
Wilbur Wright's Letter to the Smithsonian (1899) - sethbannon
https://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/stories/letter-dated-may-30-1899
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tlb
They succeeded 4.5 years later.

Their argument that birds make maneuvers 3-4x more aggressive than needed for
level flight, and therefore level flight may be within the reach of man, is an
intriguing one. You could make parallel arguments about AI today, for example
that driving a car requires only 1/3 - 1/4 of a brainpower.

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mannykannot
One could make that argument, but we do not know at this point if it is valid,
and the Wright's success does not change that.

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ChuckMcM
And isn't it great that the Smithsonian did NOT reply

 _" We have found 14 articles related to your letter, here are the titles, you
can rent them for $15.95 each for a week or we will print them out and send
them too you for $56.00 each. Please let us know which ones you want."_

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demarq
" I wish to avail myself of all that is already known and then if possible add
my mite to help on the future workers who will attain final success. "

I think this also says a lot about Intellectual Property right here. Just
think of how todays innovation is hindered with NDAs and patent trolls.

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mannykannot
To a large extent, other experimenters in the field at that time freely shared
information. As indicated by this letter, the Wrights eagerly drank from that
well, but did not reciprocate, as it was their intention to patent their
achievements.

If they had managed their patents with the aggressiveness that we see
nowadays, early aviation development might have been stalled for a decade.

~~~
phkahler
>> As indicated by this letter, the Wrights eagerly drank from that well, but
did not reciprocate, as it was their intention to patent their achievements.

From the letter we can see that they did not expect to succeed but only hoped
to contribute. From what I've read they really got a rude awakening to the
ways of the business world _after_ they invented something of significant
value. I am in the odd position of agreeing with you and also thinking they
deserved the patent and everything they could get from it. It was not a
trivial achievement and involved a number of unique innovations and challenges
to the published wisdom.

~~~
mannykannot
I agree that the Wrights deserved to be rewarded handsomely for their
achievements, but so too do the others who made important contributions
afterwards, though perhaps not to the same extent. The issue of the fair
reward for innovation still has no satisfactory solution to this day.

The Wrights also had to fight with the Smithsonian over their historical
legacy, with the result that the original Flyer was displayed in London's
Science Museum for many years, where its significance was properly recognized.

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phreeza
Here is the book he apparently ended up ordering (in the next letter, linked
to on the left):

[https://archive.org/details/experimentsinae01langgoog](https://archive.org/details/experimentsinae01langgoog)

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interfixus
" _I am an enthusiast, but not a crank in the sense that I have some pet
theories as to the proper construction of a flying machine_ "

So, cranks were a wellknown commodity already in the nineteenth century.
Whoever would have guessed...

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notliketherest
I came here to copy and paste the exact same quote. It makes me feel better
when I dream up AI algorithms that I don't even know are possible or not given
my limited vocabulary yet know I can go forward with any of them and learn
what I don't know. We learn what we don't know, experts in fields, the
specialists, rarely lead big creations. It takes someone with just enough
knowledge of the various facets of their business to bring a dream /
innovation to life by finding those who specialize in those facets to help
build that dream.

~~~
interfixus
It _is_ a good quote, isn't it? And very nicely stands the test of 118 years.

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Gravityloss
It's fascinating to see "behind the curtain" like this. Same with the civil
rights movement etc. People know some highlighting event, but it's harder to
express or celebrate the years of methodical work behind that.

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dmurray
If like me you were wondering how the Smithsonian replied, there are links to
other letters on the same page. The next one is a letter of thanks for sending
certain pamphlets and recommendations, enclosing one dollar for another book.

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sailfast
An interesting question, though I'm wondering if the Smithsonian made
duplicate copies of replies to things like these.

To get the letter they sent (unless they kept the original fairly
insignificant seeming administrative letter "yes sir please see enclosed") it
would've had to have been kept by Wilbur.

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blizkreeg
The part that stood out for me was:

"I am about to begin a systematic study of the subject in preparation for
practical work to which I expect to devote _what time I can spare from my
regular business_."

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finolex2
Wilbur Wright actually hoped to enroll at Yale and become a teacher, for which
he enrolled in college prep courses. All that changed when he suffered a
brutal injury during an ice hockey game, following which he retreated into a
long depression and eventually opened a bicycle shop in 1992.

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fruitcake
1892?

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barryhoodlum
It was a very long depression.

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euyyn
Probably the Great Depression.

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yitchelle
"It is only a question of knowledge and skill..."

I really like this observation that Wilbur made. It's definitely part of the
ethos of someone who likes a technical challenge.

