JimF
join:2003-06-15
Allentown, PA
| Wrong is not necessarily stupid
I am surprised by the naiveté of those who think Mr. Bachrach was stupid just because he was wrong. Thomas Edison did not think that AC current would work either, and supported only DC. You could fill a book with such predictions. Small changes in economics or technology can change the picture entirely. |
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Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| said by JimF  :...Thomas Edison did not think that AC current would work either, and supported only DC. Edison knew very well that AC was superior for mass distribution. But his company was already committed to DC, with a huge financial investment in DC power plants. If it wasn't for that, and potential patent issues with Westinghouse if Edison did go AC, I would never have witnessed one of the last DC street light systems in my home town. (It had been converted to be fed from the AC grid by the time I was around.)
Given the business reality that Edison had to face, he did the best that he could, and used FUD marketing. The electric chair might never have been invented if not for this. They used to electrocute pigs to demonstrate how "unsafe" AC allegedly was. But connecting human death with Westinghouse's product had more impact.
Ironically, it was the success of Edison's light bulb that forced the Edison company to adopt AC...and a new marketing strategy.  |
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Alakar
Facts do not cease to exist when ignored
join:2001-03-23
Milwaukee, WI
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| reply to JimF
said by JimF :I am surprised by the naiveté of those who think Mr. Bachrach was stupid just because he was wrong. Thomas Edison did not think that AC current would work either, and supported only DC. You could fill a book with such predictions. Small changes in economics or technology can change the picture entirely. A good current example; look at any thread on this sight discussing AT&T's Project Lightspeed. 
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"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom; it is the arguments of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." William Pitt the Younger |
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