Why do Hank and Dagny assume that the motor had been created by one ma

[cliveandrews]

...as opposed to a collaborative effort by an engineering team? Obviously it could have been either, but they instantly knew that one man had created it. Why? Is it that, since the motor hadn't been brought to the market, they assumed that the company hadn't recognized its value?

[Devils_Advocate]

I think the idea might have come to their minds in real life, but Rand couldn't afford to make the book any longer than it already was, so she just made them jump to the correct conclusion.

Edited October 8, 2009 by Devils_Advocate

[BluNereid]

I think that they were assuming that all great ideas are conceived by one mind. Another man can't do the thinking for another, one can't share a brain. All teams, collaborations, committees, etc. (if successful) are essentially the work of one mind. I'm not saying that people can't contribute or add to a product once conceived, but the credit for the original idea always goes to one man. This subject is discussed in The Fountainhead.

Edited October 9, 2009 by BluNereid

[emanon]

I don't know exactly, but look at all the revolutionary ideas in science throughout the years. I mean the real game-changers... They were generally one-man/mind affairs.

[Jackethan]

Most ships have crews to keep them afloat. All ships need a captain to set the heading.

[Zip]

With two such individuals, people of self-made-soul and personal drive I would think that each of them would jump to that conclusion based purely on personal prejudice.

[Tyco]

...as opposed to a collaborative effort by an engineering team? Obviously it could have been either, but they instantly knew that one man had created it. Why? Is it that, since the motor hadn't been brought to the market, they assumed that the company hadn't recognized its value?

Your observation about the machine's value going obviously unrecognized by the company is a good explanation. I can't remember exactly but perhaps Dagny and Hank had already been primed to expect a single inventor? They already know that one exceptionally bright engineer walked out of the company.

Another explanation could be that the design bore a strong signature of indivual taste. Similar to how at the start of The Fountainhead the unusual drawings of Howard are described as 'pure, unmistakable Roark' or something.

[Mindy]

I don't think they did. Or, rather, it doesn't/didn't make any difference if it were the work of one or several men. The greatness of the single idea that allowed ambient energy to be harnessed to drive a motor was someone's. Nobody has half an idea, which someone else completes. Ideas add together, applications may need additional problems solved, but each is the creative achievement of a mind, and minds are individual. They might well have assumed that a mind capable of the key idea would also be able to solve the lesser ones. My point is that a great idea means a great mind.

-- Mindy

[Greebo]

I'm in software development, and so I have worked on many collaborative projects. Even in the creative meetings, the ideas are the products of individuals. One individual may have an idea - or the inklings of an idea - and then he'll share it, and others will review it and either say, "This is good!" or "This sucks!" or someone may say, "This is close but could be better!" and a NEW person then comes up with the improved idea.

The end product may the result of multiple individual minds that exchanged ideas - but never multiple minds acting as one.

As to the motor itself - one reason to think it was still "one mans" work - is that the motor wasn't in production. If a group had known about the motor, then it would have been developed. For the motor to be abandoned unfinished, only a very small number of people could have understood its workings - most likely, only one or two at most - who would HAVE to have simply stopped working on it and not shared the knowledge.