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A list to argue about

The 100 Most Iconic Tech Inventions of All Time  (according to the Hard Fork Podcast)

100. Boats
99. Calculators
98. NFTs
97. Oregon Trail
96. Spinning Jenny
95. Radio
94. Vine
93. KitchenAid Stand Mixer
92. Bar Codes
91. Drones
90. Nintendo DS
89. Zoom
88. Sundial
87. Haber Bosch Process
86. Linux
85. Podcasts
84. Fracking
83. Fonts
82. Patreon
81. Concrete
80. Juul
79. Anesthesia
78. Netflix
77. Screws
76. Seat Belts
75. Disposable Diapers
74. Amazon Prime
73. Microsoft Excel
72. Roads
71. Databases
70. Insulin
69. OnlyFans
68. Dolby Surround Sound
67. Doom (Video Game)
66. Ibuprofen
65. Compass
64. AOL Instant Messenger
63. GPS
62. Compound Interest
61. Facebook News Feed
60. Dolly the Sheep
59. Tesla
58. Tumblr
57. Lever
56. Bitcoin
55. Motorola Razr
54. Gunpowder
53. Snapchat
52. Condoms
51. eBay
50. Corrective Lenses
49. Slack
48. IVF
47. Shipping Containers
46. TikTok
45. Light Bulb
44. Microscopes
43. Washing Machines
42. Elevators
41. Twitter
40. Refrigerators
39. iMac
38. Napster
37. Currency (Money)
36. Cotton Gin
35. Uber
34. Fulcrum
33. Vaccines
32. MySpace
31. AlphaFold
30. Ozempic
29. Agriculture
28. Walkman
27. Cuneiform
26. Spaceships
25. CRISPR
24. Combustion Engine
23. Aqueducts
22. Grindr
21. Telephone
20. Semiconductors
19. Wheel
18. Waymo
17. Indoor Plumbing
16. Wi-Fi
15. LSD
14. World Wide Web
13. Batteries
12. Birth Control Pill
11. Email
10. Transformer Neural Networks
9. Atomic Bomb
8. YouTube
7. Airplanes
6. Television
5. Penicillin
4. Printing Press
3. iPhone
2. Electricity
1. Fire

Source: Hard Fork Episode, 11/29/2024

  1. How many do you not know?  Which ones?
  2. How many did we touch on in class?
  3. What would your top 10 look like?  What criteria did you use.
  4. Which do you think will fall off this list of 100 in 10 years?
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Website Revisions

  • Footnotes: we added footnotes throughout the website like needed
  • Bibliography: we edited the bibliography so that it was in alphabetical order
  • Citations: fixed grammar, spelling, etc and added correct citations for photos
  • Added page: we added a page of interview quotes where we asked people their experience with IMAX
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Website Revisions

As a part of this project, we had an opportunity to revise and correct our website before finals. Here is a list of all revisions:

  • Added image sources to Gallery page
  • Fixed Bibliography page
    • Formatted Hill, James. “A Brief History of Music Formats.”
    • Corrected Nathan, John. “Sony: The Private Life.”
    • Added link to Kimizuka, Masanori. “Historical Development of Magnetic Recording and Tape Recorder.” 
    • Added link to Engel, Friedrich, and Peter Hammar. “A Selected History of Magnetic Recording.”
  • Rephrased section in Poulsen’s Telegraphone
  • Fixed Magnetophon
    • Corrected spelling of author name
    • Added link to Engel, Friedrich, and Peter Hammar. “A Selected History of Magnetic Recording.”
  • Fixed RCA Sound Tape Cartridge
    • Added link to advertisement
    • Added link to Kimizuka, Masanori. “Historical Development of Magnetic Recording and Tape Recorder.” 

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Documentary Bibliography

Barnes, Rhae Lynn. “Working Class Hero to Felon: Picking Apart the Banjo’s Cinematic Character Assassination in Postwar Mass Culture and Film.” Modern American History 7, no. 2 (July 1, 2024): 313–18. Working Class Hero to Felon: Picking Apart the Banjo’s Cinematic Character Assassination in Postwar Mass Culture and Film | Modern American History | Cambridge Core

Blount, Jake. “Jail the Zombie: Black Banjoists, Biopolitics, and Archives.” Modern American History 7, no. 2 (July 2024): 301–6. https://doi.org/10.1017/mah.2024.30. 

