In my opinion the electricity generator, as a single invention, has had more effect than anything else upon the way we live. No generator means no electricity. No computers, no lighting, running water, manufacturing machines, hospital machines, no nothing practically. Look around you and you will be hard pushed to find something that does not require electricity to function or did not require electical power in it's manufacture.
You seem to bang on about the internet but the internet is not much more than a specialisation of the tremendous work carried out by a Scotsman in inventing the telephone.
You mentioned GPS just now, a technology based upon satellites which the Russians were the first to develop.
I don't see that nuclear technology has had a profound effect on the lives of everyday citizens, other than striking fear into their hearts during The Cold War. Going to the moon is another example of a tremendous achievement for science that has had limited effect on the lives of ordinary people. Especially when compared against things such as the invention of the Jet Engine, Internal Combustion Engine, Plastics or the invention of Penicillin to give a few examples.
What I am getting at is the fact that much of the great things we see today are underpinned by equally great or better work carried out some time ago and just because they are newer, in no way makes them superior.
)
We were taught what the provinces are, and the capital's of each, but that's about the extent of it. A large chunk of history we learn is our own history... why shouldn't it be? It's more important to learn about the place you live first, have that be the main focus, then give a little info about other countries throughout the world. Or at least that's the way it was a my (rather underachieving) school.
