In the wake of North Korea's "failed" rocket test, I was reminded at how striking it was to learn of all of Robert Goddard's similarly "failed" tests as he was experimenting with his liquid fueled rockets. His first test flight barely made it 40 feet into the air! For every test in which he achieved a new altitude record there seemed to be at least a dozen which came nowhere close to a record, some of which burned up before they left the ground and I'm sure hundreds of designs that never made it out of the laboratory.
Of course Goddard, like Edison, never considered a test a "failure" because he was always learning from those experiments. He'd probably just say that he discovered one more way how NOT to make a rocket! He was obviously a genius, and I'm sort of disappointed that I had not previously learned more about him. As a society it seems that we do not celebrate genius like we once did.
Finally, I really sort of question as to whether we should be condemning North Korea for trying to advance their technology. Of course, I wouldn't want an unstable society gaining nuclear weapons, but I think even us "civilized" countries would be better off without anyone having nukes. But to me, stifling a country's push to gain technological competence is akin to the slave master making sure that his slaves can't read.
My personal belief is that increased knowledge is central to human morality. Ignorance is akin to evil. Knowledge leads to the truth, and the truth is that Communism is not a economic model that is sustainable in a just human society. It seems to me counterintuitive to keep a nation down and ignorant rather than demonstrating to them the power of democracy and the open market.
I'm only suggesting maybe rethinking our policy when it comes to foreign rivals in this respect. North Korea is probably the most extreme case, and our approach maybe shouldn't shift too radically. But you have a country like Iran, that we sanction and Cuba that we have effectively kept mired in the 1950's. I'm sure it's an anathema to suggest we work with the three biggest "foreign rivals" that the U.S. has. Honestly, what I really believe I mean to suggest is taking a different tack to work AGAINST them... lead them to the truth that will show them that communism and religious extremism and non-democratic government does not work. Let them celebrate their inventors, their geniuses. One of those geniuses will break free and lead those nations to the truth.
Of course Goddard, like Edison, never considered a test a "failure" because he was always learning from those experiments. He'd probably just say that he discovered one more way how NOT to make a rocket! He was obviously a genius, and I'm sort of disappointed that I had not previously learned more about him. As a society it seems that we do not celebrate genius like we once did.
Finally, I really sort of question as to whether we should be condemning North Korea for trying to advance their technology. Of course, I wouldn't want an unstable society gaining nuclear weapons, but I think even us "civilized" countries would be better off without anyone having nukes. But to me, stifling a country's push to gain technological competence is akin to the slave master making sure that his slaves can't read.
My personal belief is that increased knowledge is central to human morality. Ignorance is akin to evil. Knowledge leads to the truth, and the truth is that Communism is not a economic model that is sustainable in a just human society. It seems to me counterintuitive to keep a nation down and ignorant rather than demonstrating to them the power of democracy and the open market.
I'm only suggesting maybe rethinking our policy when it comes to foreign rivals in this respect. North Korea is probably the most extreme case, and our approach maybe shouldn't shift too radically. But you have a country like Iran, that we sanction and Cuba that we have effectively kept mired in the 1950's. I'm sure it's an anathema to suggest we work with the three biggest "foreign rivals" that the U.S. has. Honestly, what I really believe I mean to suggest is taking a different tack to work AGAINST them... lead them to the truth that will show them that communism and religious extremism and non-democratic government does not work. Let them celebrate their inventors, their geniuses. One of those geniuses will break free and lead those nations to the truth.
