Galt's Gulch

The Last Profession On Earth

Posted by khalling 12 years, 1 month ago to Philosophy
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"Twelve years ago, when I worked in your world, I was an inventor, I was one of a profession that came last in human history and will be first to vanish on the way back to sub-human. An inventor is a man who asks 'Why?' of the universe and lets nothing stand between the answer and the mind." Galt's Speech

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  • Posted by $ johnrobert2 12 years, 1 month ago
    Actually, the inventor cannot be last, for it is he (or she) who carries the human race forward. It is he who galvanizes the next in line by creating the next sequence in the chain. I am reminded of a quote from a book called "The Brain Machine" in which the hero states, "There three types of people. The first sees what needs to be done but does nothing. The second sees what needs to be done, does it and no more. The third sees what needs to be done, does it , and sees the next step which flows from the previous action and steps to do it, on and on." That is an inventor and those he inspires.
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    • Posted by khalling 12 years, 1 month ago
      great comment, love the quote. The reason why it was the last profession, is because property rights protections which are workable was not even created until the 1840s and since at least the 30s has been steadily chipped away at. Without the strength in the right, you can't really make a profession out of it. People will always invent-it's instinctual! (joke) but the rate at which they invent and the breadth of influence will be dampened without those rights protected.
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      • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 12 years, 1 month ago
        Thumbs up from me on the OP, k. In 2010, I had a graduate class in "Technology in Society." My professor, Ron Westrum (see Wikipedia), did some work with inventors. His lectures began by overcoming the "Gyro Gearloose" caricature. Like much else in life, a bell curve exists, with most inventors mostly churning out workable, marketable products which, depending on the application, they produce or license.

        We can go back and forth on the details of IP laws at some other time, but the fact remains that whether Congress does a better or worse job of instantiating intellectual property rights, the discussion is ABOUT those rights. In other times and still in most places, that discussion never takes place: no such rights exist.

        Rand's point was that the PROFESSIONAL inventor was possible only in a capitalist culture. Discoverers and Innovators have always existed, but the professional inventor did not. Similarly, even the Aztecs had merchants, but CAPITALISM is not just the presence of traders.
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        • Posted by richrobinson 12 years, 1 month ago
          Capitalism made inventing a profession which to my way of thinking is one of the keys to its success. When Galts incentive to share his invention was removed he left and shared it with only those he wanted to share it with. If no incentive exists to share new ideas it seems to me that societies stagnate. Do you support strong IP laws? Welcome back Mike.
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