How to prioritize inventions

In this paper we consider many intangible criteria that influence the priorities and ranks of inventions as they contribute to human welfare, by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. We apply the ideas to evaluate a number of modern inventions along with a few old ones. Both the categories of inventions and the effects they have on human well-being and human progress are considered in this weighting process. Different effects of similar types of inventions could have different properties. To our knowledge this work breaks new ground about the numerical prioritization of all kinds of inventions because of the effort spent in structuring the process in a comprehensive hierarchy.