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GM had and still has an impressive technical research center. Its just that establishment big companies dont get the respect that startup companies do. Nor ca

GM had and still has an impressive technical research center. Its just that establishment big companies dont get the respect that startup companies do. Nor can the employees win big like in a startup IPO. General Electric is currently running a humorous TV commercial about this. A hipster engineers friends throw him a "new job party". But they go slackjaw when they discover he joinged GE instead of Facebook. GE has the oldest R&D lab in the country, started by Thomas Edison.

askoxyz 11y ago
Edison being the guy who ripped off Tesla?
- Aloha 11y ago
  Yes, Edison who also invented the lightbulb, phonograph, motion pictures, carbon microphone, fuel cell, stock ticker, and alkaline battery.
  - wavefunction 11y ago
    Well, or scientists working for his firm.
    - Aloha 11y ago
      I've read a fair bit about Edison, often Edison came up with the initial idea, and the scientists working for him made his ideas something that could leave the laboratory. But, the ones that I attributed, at least half of them, I know to have had extensive work by Edison himself.
    - bdcravens 11y ago
      Steve Jobs is listed on 323 patents.
  - GCA10 11y ago
    Took credit for inventing
  - sjm-lbm 11y ago
    I'm far from an expert on all of the details, but I find it amusing how similar Edison was to Steve Jobs: both non-engineers that seemed to have enough technical intuition to facilitate an amazing amount of development within their organizations, all while taking (perhaps) more credit than they deserved and running their businesses in occasionally ruthless ways. Yet, somehow it's popular to want to emulate Steve Jobs and rant about how mean Edison was to Tesla.
    - sanderjd 11y ago
      Anecdotally, it seems pretty consistent to me – people who scoff at Edison also scoff at Jobs, and people who want to emulate Jobs aren't those who scoff at Edison. But you certainly see both sides here.
    - joombaga 11y ago
      Perhaps this is because there is no (obvious/singular) Tesla to Jobs' Edison.
      - Aloha 11y ago
        Wozniak.
    - Aloha 11y ago
      I'd actually say that Edison was an engineer, I'd also say that Jobs was a kind of engineer (more like a project engineer). Out of the two, Edison was closer to the traditional type however.
    - karmacondon 11y ago
      I don't want to derail this thread due to a passing mention of Edison's name, but. Edison's major inventions represented a difference in kind, not in degree, that drastically changed things for humanity. Think of how different life is as the result of recorded sound, the concept of an electric company or light bulbs for home use. Job's products were often well designed incremental changes. Apple made computers consumer friendly, but they didn't invent the technology. They didn't invent the global telecommunications network that makes the iPhone useful either. Edison was an Inventor with a capital I. Jobs was a truly great corporate executive.
  - hyperliner 11y ago
    Edison invented the lightbulb? I thought it was Humphrey Davy or maybe Warren de la Rue.
    - logfromblammo 11y ago
      Also, Joseph Swan and Charles Stearn were the first to bring a practical commercial application to the market. Edison, if I recall correctly, invented the screw-in electrical connector, the permanently sealed bulb, and a certain type of carbon filament. That's why when Edison refused to license his patents to Westinghouse for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, the lights were stoppered instead of permanently sealed, with dual bayonet bases. They burnt out constantly, and that resulted in the contract being underbid, but the power to the fair was Westinghouse alternating current rather than Edison direct current, so it was a minor victory in the current war. No, Edison did not invent the light bulb. But of all the people who contributed innovations to it, he was probably the best at manipulating public perceptions.
      - Aloha 11y ago
        I'd actually argue that Edison made the first /practical electric light bulb for use in a lighting system/ Swans lamp was a low resistance lamp, meaning higher current demand and a need for larger copper supply lines to supply the lamp.
- chiph 11y ago
  Not ripped off. More like had a major difference of opinion as to how to efficiently produce and distribute electricity. The electrocution of many stray dogs, a death-row prisoner, and an elephant was needed to settle the argument.
aswanson 11y ago
Zazzies > GE.
ljk 11y ago
the ad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvfU1NpCJQQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvfU1NpCJQQ
acchow 11y ago
> Its just that establishment big companies dont get the respect that startup companies do. Ummm... Apple? Google? Goldman? They get "less respect" than Uber and Airbnb and Pinterest?
jayjay71 11y ago
As someone who used to work at a research lab funded by GM, I can tell you they are incompetent. I was so put off by the experience that I will make sure to never buy a car made by GM.

askoxyz 11y ago

Edison being the guy who ripped off Tesla?

