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jackinsomniac t1_j49ldwe wrote

Reply to comment by Lost_vob in [Image] "I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work." ~ Thomas A. Edison by Butterflies_Books

What Edison did is create a huge "invention lab" with tons of new equipment, and a standing order to the library to automatically order any new books on science & technology, and have them delivered. It was state-of-the-art.

He created it for himself after some of his earlier inventions took off, and to invite other inventors to use it for free under one condition: Edison owns the rights to whatever you create with his lab, tools, & resources.

The thing is, if you're a programmer, engineer, architect, etc. this is 100% standard practice now: whatever you create on the company's time with company resources, the company owns. If that's "stealing", every single modern company does it today, and we don't even blink at it. Edison is mainly guilty of starting this practice.

He wasn't always that way either. He created his first invention as a teenager, and teamed up with a businessman to help him sell it. He didn't understand the paperwork, and unknowingly signed away all his rights to the new invention, and the businessman profited from his work while he got nothing. He swore that day, to never let it happen again. He realized the business angle of being an inventor is just as important.

He wasn't "just a thief". He was an inventor in his own right, and loved it. On his wedding night he didn't even go to bed to consummate the marriage, he returned to his shop to continue working. His own children regularly had to take his plate of dinner out to his shop, because he wouldn't sit down at the table to eat with his family. Sounds like a guy who actually loves the craft to me.

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Lost_vob t1_j49n8yv wrote

Someone once said "Edison's greatest invention was the conception of the commercial lab." That's pretty accurate, though I think Bell had one himself too.

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jackinsomniac t1_j49nx94 wrote

It really was a mini-Renaissance for technology during those times. The reason Tesla, Edison, & Bell lived around the same time, was because the powers of electricity were still being discovered, and people realized there's a whole slew of new inventions we could now create with it. They were all smart guys, but also, "born in the right place at the right time."

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Lost_vob t1_j49ozqq wrote

Definitely right time. It was a time when humanity broke free from a bottleneck in progress. Several breakthroughs at once branched off into a huge world of possibilities previously inaccessible. Transit, communication, electricity, all hit the world at once. It is a fascinating time. A "Dawning of a new age" kind of time.

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FirstSynapse t1_j4b3t2k wrote

> The thing is, if you're a programmer, engineer, architect, etc. this is 100% standard practice now: whatever you create on the company's time with company resources, the company owns. If that's "stealing", every single modern company does it today, and we don't even blink at it.

There is an important difference you're not mentioning. Companies don't just allow people to create things for free using the company's resources. Companies HIRE those workers and pay them a salary to do so. What you describe Edison did is a predatory practice to attract passionate people who have limited funds. If the rights of the inventions were shared by both parties, it would be a different story, as in one provides the resources and the other provides the time, work and ideas and then both own a portion of the patent. If he hired them, then he would provide compensation for that work in hopes they would produce something useful for him to recover that investment. But why would anyone in their right mind work for free just to have everything they create out of passion taken away from them benefited from by a greedy businessman?

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