Integration of blockchain with artificial intelligence technologies in the energy sector: a systematic review
Old And New Inventions
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We are conservatives in • respect to inventions which are old and useful, and reformers in respect to those which are old and of an inferior character. Plain common sense teaches any man that it is foolishness itself to prefer an invention merely because it is new, and deride another merely because it is old. We are also advocates of all that is new and useful, but it requires experience, a great amount of knowledge, and disinterested judgment to tell what is new and useful; whether it has been employed before and superseded by something better, or had been before proposed, experimented with and failed, or has inherent defects. It frequently happens that old and exploded inventions are revived and presented to the public with the most glowing eulogies of their superiority and incomparable qualities ; and it no less' frequently happens that others possessing inherent defects are as prominently paraded and more vauntingly advocated. It is our duty—and we have often to perform it—to expose the worthlessness of the one class and the errors of the other. This we do without any reference to private and invidious prejudices—for we have none of them—but as public journalists speaking the truth as we believe it. We believe that much wrong is prevented from being perpetrated on 1Ihe public by timely exposures ot unworthy objects, many of which it has fallen to our lot to hold up', either to scorn (according to the manner in which they were heralded) or to a candid and kind criticism. Almost daily, we have either old or inferior inventions presented to us for our opinion, by honest and worthy inventors, many of whom are disappointed at discovering the age or inferiority of their plans, but generally all satisfied with our conclusions. Two years ago we were asked for our opinion about propelling a ferry boat across a river in South Carolina by the power of a huge spring wound up with a cranI!:; we informed the inventor that the same device had been applied to a boat in this city in 1808, and that it had inherent defects. * Nothing but a trial, however, would satisfy the inventor, and that did satisfy him to his cost, but he thanked us for our information. Three years ago a gentleman in Syracuse, N. Y., asked our opinion about a substitute for the crank which he had invented ; we gave our opinion that there was no loss by the crank, and it was the most simple and best device ever invented to convert rectilinear into rotary motion.— The inventor concluded he would try his own device; the result of his experiments, however, confirmed every word we had said, and his testimony to this effect we published on page 99, Vol. 5. We could name a great many such cases, but we have not room to do so. Of the many public exposures which we have mad'e, not one, we believe, has turned out different from what we predicted, although we are liable to make mistakes as well as others, for none are perfect, but we are disinterested. In our last volume we gave our opinion respecting the worthlessness of a project which was presented to the public in this city for navigating plank and common roads with steam carriages. It would have been easy to have proven us incorrect if we were wrong, by the said company putting their plans in operation; and when we consider that this could have been done at no very great outlay, and that the company was composed of editors, lawyers, artists, 'c., who make pretensions to science, and practical mechanics, it is certainly presumptive evidence that some of them have become convinced that we were right, if not, they have acted unwisely. It is now eighteen years since Robert Mills, engineer and architect in Washington, published a pamphlet recommending the adoption of steam carriages for common roads. At that time, (1834) railroads were almost unknown in our country; there was but a single short railroad then in this State, (N. Y.) Since . Then railroads have multiplied until they have laced our entire country with an iron network of 12,000 miles. To advocate steam carriages on common roads now, when we on which the resistance is twenty times less, betrays a great want of judgment. With respect to new and superior modes of travelling; too much attention cannot be bestowed upon them. The steamboat and railroad are fast revolutionizing the world ; but it is not to be supposed that we are yet at the end of such inventions and improvements. A means of safely, cheaply, and rapidly navigating the atmosphere may yet be invented, but no plan hitherto proposed or tried meets these positively necessary conditions; we confess, however, that we have far more confidence in balloons than steam carriages on common roads. An invention to be successful must not only be new, but useful—an improvement. Any plan or invention having these qualities, no matter by whom invented or proposed, we advocate with pleasure and hail with delight.
