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Trivia: Inventions that created more problems than they solved

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Three-Nine

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CFCs have already been mentioned, but I’ll add leaded petrol (introduced to reduce a problem called “knocking” in internal combustion engines) because they were invented by the same person - and possibly one of the front runners for the “We’d Have Been Better Off Without Him” award - Thomas Midgley Junior. He was eventually near literally hoist by one of his own petards in the end…
 
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styles

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On the car topic:
  • Keyless entry
  • Touchscreens for changing AC, music, lights, etc
  • ALR smart motorways
 

brad465

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CFCs have already been mentioned, but I’ll add leaded petrol (introduced to reduce a problem called “knocking” in internal combustion engines) because they were invented by the same person - and possibly one of the front runners for the “We’d Have Been Better Off Without Him” award - Thomas Midgley Junior. He was eventually near literally hoist by one of his own petards in the end…
Sorry to be "that guy", but someone already beat you to it, although yes his ending was somewhat poetic justice:
Thomas Midgley Junior is the guy for this thread - he invented both leaded petrol and CFCs...
 

Welly

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Damn - I thought I'd spotted all the typos!!! :rolleyes: Corrected now...

One thing I find myself increasingly doing, and I don't know why, is typing "teh" instead of "the" of "taht" instead of "that". Which infuriates me, but at least I can't blame technology for that...
For some reason autocorrect never pick these up!
 

Harpo

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Burning coal and burning methane.



As for beer, the brewing industry is using ‘craft’ as an added value term and a cheaper way to produce beer. Just as it did with keg.

Carbonated, Refridgerated, Ale From Tins
 

DM352

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Social media replacing newspapers and much of the TV news. Social media articles/videos like YouTube has become more about clicks with catchy titles. Algorithms then generate more likewise content. AI is now being more evident in social media than it was.

An exception of this I enjoy is the odd train video and listening to good old CBC radio in the morning.
 

Lloyds siding

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The chainsaw. Deforestation has become an easy option: to the detriment of native peoples, forests with their wildlife, water conservation, biodiversity (to use an overused word), soil preservation, and carbon conservation and cycling.
 

adc82140

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Not having a dig, but what problems outweigh its merits as per subject title?

Sounds like a Douglas Adams quote :lol:
The internet started out as a good thing, a means to share ideas, information.

But we've become too dependent on it, and malign actors can use it to cause us damage. For example, we worry that a hack could cause us to plunge into darkness. How have we come to the situation where critical infrrastructure is connected to networks accessible by anyone with access to the Internet?

It's too often used as an excuse for people not doing their jobs properly, "we are having issues with our networks"

And social media has given a platform for extremists of all flavours.
 

brad465

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Weight loss jabs are something I can see really falling into this category down the line. At the moment they seem like an absolute miracle cure, and the below article live today really seems to hammer home a load of benefits to those injecting themselves with them. But it has a ring of "if it sounds too good to be true, it is", and in years down the line, I can see a catalogue of nasty side effects and consequences from their use arising:


They're the injections helping some people shed pounds, but weight-loss drugs are also transforming the way people spend.

About 1.6 million people in the UK used weight-loss jabs in 2024, the latest research from University College London suggests, with millions more saying they'd be interested in trying them.

For those paying privately, they can cost more than £300 a month – but with their popularity only expected to rise, how are businesses adapting to a new type of consumer?
 

Sorcerer

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Weight loss jabs are something I can see really falling into this category down the line. At the moment they seem like an absolute miracle cure, and the below article live today really seems to hammer home a load of benefits to those injecting themselves with them. But it has a ring of "if it sounds too good to be true, it is", and in years down the line, I can see a catalogue of nasty side effects and consequences from their use arising:

The funny thing to me about these weight loss jabs is the fact that even though people are freely able to buy them and use them, I was told that I didn't qualify for it (Mounjaro specifically) because I didn't meet the NICE TA guidelines despite being diabetic and already prescribed maximum semaglutide medication. At £300 a month that's not exactly a small expenditure for most people either.
 

eyebrook1961

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The funny thing to me about these weight loss jabs is the fact that even though people are freely able to buy them and use them, I was told that I didn't qualify for it (Mounjaro specifically) because I didn't meet the NICE TA guidelines despite being diabetic and already prescribed maximum semaglutide medication. At £300 a month that's not exactly a small expenditure for most people either.
I was given Ozempic as part of my diabetes regime, and have been told that, if the Ozempic turns out not to have the desired effect then they will consider trying Mounjaro - but I suppose different health authorities have different guidelines . . . .
 

