14th April 2010, 9:08 AM
I mean, I remember him being up there with Paul Bunyan and such as a kid, but does he really deserve that? His big claim to fame seems to be denying the progress of technology, "heroically" pounding in more train stakes than some steam engine (though I will note this, he's dead, and they've surely invented even faster means of doing that, negating his victory entirely). Plus, the "lesson" seems to be "technology is bad". I never really did get why he's such a big deal.
I'll say it. John Henry was a damned fool.
I'll say it. John Henry was a damned fool.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)