavour things.

[Erloas]

Most useful tool?

Language I would say. Communication is rather handy if one wants to tell others of this or that awesome tool they have.

Well someone beat me to the first non physical tool. But I was thinking a different one.

Math. Math is the cornerstone of every form of technology there is and has been for the longest time. Without math there isn't recording keeping, there isn't commerce, there isn't a way to put all of those simple tools like wheels and inclines and levers to more complex use.
edit: and to add more. Its just about the only tool that has been used by most people from thousands of years on an almost daily basis. And it is one of the very first things that a child learns. (even counting is basic math)

As for the least useful tool, well that is impossible to say. Because it would have to be on of the many tools someone invented and found some pointlessly impractical that they didn't even tell their friends about it. It would be something only 1 person in the history of the world has ever known about.

[Berserk Monk]

Best tool? Three words:

Crowbar Crowbar Crowbar

[Lupy]

Best tool:

Fire. The knife and wheel are very close second and third, but Fire is what makes civilization possible, scares animals, keeps you from freezing, etc.

Worst tool:

Protractors that warp slightly in the heat.

[potatocubed]

The single physical tool that I make most use of is the knife, especially in its Swiss Army variant.

The most useless physical tool I can think of are safety scissors. I have yet to encounter a pair that will cut anything more solid than tapioca.

[Ichneumon]

Most useful: speech
Least useful: speech

[Ashtar]

I'll be different and say the most useful tool man invented is the Calendar! Giving him understanding of the seasons and allowing him to transition to an agricultural society.

The most useless tool humanity has invented is the personal rain saver:
http://www.hemmy.net/images/funny/uselessinvent10.jpg

[reorith]

i thought your post said colander at first :smallfrown:
the rain saver seems pretty nifty, although i fail to see how making it portable is an advantage in a world with polar pure, buckets, and bandannas.

[Bouregard]

Most usefull: Crowbar. If you need other things, just steal them with it.
Utterly useless: Cable finder for drilling jobs. If you find one, you will notice without one.


And regarding crowbars for anyone speaking german:
a little poem about crowbars i found...



Ode an die Brechstange (des Psychopaten Nachtgebet)

Oh wie kühn sind deine Kurven,
deine Form - vertraut und warm.
Wenn wir des nachts durch Wälder schlurfen,
halt ich dich in meinem Arm.

Ich streichle deine harten Züge,
Freude über komm'nde tat.
Wir sind verrückt? Das ist doch Lüge,
von dem der nichts zu freuen hat.

Die Finsternis ist unser Mantel,
raubt den Feinden ihre Sicht.
Ich bin die Wespe, die Tarantel,
die dich aus dem Dunkeln sticht.

Harter Stahl auf weiche Birne,
nie 'nen schöneren Ton es gab,
hau sie ein, die tumben Hirne,
wir sind verbunden bis in's Grab.

[Charity]

I figure the most useful tool is the lever, possibly the simplest tool still in use today.

The least useful is always going to be out done by the next poster, so I will opt for the broad catagory of all those single use kitchen tools that clutter up everyones lives and could mostly be replaced with a knife.

also ^ if you've ever been electocuted and started an electrical fire behind the partition walls that you've just decorated, you might feel differently.

[Ichneumon]

I figure the most useful tool is the lever, possibly the simplest tool still in use today.

Indeed, without levers we wouldn't be able to open doors.

[Bouregard]

Indeed, without levers we wouldn't be able to open doors.

Crowbar again.
However doors are expensive...


And if we follow the almighty Hitchhickers guide to the galaxy a towel is also a great tool. So from now on I want to be buried with a crowbar and a towel.


Oh and about the cable finder, I was joking, I couldn't think of something useless. But as someone who once used one and managed to hit a cable (the finder said, there is nothing...) I tell you, screw that thing and just turn of power.

[Charity]

Any unreliable tester is worse than no tester I totally agree.

Also, a crowbar is essentially a lever..