Railwaycat

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Weight loss jabs are something I can see really falling into this category down the line. At the moment they seem like an absolute miracle cure, and the below article live today really seems to hammer home a load of benefits to those injecting themselves with them. But it has a ring of "if it sounds too good to be true, it is", and in years down the line, I can see a catalogue of nasty side effects and consequences from their use arising:


That article is interesting, simply because neither me, my wife nor close friends are even slightly overweight (I can eat what I want without putting on weight) so we haven't looked into how these drugs work. However, we have observed how much food (and what kind of food) overweight people eat in cafe's and restaurants, plus the contents of a lot of supermarket trolleys....
 

johntea

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Perhaps a minor one but those damn attached bottle tops on plastic bottles!
 

Harpo

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However, we have observed how much food (and what kind of food) overweight people eat in cafe's and restaurants
Greggs say that weight loss jabs are affecting their profits.
The boss of Greggs said there was "no doubt" hugely popular appetite suppressing drugs have led to people looking for "smaller portions", affecting the company's bottom line.
 

Trackman

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That's an annoyance, but what's the problem that they've caused?
They can break off and fall into the drink, it's happened to me. Luckily, I could see the blue bit of plastic in the lemonade. A potential choking hazard. Maybe I was manhandling the top too much.
 

brad465

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Also, Religion.
By the same logic, atheism. While religion has its problems, the rise of "no religion" has exacerbated the decline of communities and socialising/intergrating that centred around churches and other religious events, and driven increased risk aversity that may well have been a cause of covid lockdowns among other things.

If it counts as an invention, a number of medicines that have advanced life expectancy: on paper a good thing, but the rise of dementia, other social care and an increased pensions bill are setting us up for other costly problems.
 
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najaB

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They can break off and fall into the drink, it's happened to me. Luckily, I could see the blue bit of plastic in the lemonade. A potential choking hazard. Maybe I was manhandling the top too much.
I'm going to bet that bits of the plastic falling into the bottle happens less than once for every hundred times the cap is prevented from falling onto the ground.
 

AM9

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I'm going to bet that bits of the plastic falling into the bottle happens less than once for every hundred times the cap is prevented from falling onto the ground.
... and possibly swallowed by an animal, - pet or wild.
 

DM352

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Subscriptions.

Yes, there were those book clubs and towards the millennium direct debit but now subscriptions have appeared everywhere with associated marketing. The best is only $9 a month* when you pay for 3 years otherwise $18!

Subscriptions can now range from packaged food delivery like HelloFresh in Canada to more tv streaming options than you can watch, to enabling features on your car. joking aside certain car types may have the subscription model for working indicators paid for a day at MOT time!

If you have many subscriptions it could be a second job, especially when trying to find the cancel button, or it renews 2 days before like Apple news.
 

Cross City

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The funny thing to me about these weight loss jabs is the fact that even though people are freely able to buy them and use them, I was told that I didn't qualify for it (Mounjaro specifically) because I didn't meet the NICE TA guidelines despite being diabetic and already prescribed maximum semaglutide medication. At £300 a month that's not exactly a small expenditure for most people either.

I was on Mounjaro for a year (pre the recent price hike) and I saved money on it. My food shopping bill reduced by more than the cost of the medication.

Lost 9 stone in a year and have kept all of it off since coming off it, but you have to be disciplined and learn new habits from the moment you start or else you'll put some weight on again when you stop.

If it was still the same price I'd still be taking it long-term via micro-dosing as the benefits other than headline weight loss are, without exaggeration, life changing.

I look forward to Retatrutide and eventually GLPs in pill form (much cheaper) being available in the UK, it'll be transformational for the general health of the population.
 
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Railwaycat

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Lost 9 stone in a year and have kept all of it off since coming off it, but you have to be disciplined and learn new habits from the moment you start or else you'll put some weight on again when you stop.

Congratulations, that's some achievement and good luck with keeping it up.
 

sprunt

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On a more parochial level, those darned vapes, the instant fog plus the discarded ones on pavements etc.
In litter terms, vapes are probably an improvement on cigarettes. The same people who think it's okay to just drop one on the pavement would have also thought it's okay to scatter however many cigarette butts is the equivalent across wherever they go throughout the day.
 
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