He said
The microwave is a modern gastronomical miracle.
I have never lived in a world without a means to quickly blast cold food with energy and heat it up so it's edible. I know some people who did, however, grow up in that pre-microwave world, and it sounds scary.
Sure it gave rise to a number of microwave-ready meals that our stomachs hate us for, but now I can heat up a bowl of yesterday's chili in 60 seconds. Back in the dark ages before there was a microwave, I would have had to but it back into the cauldron it was originally made in and heat it up over a fire. I think we made the technological jump right from cauldron and fire to science fiction's space age microwave.
I could certainly live an OK life without it, and sometimes cold chicken is great, but it's always nice to have options. That's what the microwave does for us. It allows us to have warm pizza the next day, even if we really want it cold straight out of the fridge. We can now make that choice, but we'll probably still always choose cold straight out of the fridge.
I have a very deep and profound love for food, and the microwave is a brilliant device that helps food show me that it feels the same way. People, at least for the time being, are always going to need to eat. The microwave isn't going anywhere for a long time.
The guy who invented it changed the way we eat food, for better or worse. That must be worth a Nobel or at least a bumper sticker with your name on it. It could have been my name. TM/she said/TE/no photo
She said
This is a tough call for me. There are so many cool gadgets in my apartment that I wish I could take credit for inventing, like my Keurig or even just my kettle.
But I've narrowed it down to just two things I really wish I could say I'd come up with.
One is aluminum foil. As anyone who went through the chemistry program at the Estevan Comprehensive School knows, aluminum foil can easily be reused over and over again, because it really isn't damaged by heat. Like you could peel it off your baked potatoes, wipe it down, and use it again. And yet aluminum foil is sold all the time in grocery stores. Because we are either too lazy to clean and reuse our aluminum foil, or maybe people just don't know. Plus aluminum foil isn't particularly expensive, so lots of people are probably deciding that it's more worth their time to just buy new foil rather than wash and reuse.
Which is just a solid way to make money. Sell people something they need and could have reused if they weren't so lazy. Genius.
The other invention I wish I could take credit for is the tablet. Because reading a book is just not as convenient as reading a computer that's basically the same size as a book. Really, I love my Kobo and I use it all the time. But is it really making my life any better than books were previous to tablets? Not at all. Tablets are just a fun trend that was born of our need to have cool gadgets, whether or not they're actually useful or necessary.
