# The Wright Brothers **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2016, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167 "2016-04-14T05:23:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SirTitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@SirTitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirTitan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/1 "2016-04-14T05:23:44Z")
Dear Cecil & The Smart Mass’ of the Thinking Public, I was browsing online when I read a random article about the Wright Brothers. Having the handy ability to count I realized Orville Wright died in 1948. That means he saw his co-invention as it were get utilized in not one but two world wars and the two Japanese H-bomb missions. Now he was also around when the sound barrier was broke by Chuck Yeager in October of 1947 and the beginning of commercial air travel. On the other hand, Wilbur Wright died in 1912, less than ten years after he co-invented the airplane. Which most likely picked him up some fame and notoriety along the way. Because of his untimely death he never would have the experience or knowledge of how his dream become so many other people’s nightmares for years to come. My question, which brother was more fortunate and why? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/2 "2016-04-14T05:41:48Z")
Well in Orville’s own words: > [@](#): > > We dared to hope we had invented something that would bring lasting peace to the earth. But we were wrong…No, I don’t have any regrets about my part in the invention of the airplane, though no one could deplore more than I do the destruction it has caused. I feel about the airplane much the same as I do in regard to fire. That is I regret all the terrible damage caused by fire, but I think it is good for the human race that someone discovered how to start fires and that we have learned how to put fire to thousands of important uses So I guess on balance he thought it was a positive. Also we can note he did feel some responsibility, even if, IMO, he should not (he wasn’t involved in military aircraft, and while we must give due credit to the Wright brothers, it’s not as though powered flight would not have ultimately happened without them). For your question, it’s entirely subjective. It’s like asking whether it’s better to die in the peak of happiness and health. Or whether it’s better to die ignorant of some unpleasant truth. Some would say yes. Personally, I’d say no: I’d always like to know as much as I can and my life is not just a maximizing happiness function. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/3 "2016-04-14T07:24:05Z")
FTR…they were A-Bombs dropped over Hiroshima. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/4 "2016-04-14T07:47:15Z")
There’s no reason to think Wilbur would have wanted to die rather than see his invention misused. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/5 "2016-04-14T08:45:05Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > So I guess on balance he thought it was a positive. Also we can note he did feel some responsibility, even if, IMO, he should not (he wasn’t involved in military aircraft,… Not really true. I think the Wright’s first customer (or certainly one of the first) was the U.S. Army. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/6 "2016-04-14T10:27:36Z")
**Moderator Action** I think this is more opinion than factual. Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/7 "2016-04-14T12:31:30Z")
I have no idea how the Wright brothers might have felt about their invention being used in warfare, but it’s worth pointing out that H.G. wells had pointed out in several stories , before they had invented it, that practical aircraft would have the effect of transforming war. It would move war away from the front lines and into the very heartland of the nations waging the war – a prediction that was amply proven (He also wrote about the impact of the tank and of the “atomic bomb” – a term he used long before it was a reality.) That it would eventually become a potent weapon of war should have been a foregone conclusion. People continued to see the airplane as evidence for higher goals and as a symbol of peace – you can see it in the literature of the time. Even Wells himself, in the film _Things to Come_, has his future airmen as the bearers of civilization and bringers of peace, rather than war, using non-lethal sleeping gas to overcome their opponents. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/8 "2016-04-14T13:01:29Z")
This could be said about anyone. Benjamin Franklin’s idea of a great Post Office is now a publicly-subsidized and protected monopoly of bulk advertising that it is still illegal to compete with. Alexander Graham Bell even saw it coming, projecting sadly right at the outset that his invention, with so much promise, would someday be used merely for trivial personal communications. Imagine what the inventor of television would think, surfing with his cable remote (and opening the bill). Henry Ford sitting still on the Dan Ryan at 7:30 am. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/9 "2016-04-14T14:38:22Z")
The early popularizers of the public internet thought it’d be a conduit for radical freedom in cyberspace isolated from the evils and gravity of the corporeal world. Instead we have all-knowing Facebook, NSA, and the Chinese government watching and recording our every move while Russian and Bulgarian cyberpirates loot and extort homes and businesses all across the planet. And QVC. Oops. But we do have lots more cute pix of kittehs. And massive free porn. So there’s that. Human Progress Marches Ever Upwards to Our Glorious Destiny!!!1! ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/10 "2016-04-14T16:16:52Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > This could be said about anyone. Benjamin Franklin’s idea of a great Post Office is now a publicly-subsidized and protected monopoly of bulk advertising that it is still illegal to compete with. Alexander Graham Bell even saw it coming, projecting sadly right at the outset that his invention, with so much promise, would someday be used merely for trivial personal communications. Imagine what the inventor of television would think, surfing with his cable remote (and opening the bill). Henry Ford sitting still on the Dan Ryan at 7:30 am. The post office isn’t publicly subsidized. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/11 "2016-04-14T16:33:42Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > The post office isn’t publicly subsidized. Not directly, anymore, but it was for over 200 years. And still is, indirectly, through federal agencies enforcing the postal monopoly and inspection. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/12 "2016-04-14T17:10:27Z")
