What is the most useless technology ever invented?

I take attendance by asking the students a question.

What is the most useless technology ever invented?

Lots of disdain for Apple products:

• AirPods
• iPhones without headphone jacks
• iPod
• iPod shuffle

Some people listed general one-purpose or unnecessarily one-purpose-plus-SMART things:

• blenders
• hand-dryers (x2)
• carbonation machines -- just deal with drinking "flat" liquids
• glasses headphones, but they cool
• smart fridge
• an iron
• any unitasker -- see Alton Brown's Good Eats
• fidget spinners
• juice keurig
• toasters
• toaster-oven (inspired)
• juicers

Some people took issue with the question or tried to hedge:

• I don't know (x3)
• probably something I don't know about
• any answer I give would probably upset someone
• How do you define technology?
• all technology is useful

Other people seemed to have a grudge, and express it via this question:

• those rainbow chairs on buses
• eye massager
• gunpowder
• AI
• Yahoo
• the U.S. Senate
• cars

I'll award the "yep, definitely" prize to "eye massager", which is certainly useless and probably also unwanted.

This post's theme word is rowel (n), "a small spiked wheel at the end of a spur attached to the shoe of a horse rider; used to goad a horse" or (v tr), "to prick, to vex." The attendance questions seem to rowel certain students.

What do you know to be true that others would not believe is true?

I take attendance by asking the students a question.

What do you know to be true that others would not believe is true?

Some focused on stories/mythology:

• Santa Claus (x3)
• magic (x2)
• Mary Poppins
• Easter Bunny
• the  fae
• God
• Atlantis
• all the stories are true
• people with spiritual powers
• They walk among Us
• aliens
• The show Jessie is based on Angeline Jolie's kids.

There was a notably early-in-the-semester focus on sleep:

• those who sleep more live less [a later student added the annotation: "wrong"]
• sleep is for the rich
• sleep is boring
• I can pause and resume dreams.

Then there were people focusing on concrete ideas:

• tortoises can't swim
• Cares are inherently bad/unsustainable even if electric or self-driving, only a switch to a bike-centered infrastructure will work.
• I can bend my thumb backwards
• snakes are scarier than eagles
• I'm cool
• Marx was not Marxist
• P ≠ NP

And then a cohort of nihilists:

• Only the good die young.
• probably nothing
• everything will be fine
• good
• I just want to say "I was here" for this one
• literally nothing

This post's theme word is euhemerism (n), "a theory attributing the origin of the gods to the deification of historical heroes." The mythology class discussion degenerated into euhemerism and grasping at historical anecdotes.