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It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

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Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#51

Post by junon »

vardump wrote: post #2

Assuming everything is reported fairly, I really can't imagine being Nichia's customer. Ever. Sacking and not compensating the employee that single-handedly made Nichia successful by inventing a working blue LED and saving Nichia from bankruptcy is just not acceptable.

Totally. I actually went to check mouser to see if they had nichia brand stuff - a few odds and ends but they're not even listed on the manufacturer list for LEDs.

Will watch out for them and avoid whenever possible from now on.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#52

Post by Arrath »

wutwutwat wrote: post #47
pipe01 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He just said he likes the color blue because of the ocean, where does bis success come in on that?

Ok, let me maybe phrase it as a question. Had he not invented the blue led, would he be telling everyone his childhood in the fishing village made him love the color blue, or would that inspiring memory not exist or maybe not be so significant?

Since it's really impossible to say, we can consider the possibility that humble not-famous not-inventor alternate universe man might just live in a house with rooms painted various shades of blue because he loves the color so much. Or might run an etsy shop where the products are curiously mostly available in blue colors. Or he's a hobbyist 3d printer enthusiast and likes to use blue filament. Would he tell others that story? Maybe to bemused guests who remark upon entering the House of Blue. Who knows!

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#53

Post by Draiken »

It's incredible to see with cases like this how extremely absurd the relationship of capital and labor is.

If I was someone aspiring to be a researcher, I'd most definitely give up due to stories like this. The person created probably close to trillions of value to humanity (his LEDs spawned multiple new industries), yet he was compensated less than what I make with web development.

Meanwhile the CEO and other businesses profited from his research for one reason only: they already had capital.

Call me crazy but smart people that want to do research should do it and get well compensated for it, even if they don't invent something as pivotal as this. But because of stories like this, many smart people will never even consider a career as a researcher because the majority would be rewarded with poverty.

Meanwhile if you release a new shitcoin at the right time, or you're posting near naked pictures on Instagram, you get rewarded handsomely.

What a fucked up society we created for ourselves.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#54

Post by ricc »

wutwutwat wrote: post #21
ballenf wrote: post #8

I loved the closing interview where Nakamura explained he grew up in a fishing village with a view of the sea, inspiring his love of the color blue.

[flagged]

I don’t think he was “spinning” it. He simply answered a follow-up question of if he only likes blue because of his obsession with making the LED or if he already liked it before. He probably even meant that it was just a coincidence that he also likes the color blue.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#56

Post by legitster »

vardump wrote: post #2

Assuming everything is reported fairly, I really can't imagine being Nichia's customer. Ever. Sacking and not compensating the employee that single-handedly made Nichia successful by inventing a working blue LED and saving Nichia from bankruptcy is just not acceptable.

This makes more sense having learned more about Japanese business culture and the concept of salarymen.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#57

Post by legitster »

earthwalker99 wrote: post #14

[flagged]

Blaming literally anything wrong on "capitalism" is peak intellectual laziness. Especially to use a canned definition that no one would agree to except those that would confirm your priors.

Do these problems not exist under feudalism? Mercantilism? Communism? Did soviet inventors fair any better?

You're better off calling a spade a spade. Weird reductionist absolutes about society don't make any of us any smarter and only steer discussions into unhelpful directions.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#58

Post by legitster »

dymk wrote: post #28
W4ldi wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your point? That statement has nothing to do with the problem at hand.

The problem is that he was unfairly compensated by the economic system (capitalism) he works in, and had to fight for years only to just about break even on legal fees. The guy's gumption led to the invention of a multi-billion dollar pear year industry, and he got basically none of it.

> The guy's gumption led to the invention of a multi-billion dollar pear year industry, and he got basically none of it.

But... the billion dollar industry is also capitalism? This logic is circular and makes no sense. If there is no capitalism there is no compensation to be distributed in this case, period.

The argument that he was unfairly compensated based on merit is fundamentally a capitalist argument. You can't play it both ways.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#59

Post by dymk »

legitster wrote: post #58
dymk wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that he was unfairly compensated by the economic system (capitalism) he works in, and had to fight for years only to just about break even on legal fees. The guy's gumption led to the invention of a multi-billion dollar pear year industry, and he got basically none of it.

> The guy's gumption led to the invention of a multi-billion dollar pear year industry, and he got basically none of it. But... the billion dollar industry is also capitalism? This logic is circular and makes no sense. If there is no capitalism there is no compensation to be distributed in this case, period. The argument that he was unfairly compensated based on merit is fundamentally a capitalist argument. You can't…

Are you saying the outcome here is fair and desirable?

The first step to fixing a problem is admitting one exists. This seems clearly like a failure of capitalism to reward the innovation of a person who actually did the innovation.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#60

Post by dang »

earthwalker99 wrote: post #14

[flagged]

Please don't take HN threads on generic ideological tangents. They're tedious and repetitive, and therefore boring. Plus then they turn nasty.

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Edit: can you please not use HN primarily for ideological battle? We have to ban accounts that do that because it destroys what this site is supposed to be for. past explanations: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme....

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