Sewage systems are the big one I think.
this post was submitted on 21 May 2025
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Low key the cornerstone of modern civilization. Imagine a city where the streets are awash in millions of people's shit/piss, the water is heavily contaminated, and everyone is constantly getting fecal-oral diseases and cannot work or be healthy much of the time. Even when they are healthy, they might have to stay home and take care of sick family members.
The water trap that's in your toilet and sinks.
The only thing stopping your home from smelling like a sewer is a bit of water strategically placed.
Reminder that if you have a sink you don't use, it's best to run the tap for a few seconds every month to keep that water trap filled.
Literally every piece of infrastructure. Infrastructure is everything that makes things more efficient by being so ubiquitous that it becomes practically invisible.
Sure, there are the obvious ones like clean water and electricity pumped directly to our homes. There are also other kinds of infrastructure that is less visible.
Standardized size of shipping containers, food safety regulations, a legal system that keeps companiesβ worst impulses in check, HTML as a freely available spec. These are a few of the many things that enable us to have a high trust society.
Transistors.
The first working transistor was created in 1947. Before then it was just vacuum tubes. Less than 80 years later the modern world relies completely on its existence.
You use billions of them in your everyday life.
Electricity.
Fridge and freezer is a big one imo, in terms of being taken for granted.
Looms that make your shirts, carpets and anything fabric. Would be a hundred to a thousand times more expensive without it
I'm with the infrastructure answer too. It really is too broad but in short, anything that kinda stumps you on your tracks once it fails. Just now for some reason I no longer have hot water, very annoying.
Doors.
Antibiotics
I'd say everything that is in our daily life
Toilets.
Paint
Lawnmowers
Boy pre salting is way back. Sorta pre civilization. I guess I could add cooked meat.
What is boy pre salting?
boy (referencing the op, similar to saying dude or man), pre salting is the act of salting food before cooking or eating.
close. im sorta old so it was meant to be more of an oh boy. Now that you mean it seems a bit rude on my part but @[email protected] just letting you know the boy was more an exclamation. like jesus but lighter.
Ain't no thing
Empiricism. We need to acknowledge that not everyone considers evidence when determining truth and encourage it way more than we do.
As a Brit: the NHS. I can, and have always been able to, just call an ambulance in response to almost any medical emergency. I can walk into a minor injury unit with any minor injury and get it sorted. I can just call my GP to ask about things and book an appointment to get them seen in person. The only upfront cost I've ever had to worry about was the fixed price of prescriptions, and I only get charged for them if I earn enough. Earning minimum wage, the taxes that pay for it total about Β£150 a year.
Even with all of the attacks and defunding over the years it's so thoroughly ingrained in the public consciousness that the government can't actually get rid of it.
I'd say they are doing a pretty good job of dismantling and privatising it under our noses. When I was a kid I got my teeth fixed with braces for free. Can't do that anymore. Can't even go to the dentist for a checkup without paying for it now. I'm sure people have other examples if they want to chime in
All of them. Is there any invention you shouldn't take for granted?
Capitalism.
Okay, you got me on that one.
But apart from capitalism, is there any invention out there we shouldn't take for granted?
There are probably some you take for granted. It would be exhausting to be in constant awe at the wonders of the modern world! Haha
Honestly that sounds amazing. Being in constant awe at the wonders of the modern world.
Sign me up.
Families.
Call your mother. She misses you.