Who Could it Be?

Longitude and latitude or the ideas of using them in cartography and navigation have been around for a very long time. Mariners out in the open ocean were able to determine their position north or south using celestial bodies. However, they were at a lost determining their longitude or how far west or east they had traveled. Pretty much, all a captain could do is sail along the correct latitude until they came to their target; much time was lost using this method as oppose to taking a more direct heading. However, the distance they were traveling to the east or west a day was impossible to determine. Problems such as shortage of supplies or knowing how far they were from a safe harbor or exactly where that haven was when storms appeared on the hori on were among the concerns of these sailors. !ust imagine, you on a ship and in the difference you see severe storm warnings; you are sailing on a latitude north of a safe harbor but you have no idea if you have past it, are directly north of it, or still need to move further forward. Many of the world"s greatest minds such as #alileo and $ewton had tried to come to the rescue. %hey all failed to solve this problem. &et, no one gave up hope on solving the problem and 'ritain offered a (),))) pound reward *or +,.(- million; by some accounts +(- million in today"s money.yeah, it was that important to them/ to anyone who could solve the problem. 0p to the plate steps !ohn Harrison *123451662/ an 7nglish carpenter and clockmaker. %here had been attempts to use clocks before. &ou see if you have a clock set to your home base or some other know location"s time and another set to the time of your current location.usually measuring the sun for its highest position and determining that is noon, you can determine through comparing both times how far you have traveled; for each hour of difference you have traveled fifteen degrees. However, earlier attempts did not work because of the use of a pendulum did not work well with the rolling of the ship in the waves. 8lso, clocks were affected with temperature, pressure, humidity, and the corrosion of being at sea. Harrison set out to create a clock that could handle all of this. 9n 164), Harrison succeeded in creating such a timepiece which was tested in 1642 on a trip to Lisbon aboard the HM: ;enturion and the return trip aboard the HM: <rford with an ama ing success. 7ventually, he would go on to design a sea watch which was far more accurate *within 1) miles/ which ;aptain ;ook would use a model of for his voyages and Harrison would spend the remaining decade of his life as a multimillionaire. 9 guess that the main point of this is that answers are out there and anyone could possibly be the one to answer it. 8s mentioned, geniuses such as $ewton and #alileo worked on this issue and here it took an unknown carpenter and clockmaker &orkshire to solve what those giants and many others.with the pri e being offered there were a lot of challengers.could not. 'ut why did he succeed when so many others who had ama ing backgrounds couldn"t= 'oth #alileo and $ewton tried to find ways using the motion and position of celestial bodies. only problem with this approach was that you still needed an accurate time piece and needed to know the time of your current location. Plotting the sun during the day was easy and easy to determine when it was noon.it was its highest point above the hori on. %ruth is that sometimes, even the greatest of minds are so engrossed in their field that they have a severe case of tunnel vision . in other words they are trapped in a box. 7instein was able to make his ama ing breakthroughs, because even though he was highly interested in physics, at the time of his breakthroughs, he was not part of the academia part of the field. He was working in a patent office mainly in dealing with mechanical and electronic patents. He wasn"t working as a

professor hoping to gain tenure by playing the game; he was working in the field from a different angle, looking at it from a different angle than those who were immersed in the prevailing theories; those who were deep within the mainstream of the field. %his was the case with Harrison as well. :o, what is the point to this entire essay= >hat is its relevance to anything= 9 am hoping it may inspire many to take a long hard look at a current situation which is plaguing the globe. 9t is a situation where one small group has through fear, beliefs, conditioning; human husbandry, legal methods *which are easy when they make the rules,/ or brute force has claimed a position which allows them a position of luxury at the expense of the rest. 9 could go into a lengthy explanation of what 9 dislike about this system and its presence since the beginning of history *i.e. which is the written account of what has happened,/ but 9 will save that for another article which can focus on that. Here is ?ust a short summary of the key points of my argument@ %here is a control of resources including ?obs by an elite group to the point that there is a dependency of the ma?ority on this small group. 9n return, the small group is only dependent on the ma?ority in such a way that they only see the ma?ority as a source of replacements parts for their companies. %his gives the small group in control of resources including ?obs an immense amount of power. %o paraphrase Aoltaire; to find out who your master is, find out who you aren"t allowed to critici e. %here is a strong impetus by those on top to remain where they are at which can be understandable. 9n a true Bree5Market :ystem when there are economic turn downs, there is actually a natural change of those who can replacing those who no longer have the ability out of falling behind the times, unable to adapt to changes, and shooting themselves in their knees by their own blind greed. However, with this stranglehold over the economy by their control of the resources and because of the desire of mainstream economists to gain well5paying ?obs the effort is on maintaining the status Cuo with no regard to stagnating effect on society and the economy need to evolve. %his is why in so many cases that when there is an economic turn down, it takes some time to recover.the effort is to maintain the status Cuo with those on top before the down turn remaining on top. 8n economy, considering the very idea that it is an aggregate of the interactions of the individuals involved solving their needs and wants, is a living breathing thing and it needs to grow, develop, and evolve with that society. >ith the control of resources including and the influence they exert over the lives of the ma?ority, those on top solicit loyalty to their endeavors and not to each of the members of the society. %hey are all about being a team player towards their company which in most cases means a blind loyalty to those who sign your paychecks. 7ven though they rely on teamwork and loyalty for the company, they tend to oppose teamwork within the community.problem is if people worked together through their issues the way companies demand that you work for them, people may reali e that they don"t need to be dependent on those on top. Aalue is a function of an eCuation of supply and demand. %hat is the higher the demand and the lower the supply, the result is the higher the perceived value. %he lower the demand and the higher the supply results in a lower perceived value. 8

