LCD TVs and Facebook might be important parts of our lives today, but how much do they matter compared with these inventions that transformed society?

How could we ever survive without Facebook or our trusty iPhones? The answer is that we'd probably survive just fine. As addicted as we are to the latest status update or zombie-killing app, the truth is that these technologies aren't lighting the world on fire.

They pale in comparison to the inventions that changed the way people live — the ones that transformed and even saved lives.

The truly revolutionary technologies of history forever changed the way we communicate, how we do business, even the state of our health. They are so important, in fact, that they are still used throughout the world and have themselves inspired strings of successive improvements.

They didn't just change society; they become so fully enveloped into our lives that we can't imagine what we would do without them. 

Click ahead for a look at this brief history of 11 technologies that changed the world.