I stumbled across a survey by “Youth Says…” from NST (New Straits Times) that asks the question from Malaysian youths, aged 15 to 25: What is the most important invention in history?

This is certainly a contentious issue that would bring in varied answers, but what caught my eye was the answers from some youths. Some answered Facebook, sanitary pad, and even, pillow! If this survey is any representative of our Malaysian youth, then I am worried. It suggests that one-third of our youths are idiots. Strong word, yes, but I get extremely irritated with imbeciles.

Mercifully, some youths answered something much more intelligent such as penicillin (a better answer would be “antibiotics” but I won’t split hairs), internet, and telephone as the greatest ever invention. Though these items are extremely important, I don’t rank them as the most important. Nonetheless, at least, they are intelligent and worthy candidates for the greatest invention in history.

For me, the greatest invention is writing. This is because writing allows storage of knowledge and its wide dissemination. Writing forms the basis of other inventions, and without writing, knowledge would be transient.