4 ms·

The Murder of Wilbur Wright

17 points by tacon 6y ago

ohiovr 6y ago
Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.
mynegation 6y ago
Except Wilbur did not become old as post suggests. Wilbur died at the age of 45 from typhoid fever. We might have underestimated how much improved medicine did for progress.
JoeAltmaier 6y ago
One can quibble with the choices of 'great men'. More like men at the right idea at the right time, but never mind. The terrible truth is, unless you have the will to drive your idea forward in the world, its useless. Witness Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell. Were they great computer scientists? No, not one of them. They were business leaders. In our society, its business leaders that can thrive. And only them. The rest of us quit, or sell out to a business leader, or never get started.
- ehvatum 6y ago
  In order to build on a superlative strength or insight, a small business absolutely needs the iron will to be good enough at everything. Any crippling weakness must be met head-on and fixed, or growth is out of reach. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell were all adaptable enough and good enough at marketing, engineering, management, delegating and everything else that their unique strengths counted. A business cannot dodge failure to understand a market, buy the right equipment, do the right maintenance, ship on time, advertise effectively, change course 180 degrees at the right moment, hire the right people, and so much else. You can sell software that you write and things that you make. With App Stores, Etsy, Amazon, and social networks, customers are accessible and word-of-mouth can blow up your exposure. Software development suites and CNC machines have never been cheaper. Yet, there must be a center to your organization. Arguments must end and the focus must be directed at weaknesses until they are remedied. If it’s just you, then you must figure out what you suck at and stop sucking at it. There will always be a change that will result in more improvement than any other change. If lesser changes are required in order to make the necessary change, then those changes are also critical. People do not normally think this way. Only in a crisis, do some people think this way. I noticed that success has molded me into a person that people I would like to like me, hate me, if I’m not careful. I find that I have to keep kind-hearted sociable people away from my core reasoning - reasoning that is ever-ready to cast a long term labor into boiling lava in order to save the greater organization, if absolutely necessary. It’s not a question of identity, anymore. I have tried hard enough and failed long enough at doing what I love that I figured out what I need to succeed at it. The road to realizing the most ambitious dreams goes through, “I was wrong; I’ll find another way to that destination; I’ll never stop trying; nothing can possibly stop me; what next?”, in a loop, until you cross the mark to success, sometime in the night, without even noticing. I lost 20 years of retirement savings and the same amount in debt before I got my shit sorted. So many epiphanies, realizations, self-corrections, desperate attempts, and unlikely successes that became building blocks. I’m a glutton for punishment. I knew I needed it. By God, starting my own business and keeping at it was the only way. Some have better instincts than others. It doesn’t matter. Have a goal. As you work towards it, constantly identify the biggest problem and fix it. If you have a huge goal, then some years later, yours will be remembered amongst the greatest names in history.
  - ohiovr 6y ago
    You are a great writer.
alphabettsy 6y ago
I have to reject the premise of needing “great men” to drive innovation. The people you mentioned built on the work of those before them and those that followed built upon theirs. I think we should ask different questions such as how many great minds are not able to contribute to such endeavors simply for lack of opportunity? or what could we achieve if we didn’t spend such significant research brain power and money on war and conflict?
perilunar 6y ago
From the article: And then we’ll have to explain how gruesomely we murdered him. Not with sticks and stones, but with a barrage of patent lawsuits. We will have to tell the aliens how we used this great system of socially legitimate torture to slowly wear him down over the years. This is bullshit. The Wright Brothers brought the whole patent saga on themselves, and in the process stalled progress in aviation in the US for years. The Wikipedia page quoted by TFA says as much. They should have listened to Lawrence Hargrave [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Hargrave#Aeronautics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Hargrave#Aeronautics]

17 points by tacon 6y ago

Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.

Except Wilbur did not become old as post suggests. Wilbur died at the age of 45 from typhoid fever. We might have underestimated how much improved medicine did for progress.

JoeAltmaier 6y ago

One can quibble with the choices of 'great men'. More like men at the right idea at the right time, but never mind. The terrible truth is, unless you have the will to drive your idea forward in the world, its useless. Witness Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell. Were they great computer scientists? No, not one of them. They were business leaders. In our society, its business leaders that can thrive. And only them. The rest of us quit, or sell out to a business leader, or never get started.

ehvatum 6y ago
In order to build on a superlative strength or insight, a small business absolutely needs the iron will to be good enough at everything. Any crippling weakness must be met head-on and fixed, or growth is out of reach. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell were all adaptable enough and good enough at marketing, engineering, management, delegating and everything else that their unique strengths counted. A business cannot dodge failure to understand a market, buy the right equipment, do the right maintenance, ship on time, advertise effectively, change course 180 degrees at the right moment, hire the right people, and so much else. You can sell software that you write and things that you make. With App Stores, Etsy, Amazon, and social networks, customers are accessible and word-of-mouth can blow up your exposure. Software development suites and CNC machines have never been cheaper. Yet, there must be a center to your organization. Arguments must end and the focus must be directed at weaknesses until they are remedied. If it’s just you, then you must figure out what you suck at and stop sucking at it. There will always be a change that will result in more improvement than any other change. If lesser changes are required in order to make the necessary change, then those changes are also critical. People do not normally think this way. Only in a crisis, do some people think this way. I noticed that success has molded me into a person that people I would like to like me, hate me, if I’m not careful. I find that I have to keep kind-hearted sociable people away from my core reasoning - reasoning that is ever-ready to cast a long term labor into boiling lava in order to save the greater organization, if absolutely necessary. It’s not a question of identity, anymore. I have tried hard enough and failed long enough at doing what I love that I figured out what I need to succeed at it. The road to realizing the most ambitious dreams goes through, “I was wrong; I’ll find another way to that destination; I’ll never stop trying; nothing can possibly stop me; what next?”, in a loop, until you cross the mark to success, sometime in the night, without even noticing. I lost 20 years of retirement savings and the same amount in debt before I got my shit sorted. So many epiphanies, realizations, self-corrections, desperate attempts, and unlikely successes that became building blocks. I’m a glutton for punishment. I knew I needed it. By God, starting my own business and keeping at it was the only way. Some have better instincts than others. It doesn’t matter. Have a goal. As you work towards it, constantly identify the biggest problem and fix it. If you have a huge goal, then some years later, yours will be remembered amongst the greatest names in history.
- ohiovr 6y ago
  You are a great writer.

alphabettsy 6y ago

I have to reject the premise of needing “great men” to drive innovation. The people you mentioned built on the work of those before them and those that followed built upon theirs. I think we should ask different questions such as how many great minds are not able to contribute to such endeavors simply for lack of opportunity? or what could we achieve if we didn’t spend such significant research brain power and money on war and conflict?

perilunar 6y ago

From the article: And then we’ll have to explain how gruesomely we murdered him. Not with sticks and stones, but with a barrage of patent lawsuits. We will have to tell the aliens how we used this great system of socially legitimate torture to slowly wear him down over the years. This is bullshit. The Wright Brothers brought the whole patent saga on themselves, and in the process stalled progress in aviation in the US for years. The Wikipedia page quoted by TFA says as much. They should have listened to Lawrence Hargrave [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Hargrave#Aeronautics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Hargrave#Aeronautics]