you should really read Antifragile. you describe the inventor, the entrepreneur, the tinkerers, the practitioners that Taleb judge as the real source of invention and progress... and the fact that 99% of they project fails, sometime with their inventor, make the process extremely efficient...
I've even read that for great scientists, not "kind men" but genius bastards, like Newton or Edison. 2013/6/24 Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> > Jones Beene <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> It makes no sense that an extremely dedicated work-a-holic inventor who >> has >> invested a decade of intensive labor into optimizing an invention (and BTW >> it is an invention that was basically proved as being real in 1992 by >> Thermacore) . . . > > > I agree! About Rossi and Thermacore. I too recently pointed out that he is > a work-a-holic. I know this for a fact. I have spoken with people who spent > time with him in the lab. They all say he is a work-a-holic and a > brilliant, hands-on experimentalist. > > Rossi is a man of mystery. He keeps his business private. He does not > reveal much about his machines. He often says things that I assume are > misdirection. But we know a few things about him and his personal life for > sure. His work habits and his dedication do not fit the profile of a > scammer. > > The main evidence that people such as Mary Yugo cite are Rossi's many > failures and technical catastrophes, with things like biofuel and > thermoelectric devices. I do not regard these as evidence that he is > dishonest. I see them as evidence that he is a real inventor. Inventors > always fail, often drastically. Edison wasted huge sums of money on > magnetic ore separation. Real entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs also fail, > in his case with the Apple III, the Lisa, and the NeXT corporation. > > - Jed > >
