this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2026
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Almost all the global society-altering creations i can think of FROM THE PAST 100 YEARS are from America. I highly doubt that's true, so I'm looking for counter-examples.

To clarify, I'm looking for items on the level of:

  • the internet
  • rock music
  • nuclear weapons
  • ai
  • ~~airplane flight~~ (older than 100 years)

And clearly I'm not just including things that improved the world.

The best ones i can think of are (I think):

  • ~~Rocketry (Germany)?~~
  • Cheap tech manufacturing (Asian countries)?

EDIT:

Actually rocketry has been around much longer than 100 years. Even the category of "modern rocketry" begins in the late 1800s. Source: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/TRC/Rockets/history_of_rockets.html

EDIT 2:

A further explanation of what level I'm talking about.

There has to be a clear before and after, and it has to directly and quickly effect most of the world. For example the Internet. There's life before the internet, and there's life after the internet, which are both very different.

As opposed to for example if someone makes a groundbreaking foundational research discovery that effects the entire realm of their field of study, but doesn't quickly and directly create a difference in most people's lives, then it doesn't fit the category.

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[โ€“] autriyo@feddit.org 1 points 1 week ago

I've looked into some things I could think of, and alot of them are partially invented by Americans or the first viable design was patented by an American...

For example: The interaction of light hitting something an creating electricity was first observed by someone from France, but the first viable design of a solar panel was patented by an American.

Similar for carbon fibers, or handheld power drills. Computer tomography was first realized by two people, one of them African-American.

Or the things where invented more than 100 years ago. (Cars, for example)