John Moses Browning: limited by technology?

[Trapper Jim]

Keep in mind that guns, cars, tv’s, light bulbs, refrigerators, phones, and computers have not experienced new inventions but simply are improvements over the original patent.

And we think we’re great.

 

[penguinship]

Keep in mind that guns, cars, tv’s, light bulbs, refrigerators, phones, and computers have not experienced new inventions but simply are improvements over the original patent.

And we think we’re great.

You say that, but they're really not.

TV - a flat screen barely has any similarities with a CRT other than that they both display an image
Light bulb - LEDs are pretty different from a filament bulb other than producing light from electricity
Phone - again, a wireless phone is very different from an analog phone
Computer - how far are we going back? Mechanical computers that run off gears? Vacuum tube transistors? The space shuttle, which has less processing power than a smartphone?

If anything, I'd argue that the modern versions of these are probably not even recognizable to someone accustomed to the original invention. So yeah, we are pretty great.

 

[Trapper Jim]

You say that, but they're really not.

TV - a flat screen barely has any similarities with a CRT other than that they both display an image
Light bulb - LEDs are pretty different from a filament bulb other than producing light from electricity
Phone - again, a wireless phone is very different from an analog phone
Computer - how far are we going back? Mechanical computers that run off gears? Vacuum tube transistors? The space shuttle, which has less processing power than a smartphone?

If anything, I'd argue that the modern versions of these are probably not even recognizable to someone accustomed to the original invention. So yeah, we are pretty great.

We agree we have vastly improved on the original idea. They are still called cars, tv’s etc.

 

[penguinship]

"Vastly improved" is much different than "simply are improvements" from the first comment. But like I said, while they might have the same end result, the technologies are very different.

Also, language evolves. Just because they have the same name doesn't inherently mean anything. A computer originally was a person who performed math calculations. Is the modern computer based off that? Alternatively, is the modern touch screen tablet based off an ancient writing tablet other than being flat? The answer to both is no

 

[Methane Herder]

I voted no on John Moses Browning.
Extending the question to Richard J. Gatling, I vote yes. Mainly because small electric, hydraulic and/or pneumatic motors had not been invented yet.

MH

 

[Mij]

We agree we have vastly improved on the original idea. They are still called cars, tv’s etc.

To call today’s cell phones a telephone is a disgrace to the inventer of the telephone. Today’s cell phone is nothing more than a radio. Sends and receives a radio signal. ( Now figure out why that is, anyone can monitor or capture any radio signal going through their home or body, but it takes a court order to capture a signal going through a wire.) You do the math.

Doesn’t mean anything to folks today, but to some it means a lot.

Just the opinion of some old guy that’s aware of history.

Believe it or not, there are folks on this “chat group “ that remember when you picked up your phone you heard another conversation going on, you hung up and waited your turn to make a call. That was telephone.

Not an argument just a different point of view.

 

[Trapper Jim]

"Vastly improved" is much different than "simply are improvements" from the first comment. But like I said, while they might have the same end result, the technologies are very different.

Also, language evolves. Just because they have the same name doesn't inherently mean anything. A computer originally was a person who performed math calculations. Is the modern computer based off that? Alternatively, is the modern touch screen tablet based off an ancient writing tablet other than being flat? The answer to both is no

Perhaps insightful yes, but all components used had already been invented, glass, electricity, transistors etc.

Real insightfulness is inventing things from the ground up like our industrial age.

Don’t get me wrong as I enjoy the marvel of our improvements as much as the next guy. But take an optic ready pistol on the market today with a witness hole for an LCI. The designer is often not the user. In many things. Take computer driven cars today. Boot time from start to moving is slower than my old stick shift Ford. Reverse shift is slower on the new cars. These things will be improved when the masses demand it and our engineers accomplish it. Power windows, intermittent wipers, and turn signals were all insightful but intuitive discovered. The components had already been invented.

None of us know what the next big thing, like the 1911 story will be, but chances are it will be accomplished with the resources that were built by the insightful genius of those before us.