Good points. History is littered with examples of this type of tragedy unfolding. Maybe before this chapter is finished and lost, our hero will change the plot, avoid ruin, and we will all live happily ever after.
On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 9:42 AM, Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com> wrote: > In a thread that has become unwieldy, Jeff Sutton wrote: > > But the only way to think that his process makes any "business-first >> approach" is that he has still something to hide. It could be he is >> missing something to do with control of the reaction, or he has no new art >> for his patent; someone else has beaten him to it. >> > > He says he has something to hide. He says his patent only applies to > Italy. If he had viable patent protection everywhere then he would have > nothing left to hid. A patent is only valid if it reveals everything about > the discovery. > > > Think if everything was normal. Ross could arrange an independent >> demo(s) in front of reputable persons. From that he could explain what he >> does in a patent application and it would be granted. He would win the >> Nobel price and untold fortune. >> > > Several people have suggested he try this approach. I do not think he > trusts people enough to do this. He thinks he he would reveal the > information to experts in they would steal it from him. He might be right > about that. He has had many bad experiences in the past. The thing is, at > some point you have to start trusting people. You cannot run a business > like a castle with a moat around it filled with alligators. You have to > welcome customers. You have to give a good impression with skilled public > relations. > > He reminds me a great deal of John Harrison, the discoverer of the > chronometer. Harrison had a difficult life. He was an outsider, was an > uneven education who had trouble communicating. He should have won the > equivalent of the Nobel Prize for solving the longitude problem, but he was > ridiculed, beat-up and betrayed by the scientific establishment over and > over. This resulted in decades of delay introducing the technology. That > was a tragedy because the chronometer improved navigation and saved > thousands of lives and millions of pounds. > > Harrison's friends revealed some of his technical secrets in a effort to > help him win the prize. Many years later he still resented them. When the > king and many scientific officials finally agreed that he should be given a > large sum of money he refused to cooperate. Lord Egmont, head of the Board > of Longitude, scolded him: "Sir . . . you are the strangest and most > obstinate creature that I have ever met with, and, would you do what we > want you to do, and which is in your power, I will give you my word to give > you the money, if you will but do it!" > > See the book "Longitude" by Dava Sobel. > > > His current approach seems silly and I dont think he is a silly man. >> > > It seems desperate to me. I get a sense he is floundering around going > from one failed business arrangement to the next. I do not know whether his > falling out with Defkalion was his fault, their fault or some combination > of the two, but a skilled businessman would try to avoid that outcome in > the first place. A precipitate withdrawal from a contract at a critical > phase in the development is a sign of management chaos. > > - Jed > >
