Ben Franklin became the first American member of the Royal Society by his work on electricity. He invented the terms “battery,” “positive”, “negative” and others we use today.
But the one thing Ben insisted on was that there was no PRACTICAL use for electricity and there never WOULD be. He was a great researcher but he was also a Practical Man. As a man with endless curiosity Ben was the great scientist who discovered the Atlantic currents. As a Practical Man, he was a highly successful businessman and statesman.
But when it comes to the science of the future, the Practical Man is always a fool. As a result he is always making his predictions by using other, opposite fools as straw men. During the Revolution there were repeated panics in England about how Franklin was going to use his inventions to destroy Britain.
Ben laughed at these panics, citing them as evidence that only panicky fools believed his theoretical discoveries would be any use at all. Only bifocals ands Franklin stoves and lightening rod would ever be USEFUL not the electricity silly people were panicking about.
This is the usual double error. When something new comes up there are those who declare that it is the beginning of a Brave New World. Then Practical Men come in and show how the new stuff means nothing by quoting the people who say it means Everything Now. Anyone who takes this “bouncy-wouncy bally” crap seriously is at a total loss about the REAL future.
But what makes this always a good show is that nobody CARES about the REAL future. Take it from one who knows by experience, nothing is less profitable PERSONALLY than being right about the future. The discussions about the future you can SELL are the ones that feature this bouncy wouncy bally bit. It begins and ends with quotes from the Brave New World crowd by Established Authorities.
If anybody ever looks back, which they don’t, the Established Experts look sillier than the Brave New World types.
#1 by Dave on 06/10/2008 - 10:30 am
This is along the same lines as Bob Metcalfe, the inventor of ethernet, the astonishing network technology that enabled the Internet to scale.
As Y2K approached, Metcalfe was loud and clear: Ethernet would never scale globally and the Internet would crash. He tirelessly dissed his own invention and relentlessly predicted the Internet would fail.
Then 911 happened and the Internet had its biggest stress test ever, and it didn’t crash, anywhere.
This stuff is hilarious. I can picture Metcalfe looking in the mirror and saying, “It’s impossible, this can’t be happening!!!”
#2 by backbaygrouch4 on 06/11/2008 - 6:31 am
Bob, you are bringing out the grouch in me, big time.Your opinion is right and I concur, but your facts are wrong. Zabdiel Boylston of Boston, 1676-1766, became a member of the Royal Society in 1726 for his work on inoclulation with Cotton Mather, a scion of family of Congregationalist divines. Mather, 1663-1728, was elected a member in 1726 too. Thirty years later Benjamin Franklin, a native of Boston transferred to Philadelphia, was also elected.
Addendum. Mather seems to have a comic status as a grim exemplar of harsh Puritanism. In fact he was innovative and street smart. I recall reading of his pastoral youth work in which he dismayed some by insisting that the young needed to dress a bit extravagantly in order to attract the opposite sex and differentiate themselves from their elders. One rather doubts, however, that he would have extended tolerance to dungarees below the buttocks as is common today.
#3 by shari on 06/11/2008 - 12:42 pm
Backbay, Now that’s NOT the point Bob was making here on “A Bottom line on Futerism” Ha!