“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Everyone’s heard of the genius of Menlo Park. Well, okay. Everyone who graduated from high school before 1975. Thomas Edison is a crown jewel in American history. He founded General Electric 120 years ago, this year.
Edison was primarily a self-made man. His mother took him out of school at an early age because a teacher called him “addled. ” She taught him at home and being a curious person, he read a lot.
From about age 12, he was mostly deaf. Edison says that being lifted onto a train by his ears, caused his deafness. But being born before the victim mentality was discovered, Edison believed that it was a benefit to be deaf: he could work harder and concentrate better on his inventions.
The list of inventions that came out of his Menlo Park lab, and how they impact our daily lives is amazing: lightbulbs, phonographs, moving film. The list goes on and on. He held nearly 1100 patents.
“Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.”
Pay close attention to this little documentary and keep in mind that we are paying for all this. This is what GE is today – Hollywood and government elite, academy award winners:
Without question, these innovations and inventions are amazing and spectacular – a pocket doppler? This is Star Trek technology, Dr. McCoy would feel almost at home in the 21st century.
But the sinister side of all this medical technology and advanced health care can’t be left hidden by all this glamour. The loss of our privacy to the government can’t be diminished by the wonder of these inventions. The role that GE plans to play in the future health care reforms, will not be altruistic. They’re banking on that. You should too.
Diary of a Mad Conservative 