I think this will be an endless debate, because I will
never concede that the First Airplane be something
that wasn't public and that wasn't self-launched.
As for the later [which seems the kernel of the
argument] let me pose a question: who will be the
first cloned human being?
If, for example, someone creates a human being by
taking a cell, changing the DNA a little bit, and
then growing the baby, this will not be a clone.
But if, in the future, *all* "clones" are done this
way, with some minor changes in the DNA, this will
*not* force us to accept that first pseudo-clone
as "the first clone".
That's why I claim that self-launch is essential
for the *first* airplane, and not essencial after
the self-lauch problem was solved. The problem that
was posed in the XIX century was: "Can Man make a
heavier-than-air machine that flies by itself?"
If the question was simply "Can Man fly?" then
it was answered much earlier by the balloons.
Alberto Monteiro
