The Myth of Innovation
Or as I like to call it, 'One Crappy Invention.'
The world is changing my friends. Every day, every hour, every minute, something new emerges in the digital age that we are attempting to grow accustom to. As the amount of information readily available increases every few minutes, the average person is left clambering just to keep up, let alone progress. The above average person, however, seems to adapt, and even uses this rapidly increasing amount of information to create something useful. Throughout time, these inventions have had the best intentions of advancement and usually the innovator's intentions come to fruition. In today's world, however, it seems that modern inventions are mere improvements of existing products and ideas. While some are cutting edge and innovative; some can also show the deterioration of our society.
The flush toilet, of which the credit of invention is given to Sir John Harington in 1596, is a perfect example. The invention of the flush toilet and modern plumbing not only have given civilizations a humane way of keeping themselves and the environment clean, it has played a major role in disease prevention. Before it was invented, civilians dumped their chamber pots on to the streets, causing widespread disease and plagues; cholera, in particular. Throughout time, the flush toilet has been updated numerous times in order to greater serve the common good. The flush toilet is, quite possibly, the greatest invention of all time. Encarta foolishly ranks it number two.
The flush toilet, in the eyes of the modern inventor, after almost 400 years of service, had reached its peak. It's wasn't often that you would hear about an improvement made to the ol' porcelain throne. On October 31, 1989, however, an all-time societal low was reached when a patent was issued for the automatic toilet flush control system. Are we that pathetic as a society that we can't flush the toilet on our own? I know and understand the rationale behind the invention. It's just, well, unnecessary.
Ironically, the entire appeal of the invention is personal hygiene. People do not want to touch toilet handles in public restrooms due to the vast amount of unknown germs that may be present. Ultimately avoiding exposure to certain germs will affect your immune system and overall vitality, preventing your body from building immunities. (Did you ever notice the moms who are constantly wiping their kids' hands with hand sanitizer; the kids are always sick!) Let me remind you, germophobe, that it was the invention of the toilet that has saved previous civilizations. And they did this without the automatic flush. Imagine that.
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