Re:Patent US5443036 – Method of exercising a cat
by throwawaykf05 on Friday October 23, 2015 @10:56AM
(#10438942)
Edison gets a lot of flack for some things he did (especially in the context of Tesla) but he certainly was a great inventor. Many of his inventions did come from working with the people he employed, but they were nowhere near "enslaved". No more than employees at Google or Facebook are.
Furthermore, a lot of the accusations levied against him are just outright false. For instance, the "electrocution of an elephant":
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsy_%28elephant%29
Edit - more about Edison: http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2013/02/oatmeal_comic_...
Re:Patent US5443036 – Method of exercising a cat
by vlehto on Friday October 23, 2015 @11:24AM
(#10439160)
It was joke, but thanks for the correction. I'd like to point out that leading scientists to make big bunch of inventions would be great feat in it's own right. Leadership alone is diffucult, scientists don't accept just anybody as their superior and you need expert level hunch about technology too.
The Wright brothers tried to hinder development of airplanes, but De Havilland managed to circumvent their patent. Creating entirely new technology in the process.
Watt on the other hand managed to protect his steam engine patent and went on to invent a copying machine with the money.
And Edison, mediocre inventor who luckily made some patent money early with the quadruplex telegraph. Then he could concentrate to his true calling of enslaving scientists.
I'm half joking here. But we really can't know how history would have turned out if patents would not exist. So far I'm not convinced with any of the alternatives. Even with the glaring flaws of the current patent system.