person is only considered wealthy in a materialistic society if what they possess is in short supply and in high demand. >ith that in mind, there is a strong push to keep people addicted to material things to keep the demand high and its value high. :ince there is a limit to what is considered of value, the only way you can become wealthy in a materialistic world is by accumulating and hoarding those items that are considered of value. ;onsidering the idea that those items are limited and are in demand which creates their value, it means in order for you to be wealthy others must do without. Aalue can also be manipulated by those that control the resources through controlling the resources. 7xamples are <P7; which controls the value of fuel simply by controlling the level of production or De'eers which keeps a large amount of diamonds out of the market and restricts the amount which enters the market. Measuring wealth in material items is attractive because it is easy. 9f 9 have more gold than you, then 9 am wealthier and more powerful than you because there is a high demand for my gold which 9 can use to buy favors from others including their lives in my sweatshops. 9t is attractive because all you have to do is acCuire things. >ealth in the form of relationships and accomplishments is intangible and impossible to measure. 9f 9 am a member of the elite and have control of local resources, 9 can create the con of having you work hard for me. 9t works like this@ 9 tell you that the harder you work the higher you"ll move up the ladder if you are noticed. %he harder you work for me the more money and more power 9 will have. 9n reality, you will only move up the ladder so far because you will never replace me and my family and the whole idea of you working for me is me gaining even more and more; not me shelling out more and more for you. ;apitalism in its earliest definitions and most technical is a system in which the government takes an active role in the development and nurturing of capital. ;ontrary to what many who are in the mainstream tell you, 8dam :mith was not the founder of ;apitalism. He described the Bree5Market :ystem which is a situation in which two or more people meet and work out a deal without any interference. 8lexander Hamilton would be the person 9 would name as the Bather of ;apitalism. His economic ideas were the cornerstone of the Eepublican Platform of the 1F-)"s. %hese included in the government protecting and helping to develop industry which included subsidies, protectionist legislation including anti union laws, tariffs, regulations, mercantilism which is the use of colonies or foreign possessions for the benefit of the national economy, and a strong central bank overseeing it all.sound familiar= 8ctually, when you consider that the government is actively involved in the economy on this level, what you are actually dealing with is a planned economy. >ith a small group having such a strong control over the resources and since they are interested in developing these resources in a way that best helps their interests, again, you are talking about a planned economy. %he only true resemblance to the Bree5Market :ystem is the idea that the companies are privately owned and the government does help more than one interested party in the industry creating somewhat of a competition. 9f they only backed one interests, then you have what they had in the :oviet 0nion.

Probably the most despicable thing about the current system is the ?ustification that is used in it. Darwin and Malthus have nothing to do with :ocial Darwinism but there ideas were twisted and taken out of context to ?ustify the greed of those on top. 9 created this business and provided you with a ?ob, so you owe me and 9 am so much better than you. <r in some cases where the person ?ust bought the business, they still feel that those who make it happen owe them. %hey disconnect themselves with any problems they may cause in their society; what economists would call externalities such as smog, trash, unemployment when they create a dependency on their business for ?obs such as when >al5Mart enters a local economy and drives out the local competitors and become the main ?ob provider and then decides to cut costs when they are the only store of their kind. 9t"s not my fault; it is yours because you are as good as me. Let"s face it, if you care deeply about others, you probably won"t become rich materialistically fast. %he emphasis of ;apitalism is what is good for the ;apitalist not society. Binally, 9 could go on listing issues 9 have with it, is because of the ;apitalist :ystem being centered around nurturing and protecting businesses that provide ?obs and the control of the resources which is possible through the recognition of the government, businesses and government have a very close relationship that blurs the lines of ethics on many different levels.

9 believe that we can do far better than this. 9 believe we can create a society where people aren"t allow to go homeless, starve, go without medical care, crawl into a bottle or syringe, or become institutionali ed because there isn"t enough to go around because 9 want more and more or 9 have to be on top and they ?ust didn"t have the breaks 9 had. 9 don"t believe that the answers will be found in the mainstream because they are focused on the system and gaining their tenure by keeping their masters happy. 9 do refuse that they are the only ones with answers.hell, they"re the ones who keep telling you that ;apitalism, the government support of businesses is great while :ocialism, the government support of the people is bad and that 8dam :mith is the Bather of ;apitalism.all you have to do is read :mith"s <pus Magnus, G%he >ealth of $ations,H to see that this is not true. 9 do believe that there is an economic 7instein out there in the form of an individual, a group, or a series of evolving ideas that will create the change that will prove to be fair, conducive to a functional community, and get us evolving again, socially and economically.truly creating the change we and our world need. Eemember, the first serious writings of economics were not by an economist, they were penned by Plato, a philosopher and <lympic >restler. 8lso 8dam :mith was not an economist when he wrote his book in 1662; he was the head of the Philosophy Department at a 0niversity. %homas E. Malthus was a preacher. #ood Luck.