When his creation went on the rampage and threw a little girl down a well, Dr Frankenstein had to concede that it had all gone pear shaped. It was the prime example of a brilliant technological breakthrough taking on a life of its own, with dire consequences.

Fortunately, not all inventions are like that. The bicycle, for example, is one of the wonders of our time. Outraged pedestrians are forever bleating to the newspapers about cyclists riding on pavements in the wrong direction. But they forget, as they drive down to the letterbox, that motor cars kill far more people than bicycles, which make no noise, give nobody asthma, don't churn up roads, and for which you can always find a parking space. Neuroscientist Steven Pinker has calculated that a person on a bicycle is more energy efficient than any other animal or machine. No wonder cyclists feel entitled to ride wherever they jolly well please.

You don't hear people complaining about airplanes, but they are not nearly such a pleasant and healthy invention. They confirm the French philosopher Pascal's view that all our misfortunes stem from not being able to keep to our own bedrooms. Noise, billowing diesel fumes, tropical paradises spoilt by hideous hotels and pedalos, giant mutant strawberries on supermarket shelves in the middle of winter - all can be blamed on the plane. And that's just in peace time.

But ever since Icarus flew too near to the sun, people have yearned to take to the air like the birds. Leonardo da Vinci almost cracked it. Otto von Lilienthal was so thrilled with gliding from hilltops on arm-powered wings that he killed himself doing it. Now all we have to do is get ourselves to Gatwick and off we soar. We still show our amazement at being so far off the ground by the way we clutch the arms of our seats and keep calling for more duty-free drinks.

A more recent arrival, computers are still trading on a store of good will. Science magazine Focus recently rated them as the second greatest invention of all time, surely one of the greatest exaggerations of all time. It is true that, like the smallpox vaccination, computers have all but eliminated one of mankind's great scourges: filing. They have also given the practically illiterate a chance to work in our banks and utilities. They have helped mathematicians perform mind-boggling calculations and given Garry Kasparov a run for his money. The beautiful snaking roof of the channel tunnel terminal at Waterloo could not have been designed without computers. They have made some people rich.