Below is a list of types of technologies that humans have invented. They are grouped by domains of concern in people's lives.
Highlighted technologies are currently undergoing large value-creating transformations. Notably, 3 of 10 highlighted technologies are enabled by gene editing and synthetic biology.
Food
Weapons - For hunting
Fire - For making less edible foods more edible and for burning landscapes to improve hunting
Agriculture and plowing - Manipulation of regional environments to produce more abundant crops
Breeding - The genetic modification of species through intelligent selection of organisms with preferred traits
Genetically modified organisms - The intelligent design of organisms with preferred traits such as drought resistance, higher yield, or controlled production to provide affordable, sustainable carbohydrates and proteins.
Health
Treatments for trauma - Stopping blood loss and stabilizing limbs after falls or attacks
Pharmaceuticals - Poisons consumed in doses carefully chosen to provide beneficial effects
Surgery - Intentionally cutting open the body to perform internal manipulations
Vaccines - Carefully configured antigens to train the immune system for known diseases
Gene editing - To cure genetic diseases and remove predisposition to behavioral diseases in the bodies of people and other organisms
Energy
Food - Indirect solar energy directly into the body
Fire - Combustion of carbohydrates to produce heat and light
Oil - Combustion of lipids to produce more heat and light from less mass and volume
Water wheel - Conversion of solar energy to motion by way of evaporation and condensation (rain)
Windmill - Conversion of wind motion to motion of solids for grinding and pumping
Fossil fuels - Combustion of hydrocarbons to produce heat, locomotion, and electricity
Nuclear fission - Degrading larger atoms into smaller ones to produce electricity
Biofuels - Carbon neutral, biodegradable energy storage from genetically designed organisms
Nuclear fusion - Fusing smaller atoms into larger ones to produce electricity
Transportation
Shoes - Moving quickly over rough terrain
Domesticated large animals - Moving people and larger loads with less effort
Wheels - Moving people and even large loads
Boats - Moving people and large loads with a lot less energy
Motors - Moving people and and even larger loads faster using fossil fuels, genetically designed biofuels, or electricity
Rails - Moving people and large loads over land faster and with a lot less energy
Airplanes - Moving people and loads much faster over much larger distances
Autonomous vehicles - Moving people and loads without human drivers
Spaceships - Moving loads and people over much larger distances
Shelter
Tents - Portable shelter made of animal skins
Wood buildings - Stronger, stationary shelter
Brick & mortar - Stronger buildings without drafts, giving improved heat efficiency
Steel - Tall buildings with many floors
Information & communication
Complex spoken language - The expression of ideas outside of the listener's experience using ordered combinations of atomic units of conceptual information
Writing - Preservable, reproducible, expressions of language
Printing - Massively reproducible written information for wide distribution
Postal service - A network for communication of information from anywhere to anywhere else
Electrical and radio signaling - Communication of information over long distances without physical or line-of-sight contact
Binary digitization - Storage or transmission of information in a format that is reproducible with a very low probability of error
Internet - A fast binary electronic postal service
Statistical models - "AI" using models "trained" from "big data" using "machine learning"
Neural interfaces - Extracting information from and putting information into the human brain by machines
Quantum computing - Data processing using quantum mechanics
Art & entertainment
Singing and dancing - Abstract expressions
Stories - Literal expressions
Games - Non-survival activities requiring strategies
Drawings - Preservable visual expressions
Plays - Realistic portrayals of stories
Photographs and recording - Multiply reproducible expressions
Digital media - Non-degrading representations of images, sounds, and videos
Virtual reality - Renderings of synthetic 3 dimensional environments
Ownership
Exclusionary rights - The ability to control who can use valuable goods
Barter - The trading of goods and services
Currency - Tokens of value to be exchanged for goods and services
Real estate - Ownership of land
Accounting - Recording ownership in a ledger
Stock - Ownership of things to be produced in the future
Intellectual property - Ownership of ideas and knowledge
Collective ownership - A system in which a dictator makes decisions
Blockchain - A distributed digital ledger for recording exchanges of currency or other goods