Very interesting post. About foreign elites: Kim Jong Un and his older brother and younger sister were partly raised and educated in Switzerland, although I believe this was all done in secrecy and Switzerland didn’t take any advantage of this fact.
About people inventing important things without recognition: Jan Ernst Matzeliger was the Surinamese-American inventor of the automated lasting machine, which made production of shoes 14 times faster, improved quality and cut costs by at least half. The importance of this machine wasn’t fully recognised during his lifetime, and Matzeliger died of tuberculosis without seeing the true impact of his invention.
Very interesting post. About foreign elites: Kim Jong Un and his older brother and younger sister were partly raised and educated in Switzerland, although I believe this was all done in secrecy and Switzerland didn’t take any advantage of this fact.
About people inventing important things without recognition: Jan Ernst Matzeliger was the Surinamese-American inventor of the automated lasting machine, which made production of shoes 14 times faster, improved quality and cut costs by at least half. The importance of this machine wasn’t fully recognised during his lifetime, and Matzeliger died of tuberculosis without seeing the true impact of his invention.
Thank you so much for sharing the story of Jan Ernst Matzeliger!
PS: Sorry for the delay on this, I somehow forgot to reply.
I get the impression that most relationships in the ancient world were pretty transactional; those at least seemed mutually beneficial, I suppose.