I asked one of the AI bots about consequential inventions since 1954, and its first response had technological innovations at the top of the list– the more widespread use of transistors, integrated circuits, and the laser were the top 3, in order.
I then asked where the polio vaccine fit, and it placed third in a revised list, behind the transistor and IC. The polio vaccine was the first thing to come to mind, though I realize it was how I phrased my first question that left it out entirely in the first list generated.
In one sense, transistors and integrated circuits deserve their place at the top of a list of important inventions, but the polio vaccine, to me, is in a class by itself.
3 Cents' 