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polymathwannabe comments on Innovation's low-hanging fruits: on the demand or supply sides? - Less Wrong
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You need to think bigger. Agriculture, remember?
I'd say the big four were agriculture, metallurgy, electromagnetism, and germ theory. Fossil fuels would get the cut but they have an expiration date not terribly far in our future all things considered. Come back in 200 years and we get to see if molecular biology makes the cut for #5.
Mi big list would include more items, such as (but not limited to):
Domestication of fire (it should be on the flag of the future One World State)
Domestication of food (i.e. agriculture/cattle raising), from which comes the next item:
Cities (terribly underrated)
Writing (this alone increased a thousandfold the pace of cultural evolution as compared to Neolithic times; only the Internet starts to barely compare)
Legal systems/human rights (a.k.a. what prevents you from smashing your neighbor's head to take his wife)
Contraception (especially the pill)
I think Stuart meant future innovations.
I know. I was giving an example of the scale of innovation that is needed.
For what? Clearly not to make his point, which is what he was trying to do, not make whatever point you're trying to make.