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How We Got Here - Stuff To Read
A reader writes:"Ever wonder why Michael Faraday, steam engines, Ezra Cornell, the Van de Beurses family and the Edison Effect were so important to today's computer business. Andy Kessler has a free download of a PDF of his new book, How We Got Here: A Slightly Irreverent History of Technology and Markets. It's a James Burke-style connect-the-dots of events and people from 1642 to this morning. Kessler's site takes you through a "poor man's DRM" process to get your very own PDF." Yeah, yeah - DRM. But the PDF/book is worth reading for understanding the history to tech. Speaking of good things to read, I also read this little ditty Not Proud, which was good. It's stuff from NotProud.com collected in dead tree form.
I have to admit, I Like the idea of offering a free download of the book. For this, I have no problem providing my email, at least some company gets a clue as to how to market. If I have to clean junkmail out of my mailbox, at least give me something tangible, like a PDF :)
I read one of Kessler's previous books (Running Money) and found that he was an extremely clueless investor who just happened to get lucky. He started up a hedge fund in '95 or with a 5 year time horizon (so it closed right at the peak of the market in 2000). You could have picked practically any stock and done outstanding if you would have been in the market for those five years. He even admits one of the companies that made him the most money was out of pure luck.
The books are fairly interesting if you want to see how people actually operate. But, if you want to learn something I'd steer clear. He's one of the many people who mistake luck for skill.
To be even more precise:
The "Edison Effect" upon which vacuum tubes rely was indeed discovered by Edison - he was attempting to lengthen the life of a light bulb by putting a second wire next to the filament. This did not succeed in lengthening the life of the bulb, but Edison did note there was a small current from the filament to the extra wire. He noted it, patented it, but had no idea of how to make money from it.
It was later that Fleming then discovered the ability to rectify current via this effect. Later, DeForest developed the first triode which could modulate the current via a grid control.
Hence why it is called "The Edison Effect" even though Edison didn't capitalize upon it.
www.eFax.com are spammers
The forces that are holding us back from the next generation of technology are not (though important) our sciences, or our education level, or RnD ... IMHO the main thing holding us back are overbearing intellectual property laws, and over intrusive government in general. Our government simply hasn't caught up to the intellectual level of our sciences.
The first theing we need to do is get rid of copyright and patent monopolies, and drasticly reduce paperwork and tax requirements for individuals and businesses, and making it so that people and commodities can go freely from country to country and work without restriction or inteference. Yeah, I know some people are going to hate that, and others who don't get it are going to call that "too extreme." But that attitude is exactly why the US simply is going to have a bumpy ride into the information age. Too many people just don't get it and aren't willing to let go of the old ways that just don't work.
thanks,