Who was Thomas Midgley?

[AntonioLao]

He was considered as a giver then as a taker. As an innovator, he discovered both Freon gas and leaded gasoline. He advanced the comfort of modern living conditions through the introduction of Freon into refrigerators, air conditioners, and hair sprays. However, the destructive effect of CFC affecting the ozone layer is undeniable. He prevented automobile engine’s pre-ejaculation known as ‘knocking’ by insertion of lead compounds into gasoline. However, the prolonged effect of leaded fume lowering IQs of young children while improved gasoline products led to better, bigger, and faster cars to which contributed to fatality of USA’s young people by auto accidents greater than death by wars since the year 1776.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley

[baudrunner]

Great stuff!

Midgley was one of those curious overly-practical dogmatic types who, when they have gained noteriety for developing something new, adamantly defend its superior attributes by going too far in the effort to prove them. In fact, he had once declared that lead was so safe that:

.. he poured tetra-ethyl lead over his hands, then placed a bottle of the chemical over his nose and breathed it in for sixty seconds, declaring all the while that he could do this every day without succumbing to any problems whatsoever. ---- Wikepedia.

He was eventually forced to take sick leave to take a cure for lead poisoning.

Professor Bernard Cohen of the Universtiy of Pittsburgh once claimed that the dangers of Plutonium to the environment and the general public were much too overstated. He once offered to eat a gram of plutonium to demonstrate that eating it is no more dangerous than eating a gram of caffeine.

Plutonium is one of the most dangerous materials on earth. One thirty-thousandth of an ounce will cause cancer if inhaled. In its purest form it has a half-life of 24,000 years.

[AntonioLao]

As an inventor, are we then our own judge, jury, and executioner?

[baudrunner]

As an inventor, are we then our own judge, jury, and executioner?

Sometimes, I suppose yes. But only if we are brave enough, or stupid enough. I would be content to offer my innovation for public scrutiny and let them decide, I just like living too much.

Insomuch as many readers often gloss over the posts without actually clicking on any of the links that are occasionally offered, I am recommending the Wikepedia article on Midgely to them. I can't quite get over the poignant manner of his death, strangled by a contraption of his own invention. There's some kind of poetic justice there.

[harmonygirl]

As an inventor, are we then our own judge, jury, and executioner?

Oh, I don't know, Antonio. The creation of stuff is great. I think it is ego that is our judge, jury and ultimately, executioner.

[AntonioLao]

I think it is ego that is our judge, jury and ultimately, executioner.

According to Freudian psychoanalytic theory the ego is one of the three divisions of the psyche that serves as the organized conscious mediator between the person and reality by functioning both in the perception of and adaptation to reality. This can also be interpreted as the constant struggle between the desire to die (Thanatos) and the desire to live (Eros).

[harmonygirl]

Hmm...I wasn't thinking ego in a Freudian sense. I guess what I was talking about would relate to the id (i'm a little rusty on my Freud!). I was thinking ego as self-aggrandizement...

[AntonioLao]

Same with me, just learned Freud a few minutes ago from the web.

[harmonygirl]

Wow, don't tell me Wikipedia? but my point is that the creative energy that drives inventions and inventors is not by itself self-destructive. It is when arrogance (ego) gets control of the vehicle that we crash.

[AntonioLao]

don't tell me Wikipedia?

A combination of different manifestations of Freudian ghost hiding in the internet. But how does arrogance cause the death wish among many renowned scientists? For examples: Einstein refusing surgical treatment of his aneurysm. Feynman refused to live his life over again since he believed a second life would be boring, etc.