"The most important invention is the washing machine. Any other technology comes second."

Said the 95-year-old German woman, who lived through the Nazi era and is doing an ask-me-anything on Reddit today.

And somebody says "So that TED talk was right after all!" and links to:

What was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution? Hans Rosling makes the case for the washing machine.... Rosling shows us the magic that pops up when economic growth and electricity turn a boring wash day into an intellectual day of reading.

That made me think about the description of wash day in "The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson I":
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