Originally Posted by
MadCapsule
Dean Kamen?
The man whose Slingshot water purification system has pretty much perfected the Stirling engine, a no-emission power source and can make pure medical-grade water out of anything wet (even urine or toxic waste, with no filters to change or chemicals to add and no noise) and can produce a million liters of water in a thousand days with no human intervention and could save countless lives in Third World countries?
The man whose company, Deka Research & Development, is working on prosthetic limbs that include a hand/arm combo that allows the user as complicated as operating an electric drill or as delicate as picking up a grape with its fingers all the while being light (because it's made of titanium) and comfortable for the user to wear?
The man whose robotics competition aimed at schools, called FIRST, which handed out $10 million in scholarships last year alone?
That guy?
Yeah, he's clearly an idiot.
Wait -- who? What? What are those things? If I approach anybody on the street and ask about a Stirling engine, do you think they'll know what I'm talking about, or will they assume that it's made of silver?
But they all know about the Segway. It's that dork-o-matic scooter that's too wide for our sidewalks and too slow to keep up with street traffic, used by people who are too lazy to ride a bike yet with enough extra income to spend on one.
That's the
public perception. Facts only go so far when most people don't know all the facts to begin with.