XPost: sci.electronics.design   
   From: bill.sloman@ieee.org   
      
   On 15/02/2026 3:10 am, john larkin wrote:   
   > On Sat, 14 Feb 2026 11:02:08 +0100, Thomas Heger    
   > wrote:   
   >   
   >> Am Freitag000013, 13.02.2026 um 16:23 schrieb john larkin:   
   >>> On Fri, 13 Feb 2026 09:50:59 +0100, Thomas Heger    
   >>> wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> Am Mittwoch000011, 11.02.2026 um 19:47 schrieb Liz Tuddenham:   
   >>>>> john larkin  wrote:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> [...]   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>> Why are physics types so often insulting and obnoxious?   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> I've been to physics meetings that shocked me with their brutality.   
   >>>>>> That mentality is terrible for brainstorming and inventing things.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Physicists are particulary careful to prove that they are NOT inventing   
   >>>>> things.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Of course physicist could invent whatever they want and have the ability   
   >>>> to invent.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Science isn't organised in 'guilds' and everybody has the right to   
   >>>> invent, which would include physicists.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> But mainly the engineers invent things, because they have more training   
   >>>> in the use of the required means.   
   >>>   
   >>> Training teaches repetition. Dogs are trained.   
   >>>   
   >>> Inventing things is a separate skill. It involves being crazy,   
   >>> exploring the extremes of the solutuin space, staying confused.   
   >>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Also the usual job description of engineers is more related to invention   
   >>>> than those of physicst.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> But there exists no laws, that would prohibit inventions by physicists   
   >>>> -at least not in Germany. US laws are different, however, and nobody   
   >>>> actually knows, what they forbid or demand (besides a set of   
   >>>> 'sorcerers', which charge insane fees for legal informations).   
   >>>   
   >>> There's no legal restrictions on inventing things here in the USA.   
   >>> Lots of people do it, amateurs included.   
   >>>   
   >>> The vacuum diode (Edison effect), the triode, the airplane, the   
   >>> klystron, electronic TV, the personal computer, lots of stuff was   
   >>> invented by unauthorized people.   
   >>   
   >> Sure, but the USA has also some reputation for confiscating unwanted   
   >> inventions.   
   >>   
   >> There had been several instances, where patents got locked away, because   
   >> they would threaten 'national security'.   
   >>   
   >> There were interesting inventions, which could eventually had advanced   
   >> mankind, but were allegedly threatening some interests.   
   >>   
   >> E.g. there was Stan Meyers' 'Watercar', Tesla's 'Wardencliff Tower' or   
   >> Wilhelm Reich's 'Cloudbuster', the 'cure for cancer' by Royal Raimund   
   >> Reife or magnetic levitation in Coral Castle.   
   >>   
   >> I personally had the idea, that 'cold fusion' actually worked and was   
   >> possibly the real cause of the implosion of the twintowers on 9/11.   
   >>   
   >> So, yes, inventions are allowed in the USA, but are actually a risky   
   >> thing, because all of the above got in trouble.   
   >   
   > Exactly. Risk is encouraged in the USA.   
   >   
   > I go to maker/startup meetings where people present really nutty (and   
   > often funded) ideas. That sort of thing is admired here.   
   >   
   > Fail fast, fail often.   
      
   Only about 30% of commercial development projects make it to market.   
      
   It's hard to predict what the market will want at the point where you   
   can expect to have got the product developed, and if somebody comes up   
   with a better way of doing the job while you are developing yours.   
      
   If the idea looks nutty when you start the development, it's unlikely to   
   look less nutty in six months time (or however long it takes you to get   
   it to work).   
      
   US venture capital is reputed to work on the principle that about one   
   project in twenty will pay off generously enough to cover the costs of   
   the projects that failed or were only marginally profitable.   
      
   A more sensible approach is to look for niche markets where you can make   
   a lot out of a few machines which you can afford to cobble together in   
   small numbers out of mostly bought-in parts, and then invest heavily in   
   making the machines more cheaply in higher volumes.   
      
   The US pioneered solar cell manufacture, but never bothered to produce   
   them in high volume. Germany invested a lot in making them in ten times   
   higher volume than anybody else in the late 1990s, which let them halve   
   the unit price and dominate the market for a few years.   
      
   About a decade or so ago, China pulled off exactly the same trick, which   
   called for a much bigger investment, and they've now got about 90% of   
   the world market - and solar cells now make the cheapest electric power   
   you can buy.   
      
   America likes to think that it invented the modern industrial state, but   
   it doesn't know as much as it should about the rest of the world.   
      
   --   
   Bill Sloman, Sydney   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)