Mind Horizon

If you have not read part one of this series, please go and do so now. In it, we explore the history of Belgian colonialism in the Congo, and it serves as a necessary precursor to part two. Not all of the blame for the Congo’s woes can be pinned squarely on colonialism from Belgium and neocolonialism from the United States, but quite a large proportion can. However, what is commonly missing from the conversation surrounding the Congo’s history, as quiet as those whispers already are, is an extrapolation of the murderous phenomenon observed at the turn of the 20th century to a broader economic principle that may have implications outside of the Congo itself. What I am referring to is the completely rational and predictable, even if immoral, reaction of King Leopold and his concession companies to the rubber boom of the 1890s. The demand for the commodity increased, its price shot up, and its producers scrambled to boost production so as to take full advantage of the temporary o...

On one October afternoon in Belfast, Ireland, John Dunlop watched his nine-year-old son peddle away furiously down the road on his tricycle. Though they were an improvement over wooden and iron wheels, the solid rubber tires rattled the boy’s bones and caused him to bounce up and down on his seat like a jackhammer. John couldn’t take it anymore. He removed his son from the tricycle, dismantled it, and then began making his own wheels . He molded some sheet rubber into the shape of a tube, and then inserted a one-way valve to fill it up with air. He then bent the valve and tied it off like a balloon. Wrapping it in Irish linen, he fastened it with nails to a large wooden disc. Finally, as a test, he rolled the old solid rubber tire alongside his new inflated invention across the backyard, and watched the results with bewilderment. The first wheel rolled for a short distance then fell over lamely, while his inflated wheel shot past, hit the back fence and bounded back. It was r...