Conway, Cecelia. “Black Banjo Songsters in Appalachia.” Black Music Research Journal 23, no. 1/2 (2003): 149–66. https://doi.org/10.2307/3593213. 

Dubois, Laurent. The Banjo : America’s African Instrument. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016.

Fulwood, Ethan L. “Quantitative Similarities between the Banjo and a Diverse Collection of West African Lutes.” Humanities & Social Sciences Communications 9, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01401-3. 

Khalid, Farisa. “Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Banjo Lesson.” September 9, 2016. Accessed September 19, 2025. https://smarthistory.org/tanner-banjo/. 

Pilgrim, David. “Who Was Jim Crow?” Jim Crow Museum, September, 2000, https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/who/index.htm. 

Stimeling, Travis D. “Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History by Kristina R. Gaddy (Review).” Notes (Music Library Association) 80, no. 2 (2023): 346–48. https://doi.org/10.1353/not.2023.a912355. 

Thompson, Joseph M. “Five Strings for Freedom: The Banjo in Cold War America.” Modern American History (Cambridge.) 7, no. 2 (2024): 307–12. https://doi.org/10.1017/mah.2024.32. 

Thornton, Ramsey. “Affrilachian Banjo Lineage: Its Archaeological Trail, Instances of Black/White Exchange, and Lasting Legacy.” Order No. 30575206, Oklahoma State University, 2023. https://umw.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/affrilachian-banjo-lineage-archaeological-trail/docview/2910062412/se-2. 

Winans, Robert B, and Elias J Kaufman. “Minstrel and Classic Banjo: American and English Connections.” American Music (Champaign, Ill.) 12, no. 1 (1994): 1–30. Minstrel and Classic Banjo: American and English Connections on JSTOR 

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B- Roll Sources

(Listed in order of appearance)

World Bluegrass Day. “PBS Arts: Give Me the Banjo (2011).” December 13, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkmKzf99EjY.

Bluegrass Country Soul. “Earl Scruggs “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” with JD Crowe Bill Emerson Sonny Osborne and More.” December 27, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af9wHDrkjfk 

Craft in America. “Banjo maker Jim Hartel on the African heritage and American history of the banjo.” October 30, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbCjb6g-bT4. 

Visual Melodies. “Appalachian Bluegrass Banjo & Fiddle Music | Uplifting Happy Music | 🚫ADS.” September 13, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4R936oEuH4. 

Tracy Newman. “Cripple Creek” with Tracy Newman on the 5-string banjo.” August 11, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew6DS2bXYmk. 

“The Humble Genius Of Earl Scruggs.” Southern Songs and Stories, 2023. https://www.southernsongsandstories.com/blog/2023/1/23/the-humble-genius-of-earl-scruggs 

Grossman, Sid. n.d. Pete Seeger Photograph. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Accessed October 16, 2025. https://www.si.edu/object/pete-seeger:npg_NPG.94.85. 

LeDonne, Rob, “Steve Martin Explains His Love of Banjo Music: ‘It Rivals Any Specialized Genre,” Billboard, August 10, 2017, https://www.billboard.com/music/country/steve-martin-banjo-prize-interview-7897956/ ‌

Annie Spratt. “A Field With Trees and Clear Sky.” June 25, 2025. https://unsplash.com/photos/a-field-with-trees-and-clear-sky-WMYGNv7G7_E. 

Scott V. Linford. “Stories of Differentiation and Association: Narrative Identity and the Jola Ekonting.” Yearbook for Traditional Music 48 (2016): 94–114. https://doi.org/10.5921/yeartradmusi.48.2016.0094.

Sora Ngoni (Simbingo). 19th century. Gourd, skin, wood, leather, 88cm x 31cm x 27cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Open: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Artstor. https://jstor.org/stable/community.27235563. 

