MAKE: Technology on your time, Dean Kamen Interview

[Richard Wallace]

This was my favorite part of the interview:

Originally Posted by More from Dean Kamen by William Lidwell October 13, 2005

The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said, "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." What do you think?

Dean's reply: "I think the three stages are accurate, but they are followed by a really daunting fourth stage: by the time that everyone finally gets around to believing something to be obviously true, it will likely be discovered that it is false. Most people do not understand this. They hold on dearly to those things they now accept and think they know to be true, which is one reason that progress is so slow in the world. It's not what experienced people don't know that prevents them from moving forward, it is what they do know that just isn't so anymore. ..."

Dean's insight above, that today's established truth will eventually be shown to be false, is one of the important reasons for experienced people to do extra-curricular things like mentoring a FIRST team. Helping high-schoolers, who are discovering laws of physics and principles of engineering for the first time, helps keep the understanding of those laws and principles from becoming too rigid in our own minds.