Me: Cars
Capitalism.
Teflon
Nukes.
Disposable vapes come to mind, although the real answer is probably some extremely depraved torture device.
Head on! Apply directly to the forehead
https://youtu.be/Is3icfcbmbsNever actually did anything and never actually claimed to. Most people assumed it was a headache relief but the company never said that. They just said to put the shit on your forehead
loans! They simply jack up the prices and help separate the haves from the have nots
Advertising.
The only correct answer in this thread.
It’s the biggest industry in the world by a very large margin and the most destructive one on a global scale.
Even advertising isn’t necessarily bad, having people telling you about things you might like used to be a good thing.
I personally think it’s people like Edward Bernays who had the idea of, I guess, ‘Malicious Advertising’. They really solidified the idea of applying propaganda techniques to advertising strategies and that just kind of become expected and the norm.
Slavery. Even after banning it pretty much everywhere, people still find ways to treat others as disposable property.
Roads
Market speculation or quarterly profits.
JavaScript
Expresscode for aftereffects
Leaf blowers. They solve nothing permanently, it just moved around the leaves, meaning they’ll be back again tomorrow, waking me up…
The biggest problem with leaf blowers is that blowing leaves is the least useful thing they can do. It is amazing for cleaning your house. Get the leaf blower out and just keep going until all the kitchen crumbs are out the back door.
They’re reasonable for getting leaves off roofs
Coffee pods. Just when we were getting close to maybe reduce or reliance and dependency on plastics BOOM! coffee pods everywhere, by the trillions.
24 hour news networks.
News used to just be the news when there was a half hour of local, half hour of national twice per night with a morning show for fluff, weather, and brief news updates. 24 hour news needed to fill the whole 24 hours and also pay for itself by getting eyeballs on advertisers. That’s when all of the sensationalist stuff started taking over.
Cars are too prevalent in most countries, but they are undeniably very useful when used correctly. I would probably say the social media does more harm than cars, but idk if it’s the worst invention. Lots of candidates.
What about the idea of burning oil products in general? Sure, that made powerful and light engines possible, and they have transformed economies, logistics, trade, and entire countries. However, if we hadn’t invented that, progress would have been a lot slower.
Nevertheless, I would argue that the past 200 years of industrial progress weren’t worth the climate crisis.
Social Media is too prevalent in most countries, but it is undeniably very useful when used correctly.
Completely disagree because social media has done little to nothing to advance society.
Cars can at least be linked to more people able to travel further distances. Social media? “But I can still talk to my friend in another country”. I could too in the late 80s.
It’s called a telephone.
I think social media apps like youtube, email, and zoom have been very useful for society. The pandemic would have killed a lot more people if not for social media.
Social media spread propaganda and politicized Covid getting people who were vaccinated for other preventable diseases avoid the Covid vaccine and die.
I’d argue more people died to the pandemic because of social media and the ease of spreading fear and disinformation.
Social media allowed teams around the world to rapidly coordinate on the invention and distribution of the vaccines. COVID had fewer deaths than the 1918 influenza pandemic despite the massive increase in population since then, in part because of social media.