[Agamid]

most useful: a knife.
most useless: just about anything from this website http://unix.rulez.org/%7Ecalver/pictures/japanese_inventions/index.html

[onasuma]

most useful: a knife.
most useless: just about anything from this website http://unix.rulez.org/%7Ecalver/pictures/japanese_inventions/index.html

You may say knife now, but clearly you havent ever seen this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x22yNaLdiGA)

[Charity]

I forgot the obvious
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/2835/123989-99515_super.jpg

[Archonic Energy]

I forgot the obvious
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/2835/123989-99515_super.jpg

*sigh* :smallsigh:

C, those people running around in that little box aren't real...
except when England/Britain are winning something

[Charity]

*sigh* :smallsigh:

C, those people running around in that little box aren't real...


Lalalala I'm not listening (http://www.sparrowmorgan.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/00002qqk.jpg)

http://www.strangezoo.com/images/content/4316.jpg

[thubby]

most useful: fire. the overwhelming majority of tools and technologies are created with or harness the power of fire.

least useful: mustard gas? so far as i know it's only purpose is as a weapon and it's a terrible one at that.

[reorith]

Crowbar again.
However doors are expensive...

by definition, a crowbar is a lever

[SDF]

most useful: the 1911A1, John Moses Browning's magnum opus and the .45ACP +P cartridge. the +P stands for +pain!

Who puts +P in an old 1911? The frame isn't built for it, and you'll just end up ruining the thing!


least useful: mustard gas? so far as i know it's only purpose is as a weapon and it's a terrible one at that.

Mustard gas is where chemotherapy comes from, and has saved millions of lives.

MOST: The modern cell phone. Srsly, I don't need maps, a compass, letters, a camera, a watch, ect., ect. anymore. It's freaking amazing.

LEAST: The razor blade slot in airplane bathrooms. Are people actually shaving in there? /Seinfeld.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Most useful: The heavy stick. It's lead to so many technical advances, sustained fire, braine dprey, been used to defend oneself from predetors, eventually sharpened to do things BETTER. Eventually had sharp rocks tied to it. Really, quite a useful gadget.

Least Useful: Those little superflorus buckles on some modern backpacks.

[Zanaril]

And if we follow the almighty Hitchhickers guide to the galaxy a towel is also a great tool. So from now on I want to be buried with a crowbar and a towel

I'd rather be burried with a shovel and one of those things to pull nails/screws out. If I can use them at that point, I'll want them.


Most useful? A knife.
Can't think of a least useful thing.

[Telonius]

Several candidates for most useful.

The hammer. This tool hasn't changed its basic design in at least 30,000 years. Let that sink in: 30,000 years' worth of human ingenuity have been unable to improve on the basic design. While many professionals now use nail guns, and heavy industry has had jackhammers and other machine-powered hammers for a while, it remains in use in nearly every household. For sheer longevity, it has to be up there.

Written communication. Vital to information transfer. Information can be transferred without it, but only over the course of years of hands-on learning. Greatly accelerated the development of all other technologies that came after it.

The Hindu-Arabic numeral system. Math worked well enough before it, but it didn't really get going until we added in zero.

The Jenner vaccine. Saved millions of lives, went a long way to finally eradicating smallpox, and provided proof of concept for future vaccination efforts.

Least useful: The motorized ice cream cone. No, really. (http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5971829.html)

[thubby]

Several candidates for most useful.

The hammer. This tool hasn't changed its basic design in at least 30,000 years. Let that sink in: 30,000 years' worth of human ingenuity have been unable to improve on the basic design. While many professionals now use nail guns, and heavy industry has had jackhammers and other machine-powered hammers for a while, it remains in use in nearly every household. For sheer longevity, it has to be up there.

i'm sure there's an engineer somewhere facepalming.

[Coidzor]

Well, yeah, if it's not broken, don't fix it. knives and hammers are mostly improved through materials tech than re-design anyway. Though things like folding technology have definitely had their impact on knives and not so much on hammers....

[reorith]

Well, yeah, if it's not broken, don't fix it. knives and hammers are mostly improved through materials tech than re-design anyway. Though things like folding technology have definitely had their impact on knives and not so much on hammers....

brb, making a folding hammer.