One would be hard pressed to think of any invention that has not been used for nefarious purposes, some of which may never have been considered by the inventor(s). Still, while I have heard an occasional “I wish I had never invented the \_\_\_\_\_!” I have heard of no inventor saying “I wish I had died right after inventing \_\_\_ so I wouldn’t know how it was misused”. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/13 "2016-04-14T18:38:37Z")
From _Cat’s Cradle_ by Kurt Vonnegut: The narrator interviews an old-time bartender about events around the time The Bomb was dropped: > [@](#): > > “Another guy came in, and he said he was quitting his job at the Research Laboratory; said anything a scientist worked on was sure to wind up as a weapon, one way or another. Said he didn’t want to help politicians with their fugging wars anymore. Name was Breed. I asked him if he was any relation to the boss of the fugging Research Laboratory. He said he fugging well was. Said he was the boss of the Research Laboratory’s fugging son.” ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/14 "2016-04-14T19:22:13Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > One would be hard pressed to think of any invention that has not been used for nefarious purposes, some of which may never have been considered by the inventor(s). Still, while I have heard an occasional “I wish I had never invented the \_\_\_\_\_!” I have heard of no inventor saying “I wish I had died right after inventing \_\_\_ so I wouldn’t know how it was misused”. I’m having a hard time coming up with a way to weaponize jello. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/15 "2016-04-14T19:36:25Z")
I’ve seen some real weapons-grade women doing jello wrestling. Does that count? 😃 A bit more seriously. … Surely you’ve heard of “jello shots”? They’d be easy to lace with date rape drugs. Or to pull the poisoned Tylenol play on some packages at the store. Or a real whack-job could bring poisoned jello cubes to a party and stay to watch the fun. See? That wasn’t so hard to think of, was it? :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/16 "2016-04-14T20:32:16Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > I’m having a hard time coming up with a way to weaponize jello. Napalm. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/17 "2016-04-14T23:32:54Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Not really true. I think the Wright’s first customer (or certainly one of the first) was the U.S. Army. Not only was their first customer the Army, but the Wright Brothers understood, as they were working on their airplane, that for a long time their _only_ viable market would be the armed forces of the world. The earliest airplanes were far too small, too limited in range, and too unsafe to be practical for civilian passenger or cargo carriage. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/18 "2016-04-15T00:09:31Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Not only was their first customer the Army, but the Wright Brothers understood, as they were working on their airplane, that for a long time their _only_ viable market would be the armed forces of the world. The earliest airplanes were far too small, too limited in range, and too unsafe to be practical for civilian passenger or cargo carriage. And armies were already using spotter balloons so a faster, more mobile flying conveyance would be an attractive sale. As to inventors, Mikhail Kalashnikov is reported to have been proud of the good service given by his weapons to his country, saddened/angered by their proliferation among terrorists, and, perhaps apocryphally, to have mentioned that at times he wondered if he should not have better invented a good piece of farm equipment or lawnmower. ---
**Author:** ![SirTitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@SirTitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirTitan)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/19 "2016-04-15T07:27:07Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Well in Orville’s own words: > > So I guess on balance he thought it was a positive. Also we can note he did feel some responsibility, even if, IMO, he should not (he wasn’t involved in military aircraft, and while we must give due credit to the Wright brothers, it’s not as though powered flight would not have ultimately happened without them). > > For your question, it’s entirely subjective. It’s like asking whether it’s better to die in the peak of happiness and health. Or whether it’s better to die ignorant of some unpleasant truth. Some would say yes. > Personally, I’d say no: I’d always like to know as much as I can and my life is not just a maximizing happiness function. Thank you for your response. I enjoyed reading that. To be honest when I starting thinking about how much of the evolution of aviation one brother witnessed over the other was really something I wanted only to mull over in this type of forum. My question as it were was only included to give it reason to be posted. ---
**Author:** ![SirTitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@SirTitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirTitan)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167/20 "2016-04-15T07:33:47Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > One would be hard pressed to think of any invention that has not been used for nefarious purposes, some of which may never have been considered by the inventor(s). Still, while I have heard an occasional “I wish I had never invented the \_\_\_\_\_!” I have heard of no inventor saying “I wish I had died right after inventing \_\_\_ so I wouldn’t know how it was misused”. Thank you for that. That was exactly the kind of response I really get. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wright-brothers/752167.md?page=2)