Aloha 11y ago
Yes, Edison who also invented the lightbulb, phonograph, motion pictures, carbon microphone, fuel cell, stock ticker, and alkaline battery.
- wavefunction 11y ago
  Well, or scientists working for his firm.
  - Aloha 11y ago
    I've read a fair bit about Edison, often Edison came up with the initial idea, and the scientists working for him made his ideas something that could leave the laboratory. But, the ones that I attributed, at least half of them, I know to have had extensive work by Edison himself.
  - bdcravens 11y ago
    Steve Jobs is listed on 323 patents.
- GCA10 11y ago
  Took credit for inventing
- sjm-lbm 11y ago
  I'm far from an expert on all of the details, but I find it amusing how similar Edison was to Steve Jobs: both non-engineers that seemed to have enough technical intuition to facilitate an amazing amount of development within their organizations, all while taking (perhaps) more credit than they deserved and running their businesses in occasionally ruthless ways. Yet, somehow it's popular to want to emulate Steve Jobs and rant about how mean Edison was to Tesla.
  - sanderjd 11y ago
    Anecdotally, it seems pretty consistent to me – people who scoff at Edison also scoff at Jobs, and people who want to emulate Jobs aren't those who scoff at Edison. But you certainly see both sides here.
  - joombaga 11y ago
    Perhaps this is because there is no (obvious/singular) Tesla to Jobs' Edison.
    - Aloha 11y ago
      Wozniak.
  - Aloha 11y ago
    I'd actually say that Edison was an engineer, I'd also say that Jobs was a kind of engineer (more like a project engineer). Out of the two, Edison was closer to the traditional type however.
  - karmacondon 11y ago
    I don't want to derail this thread due to a passing mention of Edison's name, but. Edison's major inventions represented a difference in kind, not in degree, that drastically changed things for humanity. Think of how different life is as the result of recorded sound, the concept of an electric company or light bulbs for home use. Job's products were often well designed incremental changes. Apple made computers consumer friendly, but they didn't invent the technology. They didn't invent the global telecommunications network that makes the iPhone useful either. Edison was an Inventor with a capital I. Jobs was a truly great corporate executive.
- hyperliner 11y ago
  Edison invented the lightbulb? I thought it was Humphrey Davy or maybe Warren de la Rue.
  - logfromblammo 11y ago
    Also, Joseph Swan and Charles Stearn were the first to bring a practical commercial application to the market. Edison, if I recall correctly, invented the screw-in electrical connector, the permanently sealed bulb, and a certain type of carbon filament. That's why when Edison refused to license his patents to Westinghouse for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, the lights were stoppered instead of permanently sealed, with dual bayonet bases. They burnt out constantly, and that resulted in the contract being underbid, but the power to the fair was Westinghouse alternating current rather than Edison direct current, so it was a minor victory in the current war. No, Edison did not invent the light bulb. But of all the people who contributed innovations to it, he was probably the best at manipulating public perceptions.
    - Aloha 11y ago
      I'd actually argue that Edison made the first /practical electric light bulb for use in a lighting system/ Swans lamp was a low resistance lamp, meaning higher current demand and a need for larger copper supply lines to supply the lamp.
chiph 11y ago
Not ripped off. More like had a major difference of opinion as to how to efficiently produce and distribute electricity. The electrocution of many stray dogs, a death-row prisoner, and an elephant was needed to settle the argument.

aswanson 11y ago

Zazzies > GE.

ljk 11y ago

the ad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvfU1NpCJQQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvfU1NpCJQQ

acchow 11y ago

> Its just that establishment big companies dont get the respect that startup companies do. Ummm... Apple? Google? Goldman? They get "less respect" than Uber and Airbnb and Pinterest?

jayjay71 11y ago

As someone who used to work at a research lab funded by GM, I can tell you they are incompetent. I was so put off by the experience that I will make sure to never buy a car made by GM.