Comments by "" (@seanbrazell6147) on "Karl Benz: Father of the Automobile" video.

  1. The fascinating, self contradictory nature of Germany during this era (1870 - 1945 or so) is a never ending font of fascination for me. Although I know its going off on a BIT of a tangent, I can't help myself in this case! It's often said that the solution to the Fermi paradox (which is the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence and high probability estimates for the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations) is that species develop technology but then destroy themselves with it, hence the whole where-are-the-damnable-aliens thing. But I can't help thinking that WITHOUT war, WITHOUT self-species belligerence, a civilization simply cannot, or will not, develop technology quickly enough, nor in the scientific and technological fields neccessary, to reach the metaphorical innovation cycle escape velocity necessary to ensure the creation of the technology to reach that beautiful forever future among the stars - WITHOUT the kind of motivation - driven by the terrible urgency that comes from the (entirely understandable and eminently reasonable) desire to NOT be blown up, to get them there. . So basically, a nonviolent, non-self destructive species would be really lovely to live next to, but they would also never leave their planet nor develop their own technologies on such a way, and in such a direction, as to be visible to us. I mention this because its highly relevant to the world as we find it today, and the deceptive precariousness of our highly intertwined global civilization and the exponentially increasing relevance to the DEEP contradiction that was, and IS at the heart of the Germany of that time. Even more important is its as great, if not GREATER, existence at the heart of our own world as an integral component of the engine at the heart of our civilization, balanced on a knifes edge seperating innovation and annihilation. After all, what IS an engine but a usefully controlled perpetual explosion after explosion?
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  2. At least he didn't have to experience Nazi Germany. Given how much hitler loved cars he would have probably been drawn inexorably deep into that horror. I wonder, was his widow a nazi at the end?
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