Jed Rothwell wrote:
> > And finally, [Bacon] on the role of discoverers: > > ". . . inventions are a blessing and a benefit without injuring > or afflicting any." > > That last statement is, alas, no longer true, what with people inventing > thermonuclear bombs and the like. Never was true, as far as I can tell. We've just forgotten where a lot of things came from. War has provided an enormous impetus to invent, throughout all history. Furthermore, a (successful) military at war tends to become a task-oriented organization which values results over form, and damn the rules if the battles are won, which is exactly the environment which most benefits invention. The examples are obvious and myriad, from guns, rockets, and gunpowder (already known in Bacon's time, I think) to the stirrup (which may have been instrumental in bringing down the Roman Empire: It allows a man to stand in the saddle and so wield a sword more effectively, and shoot a bow reasonably accurately while on horseback). There have even been inventors I would describe as evil; the primary example which comes to mind is Eli Whitney, who, according to what I have read, knew perfectly well what he was doing when he invented the cotton gin (he was prolonging slavery and making large slave-run plantations possible in inland North America), and subsequently when that didn't make him rich he invented the idea of interchangeable parts applied specifically to *rifles* which led directly to the manufacture of the semiautomatic weapons which made the Civil War such total hell for both sides. (Check fatality rates for more info on that!) Archimedes, who was feted for his inventions, was, IIRC, working for the military for at least a chunk of his career -- check Greek fire for example (I think that was his invention, not sure), and a number of devices for damaging enemy ships, which no doubt pushed him to make advances in the study of mechanics which would not have come so soon otherwise. The amazing thing, on balance, is that so many inventions have turned out to have peaceful uses...
