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Chris Anderson: So you spoke to me last week about these two guys. Who are they and how do you relate to them? Linus Torvalds: Well, so this is kind of cliché
by tylercubell 10y ago
Chris Anderson: So you spoke to me last week about these two guys. Who are they and how do you relate to them?
Linus Torvalds: Well, so this is kind of cliché in technology, the whole Tesla versus Edison, where Tesla is seen as the visionary scientist and crazy idea man. And people love Tesla. I mean, there are people who name their companies after him.
The other person there is Edison, who is actually often vilified for being kind of pedestrian and is — I mean, his most famous quote is, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." And I'm in the Edison camp, even if people don't always like him. Because if you actually compare the two, Tesla has kind of this mind grab these days, but who actually changed the world? Edison may not have been a nice person, he did a lot of things — he was maybe not so intellectual, not so visionary. But I think I'm more of an Edison than a Tesla.
http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linux/transcript?language=en http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linu...
- popee 10y agoTesla worked for Edison and was a person who could finish things and some of them changed the world. He was also person with vision, so I think Linus is either wrong or he is trying to put emphasis only on hard work. What if you have person like Tesla with both qualities?
- oska 10y ago> What if you have person like Tesla with both qualities? Like Elon Musk for example (who Torvalds seems to be making a gentle dig at, in the quote above).
- tylercubell 10y agoI agree -- you need a little bit of both qualities. The vision of what to create and the execution to carry it out. The two go hand in hand. I think Linus is putting the emphasis on hard work because we mere mortals aren't endowed with the same genius that Tesla had and for us, the best way to achieve something great is through hard work instead of "divine" inspiration.
- nickpsecurity 10y agoThe Chinese made a whole industry out of executing without visionaries. It's called cloning products of visionaries. Or slightly improving them based on marketing feedback.
- pmontra 10y agoEverybody starts with copying. You need a certain amount of proficiency in a given subject to be able to innovate. China will get there at scale too.
- nickpsecurity 10y agoThey start with a bit of copying then follow with originality. This is true even for high schoolers doing programming in US. China's copiers in imdustry didnt for a long time. So, it's not as simple as you suggested. Shenzhen is in opposite situation where it's both cloning and innovating so fast there's no stability in offerings.
- emodendroket 10y agoI think maybe you should go back to the history of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, which hinged initially on industrial espionage.
- nickpsecurity 10y agoThey didnt invent anything? Only duplicated others' work identically or with uglier, shoddier construction at lower prices? Im interested in a link with evidence of that if you have it.
- roymurdock 10y agoHe is simplifying the situation to make his point, that if you have to choose between inspiration and execution, he would choose execution by a wide margin. It's not meant to be an accurate historical commentary or to portray any sort of reality.
- xvcnmdfs 10y agoLinus is right that it's about the work you put in, but he's wrong if he thinks Tesla didn't work hard to develop his visualization abilities There's a myth that some people are born with amazing powers (Tesla, Einstein) but what people don't see is the hours they put in from a young age Therefore, both Tesla and Edison worked hard, except Edison bragged about it
- NikolaeVarius 10y agoOf course he bragged about it. He actually wanted people to use his technology to fund other ventures. Whats the point of creating things if no one actually knows about it?
- aaron-lebo 10y agoIs it so hard to believe that some people just like to create for the sake of it?
- jasonlotito 10y agoNo, but who changes things. Those who create? Or those who share their creations?
- xvcnmdfs 10y agoYou could say that if an invention is any good it speaks for itself, in which case you've saved yourself the effort of bragging and people still get to know about it
- aytekin 10y agoGood inventions usually look bad from outset. Otherwise someone else would have come up with them much earlier. So, you still need to sell your inventions and get people to see the potential.
- erikpukinskis 10y agoA good invention might speak for itself if you give it 20 years and wait. But you can't run a business if your marketing strategy involves "wait 20 years".
- spurcell93 10y agoEdison and Tesla both changed the world. Tesla (and Ferraris) are responsible for the invention of first viable AC motor, without which we would rely on DC for our grid.
- SixSigma 10y agoThe Edison quote was during a live radio debate between the two of them. Tesla's response was : if you thought a bit more, you wouldn't have to sweat so much
- acqq 10y ago> but who actually changed the world? All the production of electric power in the world and most of its distribution today is based on the Tesla's methods. Not accidentally: Edison's were simply ineffective. (Some also claimed that the first ever AND electrical logical circuits, today minimized in every chip in every computer, were the ones that Tesla built as the part of his wireless remote controlled boat in 1898. Here the article: https://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/dt/2007/06/mdt2007060624-abs.html https://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/dt/2007/06/mdt2007060624-... just mentions http://www.tfcbooks.com/teslafaq/q&a_024.htm http://www.tfcbooks.com/teslafaq/q&a_024.htm but I can't find other sources. So let's stay by the electric power today. Tesla.)