A list of iconic tech

The New York Times’ Hard Fork podcasters released an episode where they listed their top 100 list of iconic and influential technologies. As ever, these kinds of lists evoke a lot of debate and of course, is highly subjective.

I was most delighted to get to the end to find that, in this age of incredibly transformative technologies like LLMs, Web3 and metaverses, it is the humble fire that made it to the top spot.

I’ve always joked, as someone that works with innovation everyday, that fire is my favourite of all technology. It provides heat, protection, comfort, cooked food and is also meditative and not to mention romantic. So I was pleased that Hard Fork hard agreed with me.

It did make me wonder how one would even consider building a list like this. Technology works in stacks and yes, things like fire and electricity are in the deep foundations of innovation. So as far as influence goes - it makes sense?

What do you think of the list? How would your top 10 list look like?