What's the biggest change the world has seen in your lifetime?

[milanbenes]

two big things which happened in our life times which we've all missed...

Nelson Mandela coming out of prison and going on to be the President of SA

Fall of USSR

those were two big things

Milan.

[Spacecadet]

No one mentioned the production of the video recorder.

A major leap forward: a machine to watch television for you, so you don't have to bother.

I suppose most people under 30 don't remember the days when you had one chance to watch a programme, then it was gone forever.

SO when was the repeat invented?

[Mich the Tester]

No one mentioned the production of the video recorder.

A major leap forward: a machine to watch television for you, so you don't have to bother.

I suppose most people under 30 don't remember the days when you had one chance to watch a programme, then it was gone forever.

Yep, but it's an innovation I've given up on and almost forgotten. Aside from the obsolescence of the VHS recorder, there are now so many channels on TV, some of which are specialised in things I find interesting (<await obvious comments about lesbian porn>) so I don't need a video or a dvd.

[NotAllThere]

405 lines. BBC2 (i.e. UHF) was 625 lines.

So long ago I could barely remember.

The "War on Terror" is just another way of keeping the populace in line. Nothing new there, just a replacement for Communism, the Nazis, whatever. Just call it a "War" so that the government's seizure of undemocratic and illiberal powers to "wage" it can not safely be opposed, for fear of being accused of treachery.

I've heard this before, and it always makes me wonder how we got our freedoms in the first place.

...Actually we don't know anything because the expertise that actually built it the first time round, did it with a pencil and draughtmans easel, and all that expertise is gone. Now it would be down to this generation to start from scratch... I doubt anyone has a complete set of the specifications and draughts for concord. They are long gone.

There are many such examples. Machines we can no longer build because we don't have the skills any more.

[DodgyAgent]

For me it is the arrival of the dishwasher, the drier, the clothes drier and satellite TV. It means that the wife has more time to do er chores leaving me more time to watch what I want

[Mich the Tester]

For me it is the arrival of the dishwasher, the drier, the clothes drier and satellite TV. It means that the wife has more time to do er chores leaving me more time to watch what I want

Yes, the site of one's wife's pretty little head bobbing up and down at waist height is something I like to watch too.

[Arturo Bassick]

The biggest impact is the silicon chip. It created a step change in technology which has been the root of all other change and advancement.

[Spacecadet]

There are many such examples. Machines we can no longer build because we don't have the skills any more.

I'll bite. Name one

The only thing I can think of which might qualify is violins whose technique in manufacture has taken a few steps backwards over the centuries. But we can still make them

[d000hg]

And we still have the preserved knowledge to revive old skills.

A real example... maybe sword-making?

[Spacecadet]

There are still master sword makers.

In Japan.

and the UK

Crisp & Sons - Sword Cutlers - Military & Ceremonial Sword Refurbishment, Sword Makers UK