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WalterBright • yesterday at 6:19 AM • 1 reply • view on HN

People who do not have a technical education tend to have a less precise definition of things. There's not a great deal of point to arguing semantics.

There were precursors to Edison's light bulb, and people use that to denigrate Edison's achievement. But the technical reality of the Edison bulb is his bulb was practical, and the precursors were just curiosities.

Replies

gcanyon • yesterday at 6:01 PM

> Edison

Sure, and (as far as I know) Edison's basic pattern at discovery was much the same as what we use today (less so these days obviously):

   1. Fill a sealed container with non-reactive gas or vacuum 
   2. String something conductive and heat-tolerant through it
   3. Run enough current through it to make the thing glow
I think the same can be said for the Wright brothers -- perhaps less so for the reasons I gave previously.

I think a system that involves mechanical elements is farther from what most people think of when they think "TV"