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The “mechanical miracle” that ruined Mark Twain’s life

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Re: The “mechanical miracle” that ruined Mark Twain’s life

#91

Post by danso »

ekelsen wrote: post #16

I wish school curriculum included things like "how printing actually worked through ages". Monks writing out manuscripts is somewhat relatable since we all (at least for now) still learn how to write. Everyone is taught the Gutenberg press was a big deal -- but how did it actually work? Why was it still a pain and how did later inventions fix those problems?

That’d be nice, as a news nerd and pagemaker monkey myself. But school curriculums don’t even have the space to teach touch typing anymore. Or huge chunks of U.S. history (nevermind histories of countries far older).

Re: The “mechanical miracle” that ruined Mark Twain’s life

#92

Post by ricardobeat »

> but his main talent appeared to have been his skill at raising money by promising the impossible — the 19th century version of Steve Job’s reality distortion field.

That’s a wild mischaracterization. Steve Job’s “reality distortion field” was coined after the ability to get people to achieve the impossible and deliver better products; quite the opposite of funneling money into dead end ideas.

Re: The “mechanical miracle” that ruined Mark Twain’s life

#93

Post by toast0 »

ricardobeat wrote: post #92

> but his main talent appeared to have been his skill at raising money by promising the impossible — the 19th century version of Steve Job’s reality distortion field. That’s a wild mischaracterization. Steve Job’s “reality distortion field” was coined after the ability to get people to achieve the impossible and deliver better products; quite the opposite of funneling money into dead end ideas.

> Steve Job’s “reality distortion field” was coined after the ability to get people to achieve the impossible and deliver better products;

I was under the impression it was about Steve convincing the faithful that Apple invented the categories of products they sold, rather than simply delivering better products in existing categories.

Re: The “mechanical miracle” that ruined Mark Twain’s life

#94

Post by MPSimmons »

toast0 wrote: post #93
ricardobeat wrote: post #92

> but his main talent appeared to have been his skill at raising money by promising the impossible — the 19th century version of Steve Job’s reality distortion field. That’s a wild mischaracterization. Steve Job’s “reality distortion field” was coined after the ability to get people to achieve the impossible and deliver better products; quite the opposite of funneling money into dead end ideas.

> Steve Job’s “reality distortion field” was coined after the ability to get people to achieve the impossible and deliver better products; I was under the impression it was about Steve convincing the faithful that Apple invented the categories of products they sold, rather than simply delivering better products in existing categories.

It was coined by Apple engineers who would agree to whatever Steve wanted them to do while Steve was at their desk, and then when he left they'd be distraught over what they'd agreed to.

https://www.folklore.org/Reality_Distortion_Field.html

Re: The “mechanical miracle” that ruined Mark Twain’s life

#95

Post by chaostheory »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #70

his bad investments and obsession here was certainly something that brought him down, but I'm going to have to say what probably really ruined his life was his daughter Susy Clemens dying of spinal meningitis in 1896, 2 years after the bankruptcy. As someone with some familiarity with Clemens, and stresses piled upon stresses, I feel it is somewhat insulting to the man to think he just couldn't handle losing some mon…

Didn’t he blame himself for her death because it supposedly happened because he had to go on the road again in order to pay for his debts?

Re: The “mechanical miracle” that ruined Mark Twain’s life

#96

Post by fwipsy »

thinking_cactus wrote: post #66
fwipsy wrote: post #17

It's pretty ironic to read about Twain losing his fortune to bad investments, after satirizing sketchy investments in "The Gilded Age."

It makes a little sense to me that would be the case. People tend to write things they find relevant for their own life or surrounding. That is, he might be putting into paper a kind of warning to himself.

To me it indicates that he knew how easy it is to lose your shirt, likely from the examples of his peers -- and then he did anyways.

Re: The “mechanical miracle” that ruined Mark Twain’s life

#97

Post by bryanrasmussen »

chaostheory wrote: post #95
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #70

his bad investments and obsession here was certainly something that brought him down, but I'm going to have to say what probably really ruined his life was his daughter Susy Clemens dying of spinal meningitis in 1896, 2 years after the bankruptcy. As someone with some familiarity with Clemens, and stresses piled upon stresses, I feel it is somewhat insulting to the man to think he just couldn't handle losing some mon…

Didn’t he blame himself for her death because it supposedly happened because he had to go on the road again in order to pay for his debts?

I don't know, probably. This kind of thing all goes together and you tend to become very bitter towards people.

Re: The “mechanical miracle” that ruined Mark Twain’s life

#98

Post by tremon »

bell-cot wrote: post #79
ekelsen wrote: post #16

I wish school curriculum included things like "how printing actually worked through ages". Monks writing out manuscripts is somewhat relatable since we all (at least for now) still learn how to write. Everyone is taught the Gutenberg press was a big deal -- but how did it actually work? Why was it still a pain and how did later inventions fix those problems?

And at least as important are the surrounding economic, social, and archival systems for printed information. How much of the populace was literate? Was there licensing (for copyists or printers), copyright, public domain, or public libraries? Distribution systems? What sorts of material were being copied or printed? And how long did those materials physically last? My understanding is that there's a vast amount that…

All of those considerations are predicated on having the printing press first. There is little value in advanced literacy if written knowledge is rare or hard to come by. There is no need for licensing if verbatim copying takes a lifetime rather than an afternoon. Why would someone need an elaborate distribution system if their output is limited to (let's say) 2 books/year?

Re: The “mechanical miracle” that ruined Mark Twain’s life

#99

Post by kungfooey »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #97
chaostheory wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn’t he blame himself for her death because it supposedly happened because he had to go on the road again in order to pay for his debts?

I don't know, probably. This kind of thing all goes together and you tend to become very bitter towards people.

Yes, he was in Europe at the time. Chernow's biography of Clemens, while ridiculously long (audiobook was > 40 hours) was also very good and spent quite a bit of time on this.

I do suspect financial losses were a big contributor -- but part of it wasn't just that he lost _his_ money, but also his wife's inheritance. Of course, even aside from this money-losing invention, they were quite the profligate spenders.

Re: The “mechanical miracle” that ruined Mark Twain’s life

#100

Post by pwthornton »

toast0 wrote: post #93
ricardobeat wrote: post #92

> but his main talent appeared to have been his skill at raising money by promising the impossible — the 19th century version of Steve Job’s reality distortion field. That’s a wild mischaracterization. Steve Job’s “reality distortion field” was coined after the ability to get people to achieve the impossible and deliver better products; quite the opposite of funneling money into dead end ideas.

> Steve Job’s “reality distortion field” was coined after the ability to get people to achieve the impossible and deliver better products; I was under the impression it was about Steve convincing the faithful that Apple invented the categories of products they sold, rather than simply delivering better products in existing categories.

No, it was first coined by people who worked for him in the early 80s. He was really trying to push the limits of what was possible and convinced people working under him to do so.
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