Maker: Mamadou Kouyaté (d. 1991) (bridge by Djimo Kouyaté). Kora. ca. 1960. Gourd, goat skin, antelope-hide, ebony, metal, wood, 45 9/16 × 20 11/16 × 17 in. (115.8 × 52.5 × 43.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Musical Instruments; Rogers Fund, 1975. https://jstor.org/stable/community.15645144.

Aymeric Inspiration Prod Gardey. “African Griots Live.” April 13, 2007. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQMFN-whbEU 

Paul Draper. “Koromanti #1.” June 27, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffU8jknBzzM. 

Created by Unidentified. Gourd Head Banjo. ca. 1859. Gourd with wood and metal, H x W x D: 7 × 26 1/2 × 2 1/2 in. (17.8 × 67.3 × 6.4 cm). National Museum of African American History and Culture; Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. https://jstor.org/stable/community.31886663. 

Seutter, Matthew. “Map of the New World, with European settlements and American Indian tribes, 1730.” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/map-new-world-european-settlements-and-american-indian. 

“Stewart Five-String Banjo | Smithsonian Institution.” 2025. Si.edu. 2025. https://www.si.edu/object/stewart-five-string-banjo:nmah_605689. 

“Gibson Tenor Banjo | Smithsonian Institution.” 2025. Si.edu. 2025. https://www.si.edu/object/gibson-tenor-banjo:nmah_606326. 

Bluegrass Preservation. “The Darlings – Dooley.” June 21, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oELWmTVR_j4. 

I Dream of Jeanie, directed by Allan Dwan (United States; Republic Pictures, 1952), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NqbxQw0rdY. 

Childe, J.W., and Meyer, H. Portrait of Thomas Dartmouth Rice. n.d. Sheet 8 1/2 x 11 3/8 inches. University of Illinois Theatrical Print Collection; Portraits of Actors, 1720-1920, University of Illinois Library. University Library (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Artstor. https://jstor.org/stable/community.12279635.

Pendleton. Thomas Dartmouth Rice as Jim Crow. n.d. Tinted rectangle  5 5/8 x 8 1/4 inches. University of Illinois Theatrical Print Collection; Portraits of Actors, 1720-1920, University of Illinois Library. University Library (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Artstor. https://jstor.org/stable/community.12277836.

Ikachina. “Jump Jim Crow – Blackface Song and Dance — Extended Version.” Jul 19, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKzTaZLEKd4.

London: City Map. 1812. https://jstor.org/stable/community.13562185. 

Winans, Robert B, and Elias J Kaufman. “Minstrel and Classic Banjo: American and English Connections.” American Music (Champaign, Ill.) 12, no. 1 (1994): 1–30. Minstrel and Classic Banjo: American and English Connections on JSTOR

“Taylor Swift—Grammys 2012 Performance!” Just Jared Jr, February 14, 2012, https://www.justjaredjr.com/2012/02/14/taylor-swift-grammys-2012-performance/?photomorehere 

“Darius Rucker: “Wagon Wheel” At New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash” Darius Rucker January 3, 2022 https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=darius+rucker+wagon+wheel+at+new+years&&mid=46CA6F46DE56D775936946CA6F46DE56D7759369&FORM=VAMGZC

“Dolly Parton Apple Jack” Dean Hammons February 8, 2009 https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?&q=dolly+parton+apple+jack&&mid=2CA2ECCEACD91AB2933C2CA2ECCEACD91AB2933C&&FORM=VRDGAR

“Don Flemmons – In the Jailhouse Now” Don Flemmons October 15, 2013 https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=don+flemmons+in+the+jailhouse+now&mid=774ECB8E92CACFA54083774ECB8E92CACFA54083&FORM=VIRE

“Rhiannon Giddens Julie ” Macfoto February 11, 2015 https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=rhiannon+giddens+julie&mid=1FAF696D83D9CB75FED81FAF696D83D9CB75FED8&FORM=VIRE

“Amythyst Kiah – Darling Cora” July 5, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovzdZLXWnIg

Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson – John Henry Rhiannon Giddens & Nonesuch Records April 16, 2025https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=rhiannon+giddens+and+justin+robinson&mid=CD59BEDB430416F81323CD59BEDB430416F81323&FORM=VIRE

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The Legacy of the Cassette

In case you haven’t noticed, young people today have a newfound love for cassettes. Tons of notable artists, like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, or Harry Styles, have been releasing some of their most recent albums on cassette, despite the existence of modern alternatives. In  an indie-published magazine called Culture Cringe from 2013, we can see the author is encouraging the readers to get out their old cassette players in honor of “Cassette Store Day.”1

Culture Cringe promoting Cassette Store Day, 2013

Why do young people today, most of which weren’t around for the height of the cassettes popularity in the 1980s, have a love for cassettes?  Professor Joanna Demers from the USC’s Thornton School of Music provides one perspective that this revival of cassettes is not one of pure nostalgia, because of course young people weren’t around for cassettes in the ‘80s, but a creation of a fictional nostalgia for creating and experimenting with playlists and mix-tapes.2 There could be many arguments made for why cassettes are experiencing a revival in American music culture, but at the core of this discussion is that fact that cassettes have never really died in the first place. The use of cassettes, whether it’s to share, create, or listen to music, continues to reflect and shape American’s tastes, values, and experiences. 

  1. Culture Cringe. Culture Cringe Cassette Releases. Self-published, 2013. https://archive.org/details/culture-cringe-cassette-releases_202502/page/n5/mode/2up. ↩︎
  2.  Joanna Demers. “Cassette Tape Revival as Creative Anachronism.” Twentieth-Century Music 14, no. 1 (2017): 109–17. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478572217000093. ↩︎
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Mix-tapes

Cassettes did not only offer consumers more portability of their music, but it allowed them to customize the music listening experience in a way that could never have been done before by making mix-tapes. Mix-tapes are compilations of songs recorded onto a cassette, creating a personal playlist of songs rather than only listening to a certain album. This transformed the way we consume and share music. Peter Catlin, a librarian at the University of Mary Washington, described his experience with mix-tapes as his most favorite memory of cassettes, equating mix-tapes to a form of art and self expression1. 

A newspaper article about record store selling mix-tapes of local bands, Tate Daily News, 1985

Mix-tapes not only shaped the individual or collective music listening experience, but they also allowed musical artists and entire genres of music to grow and influence the American music industry. An example can be found in an article from an Indiana newspaper, the Ball State Daily News, from 1985, which shares with the local community that a record store in the area was selling mix-tape cassettes with music made by local bands.2 The reporter, Karen Boots, writes that the store owners expressed that “[Muncie] musicians needed an outlet and many [artists] deserved to be recorded.”3 Mix-tapes offered people across the country, not just those with prior connections to the music industry, the opportunity to share their art with the world. Mix-tapes and cassettes not only helped individual bands and artists, but they’re credited with launching the hip hop genre, one of the most popular and influential music genres in American history. As quoted in Unspooled: How the Cassette Made Music Shareable, DJ Bobbito Garcia says, “Cassettes were hip hop […].”4 Many hip hop artists got launched their careers off from the success of their mix-tapes. Even when they had signed record deals, artists still released mix-tapes to promoted current projects or releases music in between albums.5 Mix-tapes were integral to the growth of such a culturally significant genre that reflects and shapes American culture to this day.

  1. You can see Mr. Catlin’s full interview here.
    NOTE: Full interviews will not be available until our documentary releases on November 11th, 2025.
    ↩︎
  2. Karen Boots. “Spotlight Record stores sell cassettes with music by local bands.” Ball State Daily News, April 2, 1985. https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/NoBarGBChaosR/id/239 ↩︎
  3. Karen Boots. “Spotlight Record stores sell cassettes with music by local bands.” ↩︎
  4. Rob Drew. Unspooled: How the Cassette Made Music Shareable. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2024, 131. ↩︎
  5. Rob Drew. Unspooled: How the Cassette Made Music Shareable. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2024, 134. ↩︎