The Idea of an Essay, Volume 4

Analysis & Response 103 the previously useless element germanium and made the first solid state (non-vacuum) semiconductor. The two inventors had helped realize the dream of a small, mobile computer, since vacuum tubes would no longer be needed. But why does no one know about or even recognize element 32 and the scientists who used it so cleverly? Simply because silicon stole the show. Silicon is almost as good of a semiconductor as germanium and much cheaper. People recognized this quickly and replaced germanium with silicon in all semiconductors (Kean 47). Silicon is now the most beloved element to scientists and anyone who loves computers, and it even has a valley named after it. But the creators of the first solid state semiconductor and their beloved element have been all but forgotten. This is an excellent example of justice and fairness overlapping. It would be just to give these scientists recognition because they were the ones to discover the non-vacuum semiconductor. Without Bardeen, Brattain, and germanium I would not be typing this sentence. It would also be the fair thing to do, because giving them credit would be helping the less fortunate. History must do the just and fair thing and recognize these important contributors to science. But most times, justice and fairness are nowhere close to each other. Going back to the man in Afghanistan, isn’t amputating the starving man’s arm a case of injustice? Absolutely not. Amputation for theft is a law in the middle east. This man knew before he committed the act that if he failed he would lose an arm. This law is very clear, and he knew the consequences. Even though this seems extremely unfair, because the man is starving and needed to feed his family, it is completely just. In fact, letting him go free would be an act of injustice, since he would not be receiving the punishment required. Many people wrongly assume that justice and fairness are the same thing. This leads them to follow the path that appears “right,” even though it is really the path that is fair, not just. In Catharine Sedgwick’s book A New-England Tale she describes the story of a girl named Jane and her encounter with a poor woman. The poor woman had traveled hundreds of miles and lost a child on the way to see Jane and her relatives. She trekked this great distance to collect 100 dollars (a large sum back then) that Jane’s father owed