50 THINGS THAT TRANSFORMED OUR LIVES . . .

1. The Plough. 2. The Gramophone. 3. Barbed wire. 4. Seller Feedback: The first eBay buyers had no idea if they could trust vendors online — this system let both parties rate the other. 5. Google search. 6. Passports. 7. Robots. 8. The Welfare State 9. Infant formula milk. 10. TV dinners. 11. The Pill. 12. Video games. 13. Market research. 14. Air conditioning. 15. Department stores. 16. The dynamo. 17. The shipping container. 18. The barcode. 19. Refrigeration. 20. Tradable debt and the tally stick: Loans were once recorded on willow ‘tally sticks’ cut in two — the creditor kept the base or ‘stock’, the beginnings of the stock market. 21. Billy Bookcase: Ikea’s flatpack furniture. 22. The lift. 23. Cuneiform: Early writing system. 24. Public key cryptography: Enables secure payments over the web. 25. Double-entry book-keeping: Balances all purchases and sales, to keep track of every penny. 26. Limited liability companies: Means traders are not personally responsible for any debts — the cornerstone of all business. 27. Management consulting. 28. Intellectual property. 29. The Compiler: Enables computer programmers to convert instructions into code, key to micro-electronics. 30. The iPhone. 31. Diesel engines. 32. Clocks. 33. The Haber-Bosch Process: Converts nitrogen from the air into ammonia, for use in fertiliser. 34. Radar. 35. Batteries. 36. Plastic. 37. Banks. 38. Razors and blades. 39. Tax havens. 40. Leaded petrol. 41. Antibiotics in farming. 42. M-Pesa: System that lets people transfer money via a mobile phone. 43. Property registers: Maps that recognise who owns what land. 44. Paper. 45. Index funds: Investment products that track the market instead of trying to beat it — a safer bet. 46. The S-bend. 47. Paper money. 48. Concrete. 49. Insurance. 50. The light bulb.