The 10 Inventions That Changed The World
This story appears in the June 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine.Thomas Edison liked to say that he never failed. He succeeded every now and again with an invention that would change the world. The rest of the time, he tried thousands of other things with only one fault—that they would never work.
That's the sort of spirit and tenacity that leads to progress, says Carla Hayden, the U.S. Librarian of Congress. The library keeps archives of many of America's copyrights and blueprints, so National Geographic asked Hayden to list what she considers 10 of the most meaningful advances in history—the inventions and innovations responsible for the trappings of modern life.
Ranking innovations is more art than science. Can you really compare a camera to an airplane? But while progress is incremental, it's also exponential; it builds on itself. The printing press allowed literacy to spread and thinkers to share ideas and, thus, invent more things.
Modern inventions tend more toward improving than transforming: an app that connects the world in a better way, planes that fly farther, faster. But there's still room, every so often, for dramatic advances like, say, 3-D printing or the Internet. "There will be more great leaps," says Hayden. "We have a momentum and acceleration I think we can all feel."
Encouragement To New Inventions
Encouragement to New Inventions
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Among many of our monied business men, and too frequently among officers of Railroad Companies, there is a want of information in regard to many valuable improvements and inventions, which might be adopted by them to advantage, and perhaps equally as much to the advantage of others. It is a duty which Railroad Companies owe to our community to adopt such means as shall insure safety and convenience, as well as speed and profit. They should seek for those inventions which tend to avert danger and enable them to carry out their plans for the safe conducting ot trains of cars to the best advantage—a neglect to do so is a crime, and should be regarded as such by the community. By many officers of railroads, a disposition to treat inventors and inventions with perfect indifference, is notorious. Presidents and Directors on some of our railroads will hardly pauss to notice an improvement of any kind. We have been told of an incident which may be properly related in this connection: —A friend called upon the President of one of the Eastern Railroads, with the model of an invention ot his own, connected "with one of the most important departments of railroad management. The President was absent, but the chief clerk very politely volunteered the information that, if present, he would have no time to look at models of any kind. With Yankee perseverence, however, the model was again brought, and the clerk's information proving but too true, it was taken away again. The President and his friends learning, however, that the inventor was a man of some influence, changed the usual routine of proceeding, by sending an apology for neglect, and a request that he should again submit his, model for examination. This being done, all the parties who examined it were led to express their approbation of the improvement suggested. Btrt the act" speaks—it tells" tS that inventions or improvements, however valuable to the community, receive nonotice from these officials, unless they are presented by some of the lords of the soil—some of the monied few. The poor inventor, however meritorious, however ingenious his contrivance for insuring safety or convenience to those who are travelling with such rapid speedis repulsed without even a passing notice. When large dividends are the cherished aim of Railroad Companies, and officers are appointed whose sole object appears to be to carry out these ends, it can hardly be supposed that new suggestions or new improvements, which havesafety or convenience for their object, without a special regard to profit, could meet with a very courteous reception. These are generally the men who suppose that tew additional improvements in railroad engineering will ever be made; from such, inventors can expect little encouragement, and they should not look for it from that source. The idea is prevalent in many places that inventors are but speculators, and perhaps the President above referred to has imbibed the same sentiment, if so he should be apprised that this is not the case. 'Tis true, worthless inventions sometimes fall into the hands ot speculators who care little for them but to make the most from their purchase ; but inventors, as a class ol men, are benevolent, honest-hearted men,—men who feel grateful for a kind reception, and who appreciate a benevolent act from those who have the ability and the spirit to test their improvements, and encourage those that are worthy of encouragement. These apparent improvements may be encouraged in a variety of ways, and frequently at a very trifling expense. It is not unfrequently the case that an important improvement may be tested in a short time by the aid of an engine or car that has been laid aside for ordinary use. Railroad Companies often have the means at hand to render assistance in this manner, which might ultimately benefit themselves as well as the world at large. Experience proves that mechanical and scientific discoveries benefit all—they , are a blessing to the poor as well as to the rich.
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