Wilbur Wright, half of the legendary Wright brothers who bestowed man with the miracle of flight, wrote, once, “If you seek for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence and watch the birds, but if you want to learn, you must mount a machine and familiarize yourself with its trick by actual trial.” These lines, aside from being a commentary on aviation’s genesis, are true metaphoric lines for life in toto. Wright here conveys an ageless truth — that only through learning by experience, by risk-taking, by being willing to fall but getting up again comes mastery, true learning.

The metaphysics of Wright’s observation is based on that of experiential learning. Book knowledge and knowledge acquired by lectures may open the mind, but only action carves understanding into one’s soul. Wright brothers did not build the world’s first airplane by observation of birds only; they dented innumerable prototypes, were ridiculed, and suffered through doubts. Their breakthrough at Kitty Hawk in 1903 was not just a technological but a moral victory — a victory of daring over caution. Wright’s “mount the machine” is thus an exhortation to step out of one’s comfort zones and learn lessons of life through real-world trial rather than armchair admiration.

Indian philosophy has long repeated this reality. While Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and his colleagues were developing India’s maiden space and missile programs, some of their rocket launches failed in dramatic ways. But each of these failures became a stepping-up point. Dr. Kalam was fond of saying, “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” As with the Wright brothers, he thought that knowledge by experimentation is dead. His life is an example of the Indian philosophy of karma yoga — learning by doing, refining by failure, and eventually becoming mastery through grit.

Even Mahatma Gandhi represented it. Non-violent resistance was not for him a pre-proved technique but an experimentation with truth. He titled his autobiography as “The Story of My Experiments with Truth” because he believed in moral and political development as a gradual process of trial and rectification. Gandhi risked life, safety, and reputation in creating a laboratory of non-violence. His experimentation shelved the course of world history and demonstrated that development — moral or material — requires courage to act in the midst of doubt.

India’s businessmen of today have continued that flame alive. When N. R. Narayana Murthy and his founding team began Infosys in 1981, they were confronted with daunting obstacles — scarce funding, limited infrastructure, and red tape. Still, fuelled by faith, they ventured to “mount the machine.” As much as decades later, Infosys is a global icon of innovation, of ethics, of tenacity, that we all need to recall that riskiness is not the foe of success — but laziness is.

History from around the world bears out the same pattern. Thomas Edison, who invented the electric bulb after repeated failures in experimentation, famously said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” His statements ring true for Wright’s principle — that knowledge is derived from deep immersion, not observation. Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and innumerable innovators from generations past and present walked the same path, mashing creativity with guts. They accepted that evolution is indivisible from risk. Even in scientific disciplines, the hustle to create vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic was born of experimentation zest. Scientists jammed years of labour into a few months, hazarded well-calculated bets with a view to saving millions of lives. Their initiative of do-instead of-analyse became the collective victory of humankind.

There is no denying the benefits of “mounting the machine.” Real learning happens only when theory is put into practice. No surgeon becomes proficient in operative procedure through reading about it; no musician becomes rhythmic through playing none either. Trial, failure, and correction form the feedback loop that transforms amateurs into experts. Similarly, innovation also often emerges from mistake – India’s Mars Orbiter Mission, for example, unsuccessfully reversing NASA’s successful Mars mission while achieving it for a fifth of the latter’s cost, was based on years of iterative learning and experimental daring. Furthermore, grappling with real-world problems builds resilience. Failure of any kind is a lesson in stickiness, refining one’s skill of adaptation. The risk-takers who move in such directions motivate fellow beings to overcome fear and stretch further.

However, Wright’s principle is not fraught with no risk. It always involves the risk of failure — financial, emotional, or physical. The Wright brothers were seriously injured prior to their realization of the dream. Pioneers and leaders also experience ridicule and opposition from the safety-minded rather than the change-minded. Ratan Tata said, “Take the stones people throw at you, and use them to build a monument.” He is remembering us that courage also elicited criticism before praise. Its emotional load can be traumatic; striving for excellence calls for patience and mental toughness. Additionally, in our modern world of cutting-edge technologies — artificial intelligence, genetic manipulation, and automation — experimentation must be guided by an ethical sense. Courage must go hand-in-hand with conscience.

Hence, “mounting the machine” must never imply senseless adventurism. The Wright brothers were no daredevils, but thorough engineers who mastered each of aerodynamics’ laws prior to each take-off. True courage is in preparation and purpose rather than in impulsiveness. In the Indian spiritual tradition, the Bhagavad Gita suggests the same balance in Nishkama Karma — action with no attachment to fruits of action. True learning is in whole-hearted involvement with the process rather than with obsession with results. It is this balance of courage and prudence that brings about sustainable development. 

In our lives, both personal and professional, this lesson is all-time relevant. To students, it translates into moving out of mere learning in class to project works, debating, and innovating. To professionals, it is moving into change and upgradation and not minding old ways of getting things done. To leaders, it necessitates development of a culture where experimentation is valued and failures taken as lessons for the school of life. The safety cocoon is but a guise for wisdom, but history will tell that only such people sit on the fence while others fly high. 

Wilbur Wright’s words make us recall that life’s most significant findings are for the risk-takers. It is safe to watch birds, but it is not much of a learnable about flying. To experience the wind, learn to control its streams, and come to know the sky, you must take off. Every scientist, doctor, artist, or visionary who ever revolutionized the world did so by taking a risk for encounter. As Rabindranath Tagore said, “The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.” It is that harmony we find through action — through that lovely, messy, life-changing act of trying. 

So when fear says in your ear, “keep safe,” recall Wright’s imperative. Not safety, but imperfection it shall correct. The sky is not for the spectators — it is for the fliers. Get on your machine, learn its trick, and fly.

Dr. Prahlada N.B
MBBS (JJMMC), MS (PGIMER, Chandigarh). 
MBA in Healthcare & Hospital Management (BITS, Pilani), 
Postgraduate Certificate in Technology Leadership and Innovation (MIT, USA)
Executive Programme in Strategic Management (IIM, Lucknow)
Senior Management Programme in Healthcare Management (IIM, Kozhikode)
Advanced Certificate in AI for Digital Health and Imaging Program (IISc, Bengaluru). 

Senior Professor and former Head, 
Department of ENT-Head & Neck Surgery, Skull Base Surgery, Cochlear Implant Surgery. 
Basaveshwara Medical College & Hospital, Chitradurga, Karnataka, India. 

My Vision: I don’t want to be a genius.  I want to be a person with a bundle of experience. 

My Mission: Help others achieve their life’s objectives in my presence or absence!

My Values:  Creating value for others. 

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