Leland Ben ’17, a two-year senior from Loudonville, N.Y., and Katrina Gonzalez ’17, a four-year senior from Greenwood, S.C., crossed paths for the first time when they met last Saturday in a Lanphier Center classroom. They were given one topic to discuss.
Here is an abridged transcript of their conversation.
Compile, collectively, a list of the three greatest inventions of all time.
LB: Capitalism? It’s the framework for providing the incentive for people to invent.
KG: I think capitalism has done a lot in terms of advancing society, but it’s like a prototype for what an economic system should be. It’s good, but it’s not done. We need to provide more support, especially for people who are at the bottom of the economic classes.
LB: But I think all advancement — like the iPad that we’re using to record this — wouldn’t exist if there were no incentive to make it and make money, which is rooted in capitalism.
KG: I get that, in that money works. Money can get people to do things that are really good for society; it can get people to do things that are really bad for society.
But there’s also a whole host of people who weren’t given enough opportunities. And that’s through no fault of their own.
LB: That’s probably the result of bad government, too.
(Long pause.)
KG: Okay, so I guess we should get on to the second one.
LB: The wheel?
KG: (Laughs.) That’s such a boring answer.
LB: I know.
KG: I guess one of the classic ones is modern-day sewage.
LB: That’s true. Sewer systems, the concept of sloped roofs.
KG: Paper?
LB: Paper is up there.
(Another long pause.)
LB: Hmm. Steel!
KG: Steel, sure.
LB: Steel production — the Bessemer process.
KG: Oh, what is it called? Ford assembly lines.
LB: I mean, we can take a really easy route and just say, ‘Car, computer.’
KG: That includes so many things that were invented beforehand, so you’re covering a huge swath of things.
(Yet another pause.)
KG: This is a hard thing to fight about. Because with mechanical things, usually you can objectively say this is good, this is not good.
LB: I think… car, computer, capitalism?
KG: Let’s just say democracy instead of capitalism.
LB: Okay.