[Jack Squat]

brb, making a folding hammer.

somebody already 1-up'd you (http://www.uncrate.com/men/images/2009/01/kick-axe.jpg)

[chiasaur11]

Screwdriver.

The reasons should be obvious.

[Jalor]

The lever is still king.

[Yarram]

I dunno about pocket knives... Wouldn't larger knives be more useful for more things? Pocket knifes, while I use mine all the time, don't have as much practical value as a larger knife...

I'd say computers are the most useful tools though. Look what we've done with them!

Least useful would have to be something like a teflon bath-mat or a helicopter ejection seat.

[reorith]

I dunno about pocket knives... Wouldn't larger knives be more useful for more things? Pocket knifes, while I use mine all the time, don't have as much practical value as a larger knife...

lol wut? do you field dress large mammals while cutting down trees and playing rambo on a daily basis? please, provide an example from your life experience of a time in which you needed some sort of knife larger than a typical pocketknife to accomplish.

anything over two inches is pure impracticality and only necessitated by freudian transference.

[Icewalker]

Best...depends on what you qualify as a tool. Mathematics? I might have to go with knife, as well.

As to worst...I really have no idea. I feel like I should have something hilarious, but nothing great comes to mind, unfortunately.

[Lorn]

Aside from those mentioned, I'd have to honestly say pliers are the most useful. You can use them as hammers - albeit not good - and they can bend things together OR rip them apart. I've taken down car CD players (rescuing CDs etc) with pliers.

Least useless... bread knife. Because ANY OTHER knife will do.

[Vaynor]

Most useful tool: knife

Least useful tool: solar-powered flashlight (http://www.solareagle.com/sunmate_flash.html). Yeah, seriously.

[Cryssandra]

Least useful tool: solar-powered flashlight (http://www.solareagle.com/sunmate_flash.html). Yeah, seriously.

They make those?!?!
Haha!!!1

[J.B. Ganning]

Least useful tool: solar-powered flashlight (http://www.solareagle.com/sunmate_flash.html). Yeah, seriously.

Considering that it recharges in the day time and provides three hours of power when fully charged, I think it's pretty useful. Saves a few bucks, and floats. All you need is a rubber ducky switch and you got yourself the best (instant) safety precaution when taking a bath at night during a thunderstorm.

[Vaynor]

Considering that it recharges in the day time and provides three hours of power when fully charged, I think it's pretty useful. Saves a few bucks, and floats. All you need is a rubber ducky switch and you got yourself the best (instant) safety precaution when taking a bath at night during a thunderstorm.

You've gotta admit though, the idea is pretty damned ridiculous.

[Ninja Chocobo]

Least useless... bread knife. Because ANY OTHER knife will do.

In my experience a non-serrated knife will either not work or ruin the bread, and one serrated more heavily will ruin the bread.

[Hazkali]

I rarely go anywhere without my pocket knife. Scissors, knife, corkscrew, tweezers, bottle and can openers...I've even used the hook (good for getting wire tent pegs out of the ground) and the borer. For general, Western life I don't think there is a better tool.

[Green Bean]

In life, you only need two tools; duct tape and WD-40. If it moves and it shouldn't, use duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40.

[Thanatos 51-50]

In life, you only need two tools; duct tape and WD-40. If it moves and it shouldn't, use duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40.

What about if it moves, but shouldn't if you want to eat it, and you're starving to death?

[Tar Palantir]

Most useful: short handled shovel. Digging+zombie killing=:smallbiggrin:
Most useless: Survivor: The Interactive Game. It's only use is as an impetus to suicide.

[Green Bean]

What about if it moves, but shouldn't if you want to eat it, and you're starving to death?

Tape together a shovel, dig a hole, then grease the sides. :smallbiggrin:

[thubby]

In my experience a non-serrated knife will either not work or ruin the bread, and one serrated more heavily will ruin the bread.

can't say I've ever had that problem, you can always use the back of the knife.