Inventions and innovations have moved the world forward to how it is now. But just like how Victor Frankenstein created the Frankenstein monster, not all products of innovations are butterflies and rainbows. Some horrors come from these inventions, negatively influencing the world today.
1. Landmines
Landmines, based on explosive booby traps, were first developed and used during the American Civil War, specifically by the Confederate Army during the Battle of Yorktown. While it’s easy to make and cheap, its destructive power is so unspeakable that the United Nations even created the Mine Ban Treaty.
2. CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons)
CFCs or chlorofluorocarbons are man-made gasses responsible for ozone depletion in the 1980s. When CFCs are used at a high concentration, they can cause health issues, including headaches, chest tightness, asphyxia, and central nervous system depression.
3. Advertisements
Advertisements are technically harmless, but when plastered on anything and everything, they become annoying and even inconvenient. They’re supposed to be encouraging and informative, but now they’re just a bunch of links forced into people.
4. Social Media
Social media was created to help people communicate and share their lives with others despite the distance. Today, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, and others, have become the stage for fake news peddlers. They’ve also become platforms for rumor spreading and bullying.
5. Wonder Products
Wonder products, such as Teflon, benzene, and asbestos insulation, were once incredible products people found amazing. With the discovery of their products’ instability and poisonous capability, many of the products were recalled, and manufacturing was stopped. The danger though comes from the fact that some people would rather be poisoned than get rid of the products.
6. Biochemical Weapons
Biochemical weapons include toxic gases and biological weapons like viruses and pathogens. These weapons are some of the most frightening tools terrorists can use against nations. These are highly lethal weapons that can start as simple as flu-like symptoms. If COVID-19 is weaponized, that’s what these weapons are.
7. Religion
Religion is a double-sided sword that can either be a good or bad influence, depending on the wielder. Some mental health professionals believe that religion can have an effect on people, leading to inflexibility and repression.
8. Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear weapons are deadly and can wipe out so many people in an instant. During the end of World War II, nuclear weapons were used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, wiping out 140,000 and 74,000 people in an instant. Worse, the exposure to the radiation left by the bombing can cause cancer and intergenerational health issues.
9. Fishing Vessels Turned Ocean Destroyers
Some of the fishing vessels used today act like ocean destroyers instead. While they seem focused on fishing, they scourge the entire ocean up to the sea floor. Worse, they obliterate everything in their path, eliminating everything, from sea creatures to corals.
10. Convenience Fees
Convenience fees are just charges you pay a seller when using payment options other than the standard ones. The standard payment options are cash or check. If you choose other options like a credit card or other electronic cards, you will be required to pay for this fee. Some say it’s for the bank’s processing fee, while others believe it’s just another way for sellers to profit from their customers.
11. Single-use Plastic
Single-use plastics are a horror for the environment, capable of destroying the entire planet. Birds and sea turtles often mistake these plastics for food. These plastics then fill the animals’ stomachs, slowly poisoning them and leading to their early death.
12. War
War is the worst and most destructive thing that humans have crafted. It’s the cause of so much suffering in the world, from poverty to traumas. Many of the most terrifying inventions were made in honor of wars. From the landmines to the biochemical and nuclear weapons, all were created to help someone be triumphant in war.
13. Young Sheldon
“Young Sheldon” is the prequel spin-off of the TV show “The Big Bang Theory.” Many loved the nerd-focused show and saw it as something fresh and different. The creation of “Young Sheldon” seems like a stretch to some fans. They believe that the show about Sheldon’s childhood is irrelevant and not fun to watch.
14. Internal Combustion Engine
The internal combustion engine is one of the horrors of the world according to “The Lord of the Rings” author J.R.R. Tolkien. Every time the fuel burns, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides are produced. These inflammable vapors may help an engine run faster, but they are harmful to the environment.
15. Slavery
Slavery was rampant in the United States for almost a century, from 1776 to 1865. It started in 1619 when the privateer The White Lion got 20 enslaved African slaves from a Portuguese ship and took them to Virginia. From there, African Americans became the labor force for industries like agriculture.
16. Subscriptions
Subscriptions are the inventions of enterprises and corporations. When you pay subscriptions, you own nothing but buy more since you have to pay it over and over.
17. Influencers
Influencers have existed in the past through royal families and actors and actresses. Today, its meaning is downgraded to people with many followers on social media platforms. It doesn’t even matter if these people are worth looking up to, what’s important is their market reach that will allow them to convince many people to buy a specific product or service. Everything is for the sake of money.
18. Prefrontal Lobotomy
Prefrontal lobotomy is a surgical brain procedure popular in the 1900s to cure patients suffering from neuropsychological illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The results of the surgery are unpredictable and varied, with a mortality rate of 5 percent. A person may end up completely changed in behavior and personality after the surgery.
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MSN Writer, Radical FIRE
Expertise: Entertainment, Travel, Interior Design, and Personal Improvement Niches
Education: Bachelor of Science in Tourism, Major in Development Tourism Management at Ateneo de Naga University
Experience: Marisa Bolivar is a content writer with 10 years of experience in creating blogs and articles across different industries on the web. She has explored many niches in her years working as a content specialist with her favorite zeroing on entertainment, from books to movies and TV shows. Marisa is also a bookworm, who has a fondness for personal improvement and philosophical authors like Paulo Coelho and Mitch Albom.