-Caveat Lector-
"Howard R. Davis III" [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I don't recall any of Edison's inventions as being anything like a super
weapon. He did work on batteries for subs during WW1 and was head of a
group of inventors that were to work for the war effort.
snip
You're right...none of Edison's inventions fell into the category of
"superweapon." But his self-promotion campaign fostered his identification by
the American public as "the Great Inventor," which did two things: first, it
set Edison up as the person to whom everyone would look if the country needed
a superweapon; and second, it elevated, even exalted, *all* inventors to the
status of scientific brahmins. Edison also managed to confuse the public about
the distinction between engineer and scientist...a distinction which was never
that clear to begin with, but which now became downright murky. Later on, when
the Manhattan Project yielded the atomic bomb, the class {inventor}, which
necessarily included both scientist and engineer, and which hitherto had been
the object of respect and adulation, now came under deep suspicion and fear,
especially in light of the admitted Communist connections of many of the
people who developed the bomb and the hysteria surrounding the Rosenberg case.
But during the 'Teens and 'Twenties, the American public placed inventors, and
most particularly the Great Inventor, on a very high pedestal. No one doubted
that when it came to that inevitable moment of national survival, when the
hordes of Germany/Russia/China/Japan (take your pick) were about to overrun
our shores, the Great Inventor or his successors would come up with a
Superweapon with which Uncle Sam would smite his foes. That's how many people
saw the A-Bomb, and I suspect that it's one reason we went ahead and used it
even though Japan was as good as defeated already. It also explains why
Reagan--who came of age at the height of the glorification of American
inventors--was so eager to buy into SDI...and (partially) why his successors
have been less than enthusiastic about the concept.
Bob (apologies--that's a tad long-winded, I know!)
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Robert F. Tatman
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