Science Forum - CAN AMERICA SURVIVE WITHOUT HIDDEN SLAVERY?

jonhays · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 2:45 pm Post subject:

The definition of slavery in my title I learned from Abraham Lincoln
(1809-65), 16th President of The United States, signer of the 1833
"Emancipation Proclamation" to free African-American slaves, Lincoln
said it in the Seventh and Last Debate with Stephen A. Douglas, Alton,
Illinois, October 15, 1858, the famous debates that put Lincoln on the
road to Presidency: "That is the issue that will continue in this country
when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It
is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong
-- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face
to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle.
The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right
of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself.
It is the same spirit that says, 'You work and toil and earn bread, and
I'll eat it.' No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth
of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live
by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for
enslaving another race [or other people, it is the same tyrannical
principle." One form of present day Hidden Slavery: most of America's
independent inventors lose their patent rights in the courts.
American Contract Law permits corporations to fight independent
inventors (and their inheritors) for up to 99 years -- as in one case
I found online -- until the independent side can no longer afford legal
action. (Irony: The Fourteenth Amendment to The Constitution to provide
civil rights to former slaves was interpreted by The Supreme Court to
make corporations legal! Are corporations our inventor plantations? And
do the banks know this, in denying loans to striving inventors?)
Today's Americans and Media mavens ignore the fact that America's most
famous inventor, Thomas Edison (1847-1931), spent
more money defending his patents in the courts than he made from
licenses. Today's Americans and Media mavens ignore past inventors
(especially women and African-Americans) who endowed our lives: they
work and toil while we eat their bread. Historians denigrate invention
by citing as the only "Industrial Revolution" what should be called
The Thermodynamic Industtrial Revolution, beginning in 1776 with
an effective steam engine, ignoring The Mechanical Industrial
Revolution of 12th-13th centuries when monks built thousands of wind
mills and water mills over Europe and Britain (cited in "The Medieval
Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages", J. Gimpel.
Also ignoring The Electrical Industrial Revolution<, beginning in 1880
when Thomas Edison wired the streets of NYC. Ignoring The Electronic
Industrial Revolution, beginning with 1920's radio stations. And
The Photonic-Nanotech Industrial Revolution, begun recently. Today's
Americans and Media mavens ignore Sam Slater (1768-1835), Father of
the American Industrial Revolution, whose inventiveness founded the
first major American industry: textiles. (Wikipedia has this.) A
1980's newspaper reported that the only kitchen convenience not
created by independent inventors in basement or garage was the
garbage disposal. A 1980's TV network program, "If Japan Can Do
It, Why Can't We?", reported many cases wherein American inventors
were ignored in America but paid and honored in other countries.
(Jack Kilby, American inventor of the microchip, was honored in
Japan for this decades before being honored here.) Have you heard
of Margaret Knight (1838-1914)? You've used her invention: the
box-type paper shopping bag. Knight built the machine making these,
and her original machine is in The Smithsonian Museum.
Google("women inventors+jonhays") to read of her and others. Today,
the only extant history of early American inventors, "Yankee Science
in the Making" (1958), was written by a Dutch-American mathematician,
Dirk Sruik (1894-2000). Many inventors listed by Struik invented guns
for the American Revolution and for developing our new country, but
America's two largest gun-firms are now owned by British interests,
a fact ignored by The National Rifle Association as well as by
Americans and Media mavens. also ignored are debts to scientists.
The TV screen and computer screen are consequences of the 1905
"Photo-Electric Effect Law" of Albert Einstein (1875-1955). Thanks,
Al!--Years ago I formulated a "find cuurent independent inventors
test". Each year I'd calculate the number of years since end of WWII.
Then go back the same number of years before WWII. I'd consult the
current "World Almanac" (popular with Americans) to see the number
of independent inventors listed. Usually, I'd find A DECLINE OF
ABOUT 400 PER CENT! If that were a comparable decline in newspapers
or TV station or motion picture theaters, you'd hear about it! Does
any one care about this hidden slavery and its effect upon our lives?