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What object tells the story of life in 2010?

A History of the World in 100 Objects tells two million years of history through one hundred objects from the British Museum's collection.

For the 100th object, the British Museum wanted to choose an object to that told the story of the ingenuity and the challenges that shape humanity in the 21st century.

We asked the audience which object they would choose and why.

  • 04:44 20th September 2010 Weight loss pills totally pointless advancement in science for the western world. I think this demonstrates the excess and wrong priorities of 2010 quite well - Anna (London)
  • 03:03 20th September 2010 The debit card, everyone uses them, whether we want to or not, whether we believe they are safe or not. I never carry large amounts of cash with me anymore and what about cash machines proximity wise, the placement of machines could be starting to define where we shop and socalize. - kahless1701
  • 02:14 20th September 2010 Hitch Hikers Guide To the Galaxy, aka the iPhone. Douglas Adams had it right back in the 80's. Now we just need to work out what the answer to 42 is ! - Simon Sea (Raleigh North Carolina)
  • 23:57 19th September 2010 The 'X' they stand on in The X Factor. Peel it off the floor and stick it in the "3rd Millennium Gallery" as the touchstone of our time. It symbolises the willingness of an entire nation to offload its aspirations onto one person to live out their dreams. The cult of The X Factor is the 2010 manifestation of the cult of the Pharaoh, the Delphic oracle, the Sun King... the Goddess Leona. - andy (London)
  • 23:29 19th September 2010 A mobile phone. Everyone in all ages and socio economic groups is using them all over the world - to telephone, to send SMS text messages, to 'give missed calls' - a truly universal object. - Masume (London)
  • 22:55 19th September 2010 The transistor is the basis of all our computer technology today. Miniaturised it forms the integrated circuit. It is the basis of the television, radio, iPD, Personal Computer, Toaster ... Invented post war - Philip Clarke (Letchworth)
  • 21:58 19th September 2010 The iPad, we started writing on a clay tablet in Mesopotamia, now the circle is complete we are now writing electronically on a tablet. - Brian Dodd (Victoria, BC, Canada)
  • 21:45 19th September 2010 Batteries. Imagine the tangle we would all be in if our watches, phones, and automobiles all had to plugged into the mains with really long extension leads. - Jason Twigg (Edinburgh)
  • 21:44 19th September 2010 Has to be the broadband box sitting in the corner quietly flashing away, yet opening up the power and danger of world wide information to our previously isolated computers. Technology and disembodied connection, that sums up 2010. - Andy (Grenada)
  • 21:17 19th September 2010 Personalised Number Plate: Expresses modern concern with creating impression, attracting attention, one man upmanship and flaunting of wealth. Further illustrates the significance attached, by some people, to cars as status symbols and expressions of personality. - John Blick (Northamptonshire)
  • 21:05 19th September 2010 It has to be a vinyl record. In terms of history they were not around for long but had a huge popular impact on the normal person. - Peter Moody (Madrid, Spain)
  • 21:03 19th September 2010 I nominate search engines on the internet - for me, google - they have changed the way we use our brains. Anything, absolutely anything we need to know, at the touch of a few buttons. - Claire (Dorset)
  • 20:44 19th September 2010 An Internet connected computer, no question. I can't think of a single object that bookends our history as a species better. They point the way forwards in communication, relationships, science, industry, education and design. Most importantly, they dispell ignorance, and allow everyone access to the sum of Human knowledge. - Paul Evans (Edinburgh)
  • 19:56 19th September 2010 As old as Time but for me totally new for 2010...our wee girl born in January. Hard to remember what life was like pre-Elsa. - Kelly McClorey (The Fens, Cambridgeshire)
  • 19:36 19th September 2010 Surely it has to be a Smartphone - a phone, diary, stills and video camera, with access to e-mail and the Internet, satnav and music. Great when it works, endless frustration when it doesn't - typical of modern technology! - Janet Mundy (Edinburgh)
  • 19:17 19th September 2010 I would definitely say Internet. Its crucial sway in contemporay world goes without saying and it has supposed a revolution not only in the way we act but even in the way we think as a more than ever sedentary individuals. - Carlos (Zaragoza)
  • 19:13 19th September 2010 Crutches... I've spent about 3.5months of this year on them. Object of next year? My power walking trainers - I'll be marathon walking next year for sure. Nothing focuses the mind like not being able to do something... - Liz (Hull)
  • 18:51 19th September 2010 An iPad, iPhone or iPod, because they are part of our lives, and even somebody who doesn't own one knows what one is and what it is used for. These three devices sum up the advances of the last 5 years in terms of music, smartphones and computing. - Andrew Hobson (Reunion Island)
  • 18:01 19th September 2010 A 'simple' transistor, because it has changed our lives in so many ways... - Rob (Belgium)
  • 17:10 19th September 2010 The mobile phone - or rather the "smartphone" - an encapsulation of today's connectedness and dependency on the Von Neumann computer. - Hamish Blair (Kenilworth)
  • 17:00 19th September 2010 The object I would choose to represent 2010 would have to be disposable, hold no artistic merit and have little monetary value ... A discarded, empty, rusty tin can - Iain Cameron Williams (writer) (Brighton)
  • 15:51 19th September 2010 Digital Camera can capture human life instantly. - Ken (Taiwan)
  • 15:38 19th September 2010 The iPod Touch because everyone has one. - Calum Baines (Northampton)
  • 15:09 19th September 2010 One step further on from the moon landing is the satellite this tells the story of life in 2010 to me - Andrea (Yorkshire)
  • 15:01 19th September 2010 0101010101 self evident? - Richard Palser (Hertfordshire)
  • 14:41 19th September 2010 I agree with John Waters and would say the computer...I can see the effect that things like facebook and twitter have on people's lives and relationships... now in 2010I see this as a positive thing but maybe in years to come my perspective will change...I hope not though - bluebeany (hull)
  • 14:27 19th September 2010 Any object OTHER than a smart phone. How about an artificial hip joint? Much more useful - if I was a prehistoric person confronted by a sabre-toothed tiger I would much rather run than send a tweet. - Mal (Nottingham)
  • 14:15 19th September 2010 A mobile phone. It's the one tool that enables us to be virtually connected, constantly distracted and perpetually busy with nothing. - David Doscher (New York)

Suggestion highlights

  • Suggestions from the public
  • Stephen Fry
  • Annie Nightingale
  • John Waters
  • Douglas Alexander
  • John McCarthy
  • Marcus Du Sautoy

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