Chapter 127: Clichés

The principle that "the common man is innocent, but possessing a jade brings guilt" is a concept our Laozu Sect played with over two thousand years ago. Do you really think this beacon of freedom and democracy, the Land of Liberty, has anything different to offer?

Patents are nominally meant to protect inventors' income, but in reality, they are merely a legal weapon for large corporations to build technical barriers and secure profits.

Look at that century-long battle between Edison and Tesla, the war of direct current versus alternating current.

Jiang Wanmeng, the inventor of the VCD player, gazed at a world-class pie and could only sigh in the end.

Masahiro Hara, the Japanese engineer who invented the QR code, watched helplessly as the patent expired before the thing became popular and widely used.

Believe it or not, if Henry registers the full technical specifications for DVD+R and DVD-R as patents today, Philips and Toshiba will join forces tomorrow to push the DVD/R technical standard.

Just as in the future new energy war, Japan registered almost all the core technologies for hydrogen fuel cells, building a solid patent barrier. Then the whole world stopped playing with hydrogen fuel cells. It's the same meaning.

Do you really think hydrogen fuel cell explosions are dangerous, while lithium battery fires are less intense?

So the idea that registering one or two core patents will let you lie down and make money is completely unrealistic. If you want to go down this path, you might as well change the book title to "Marvel Kryptonian's Business Empire" and spend all day beating up competitors with your fists...

Give it up. The American Dream isn't that easy to achieve. Do you know what "survivorship bias" is?

What gets left behind and recorded are all the beautiful things. Because the tragic ones never even had a chance to be known; they just vanished into the bottom of some ditch.

Compared to Henry's understanding, Tony Stark's change of heart was even more shocking.

They say vision determines a person's height. Some think that in the MCU worldview, Iron Man is inferior to Rocket Raccoon only because they are bullying Tony for not having seen alien high-tech.

In Tony Stark's original world, he never realized the matter behind patents because no one had ever told him, and it wasn't something seen in daily life.

The services of the corporate lawyers were as natural and ordinary to him as sunlight, air, and water.

Once someone poked through that layer of window paper, his genius brain could naturally judge the truth and falsity, the right and wrong of these things.

It's just... emotions and rightness have no direct connection. Sometimes, the right answer makes people even angrier. This is exactly the situation Tony Stark is in now.

He looked at the little assistant in front of him who was stuffing his face with dissatisfaction, and said, "Are you trying to say that my life today is entirely brought about by the surname Stark?"

Henry laughed, "What else, Young Master? You wouldn't think that only receiving pocket money from parents counts as taking money from home, or that entering Stark Industries to directly serve as CEO or some high-ranking department head counts as receiving help from parents, would you?

"Besides, you can borrow an active-duty battleship directly in Hollywood to pick up girls. You wouldn't say that being able to borrow that ship from the Department of Defense is due to your own face, would you? Hmm, Tony Stark."

Tony didn't want to deceive himself on such definitional issues at all; he asked directly, "Then how do you think I should achieve truly starting from scratch? Strip completely naked, walk out with a bare butt, and start by begging?"

"No, of course not. I just think your idea is quite stupid. You might as well deposit your IQ into a bank and truly start from zero."

"If you want to criticize a genius brain as stupid, you'd better have sufficient reasons." Tony was still dissatisfied and questioned.

Henry said, "Carl Lewis wouldn't think his athletic talent is a mistake. But without professional training, he couldn't shine on the international stage or repeatedly break world records.

"President Roosevelt didn't rely on his polio-stricken body to single-handedly make the United States a member of the victorious camp in World War II.

"What I want to say is that having power is not a shameful thing. How you use it, these actions and results, determine whether you bring glory to yourself or shame upon yourself."

"Hehehe, what can I say? Truly a pile of clichés." Tony's inner state, with his expressionless face, cannot be known. But his tone carried disdain.

This Young Master looked disdainfully at the person in front of him and said, "What's the point of you hiding here as a little assistant? Is it very interesting?"

Henry chuckled awkwardly a few times and said, "If I were to say, even if you do nothing of note, it's still okay. Taking money from the family, driving sports cars, picking up girls, whatever you do, at least it's not doing bad things.

"And do you know the theory of economic circulation? Money only becomes money when it circulates. If you put it in a safe or leave it in a bank account, it's just a number. So spending it is also correct, even on luxury goods.

"The same logic applies; money is enough when it's sufficient. I don't want to marry three wives and four concubines and have seventeen or eighteen children. Only then would I need to build a business empire so that after I die, they can divide it up and not starve to death."

"Those born extraordinary, why should they be content with mediocrity?" The one who spoke these words was Howard Stark, who had just walked over. His wife, Maria, followed closely behind.

Tony made an impatient expression, as if wanting to run away. But he was well suppressed by his own mother, becoming a human stand for holding a tray. Maria used tongs to pick up some small cakes and placed them on the tray.

Since the big shot came over to chat, Henry didn't act too casually in front of this person. After greeting him, he responded in a tone that was neither soft nor hard, "Mr. Stark. Those born extraordinary must first learn to restrain their desires and not abuse the power in their hands.

"Only by achieving this can one consider how to achieve the extraordinary. Perhaps some people have already exerted all their strength in the first stage; then, being a bit ordinary isn't so bad."

"Although I really want to refute you, you actually didn't say anything wrong. Is this the reason you'd rather be a little assistant?" Howard said.

Seeing Henry's confused expression, Howard tapped the ear part and said, "This little thing has good creativity, but it seems you won't accept my invitation."

Henry smiled and said, "I am a huge fan of Lady He Ben. Being able to help her makes me happy. What job could be better than this?"

"However, Lady He Ben is currently undertaking an extraordinary cause. Having your contribution in such a cause seems to contradict your requirement of being content with mediocrity."

"I am just helping a lady I like and respect. If this is what he wishes to do, then I will help; there is nothing more to say."

"From a certain perspective, this also means his life goal is clear. This is much better than my child who doesn't know what to do."

Henry realized he had become the "child of other families" and laughed awkwardly a few times.

The Young Master Tony, who had been subtly insulted, clicked his tongue in response. His hand was caught by his mother; otherwise, he would have turned and run away long ago.

(End of this chapter)