xtc wrote:When Americans think they invented the internet. I think Sir Tim Berners-Lee might have something to say about that. And he GAVE the idea away to us (All of us, not just Americans).
The British invented the Postal system. As a result, the British are the only people who do
not have to place their country of origin on their postage stamps (i think sometimes they do now, but afaik they are not obligated to). The original developer of the Internet may not have been American (I'll have to google that one), but Americans are the ones who made it take off. As a result of this, the US is the only country that does
not have to place country of origin on email or website addresses (whereas the French have to type Fr and the British use UK I believe).
Just as Columbus gets the credit of 'discovering' America instead of Leif Erickson 500 years before him or tje ancestors of the Inuits and 'Indians' countless thousands of years before that. Credit for some great thing virtually always goes not to the actual developer but to the one who first makes something well known/popular; in the case of scientists, the first who publishes a paper about said discovery. If they're the same person, great; if not,
c'est la vie.
I could cite a good number of scientific discoveries / technological inventions where the credit went to the popularizer rather than the one who did all the hard work. Thomas Edison is notorious for this - especially in regards to ripping of Nikola Tesla; this is why Edison held so many patents in his lifetime. In the case of the Internet, that evidently goes to an American (though NOT Al Gore).
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...