By Claude Mills, Staff Reporter 
George Douglas first zoomed into the public eye when he built 'Air Wolf', a helicopter for the new millennium, which he fashioned from scraps and parts rescued from the Riverton City dump in Kingston. According to Mr. Douglas, the helicopter is now in the possession of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) for safekeeping. He has now built a 'talking robot', and constructed a scaled model of a modern-day city where 'there is no need to dig up a whole stretch of road to fix one little pipe'. The 'talking robot', during a visit by reporter Claude Mills, was able to repeat words spoken to it. - File
Genius does what it must. The grind of poverty crushes what it can.
THESE OPPOSING forces hold centrestage in the life of local whiz-kid George Douglas who is both pushed by the intensity of his ideas and grounded by the harsh realities of poverty in Jamaica nobody knows what to do with him.
That's the trouble with George.
Three years after he first flew into the public spotlight with a fully computerised helicopter (which he dubbed 'Airwolf') fashioned from spare parts, George is more than a little peeved that he seems to be going nowhere fast. He's unemployed, broke and still scrounging for spare parts at Riverton City dump in Kingston.
And no one seems to have figured out what the devil to do with him.
"If only Paulwell (Minister of Technology) had been able to use my ideas. I had a meeting with him after the first article was published in 1999, and all he said was he will look into it. These are important ideas, but it seems he didn't have the vision to put any of my ideas to work... if only," Mr. Douglas said.
There are a lot of if-onlys with George. If only he had been born in a foreign country. If only he had been born in an upper middle-class family. If only he had a tertiary education.
He now lives in the depressed community of Olympic Gardens in a house located on Cling Cling Avenue, and which neighbours a Centennial Digital Jamaica transmitting tower.
RIDICULED
When he was living in his native Carron Hall, St. Mary, dreaming up inventions and building a helicopter, the folks laughed. They still do though maybe not to his face. Residents of the community where he now lives regard him in a sort of amused awe, and with slippery smiles, they nod, and pretend they understand what he means when he talks about 'timing programmes and electronic pulses'.
"That man is a special man, is either him stupid or him is a genius 'cause him just get a idea, and fi weeks, him just a work pon it. Him mek different," a resident said of Douglas.
The lanky loner does not care what they have to say though. He is driven by powerful forces that shape his thoughts and steel his heart against criticisms.
George knows he has placed his hands firmly on the axle of his destiny -- inventing stuff.
"I know this is what I want to do. I have ideas, lots of them, I want to sell my ideas. Anybody needs ideas, I have them for sale," he said.
THE TALKING ROBOT
George's latest invention is a talking robot which he has dubbed 'Jonny 7'.
'Jonny' 7 is a moving and talking hodgepodge of car parts, trolley wheels, transistors, a bike battery, speakers and moving lights. The robot, which has a large orange glove on its right hand is able to repeat sentences on command, and moves on its own.
A crowd gathers as George prepares to demonstrate how the robot works.
"You have to change that orange gloves to a green one though," one man cackles. There are a few guffaws from bystanders but George ignores him.
"Every week, I improve on the robot. The arms use wiper motors and it can repeat whatever you tell it with the light pulses on its head representing the speech, and it is powered by a 12 volt bike battery."
George tinkers with the battery and the robot jumps into freakish life. He pulls a panel and speaks to a circuit board. The robot repeats his words exactly. The crowd oohs.
"I am working right now on a sensor which I can use to remote control Jonny so it can mimic my movements. And I can make hundreds of these, probably for the hotel industry...I can make waiter robots for the pools which can carry drinks to the tourists," Mr. Douglas said, his words running together now.
George's eyes are stirred by a strange current as he is caught up in the idea.
"That will mash up de place," one man shouts encouragingly.
"Thank you!" George said.
THE TROUBLE WITH GEORGE
He has also built another gadget a headset which he calls a 'universal camera' that can be used as a remote control for a small prototype or toy, communicate with CB radios, fly aircrafts, take pictures and even control weapons.
As George explained the headset, a man scratches his head and said in bemusement: "Him can chat to b... !" There is no malice in his voice, just bewildered awe.
"Everything we need is right here. We have the materials, and I have the expertise to build it, I just need the capital," continued Douglas.
If he sounds a little like a down-on-his-luck salesman, it is deliberate. The day-to-day existence of the 'Man Nobody Knows How to Utilise' borders on a series of niggling problems such as people damaging his inventions and private humiliations. Talk of money dominates his conversations -- it's like George Douglas realises time is running out on him (he will be 28 this year). You can smell the desperation coming off him in slow waves.
"Mi bruk! I can't even afford the money for a cellular phone so people can reach me," he complained.
These are difficult times for the man that students on the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies, call the Wizard.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Technology seem unimpressed with Douglas.
"I recall speaking with him, the helicopter was not an invention in the true sense of the word, he designed a helicopter which was largely immobile, it could not fly, it was little more than a glorified handcart. I made an appointment for him to see the Minister but it was not as impressive as we thought it would be," said Allan Brooks, communications consultant in the ministry.
"We don't want to discourage innovation, but this one was going nowhere," he added.
UNEMPLOYED BUT STILL DREAMING
Months ago, Douglas left his job at the Jamaica Public Service Company because employees were 'funny fighters full of confidential behaviours', and that 'dem say mi gwaan like mi run JPS', he explained.
"Sometimes there would also be a long wait for me to get paid and when I finally got paid, some of my hours were missing... I prefer working for myself," he said.
He is dark-skinned, and he speaks in a thick, drawling rural dialect sprinkled with malaprops. However, these personal characteristics may not bode well with possible corporate sponsors because of the island's deep-seated class issues.
"The thing with Jamaica is that we don't recognise our own people or use our own assets. We neglect the God-given assets that we have here because of issues we have with our own people, but in another country, somebody like me would be an important elegant asset," said Douglas, a hint of resentment crept into his voice.
"We're in an economic crisis right now, but if we start an industry where we can build and sell prototypes and ideas, there might be some escape from the black hole we've found ourselves in..." he said, his voice trailing off.
NO SOCIAL LIFE
He has no girlfriend. No kids. He is a monster of self-absorption and a prisoner of the bright eurekas that steal into his mind unannounced.
Some of his other creations include a scaled model of a city's vital power sources complete with a filtration plant, a dam, substations, transformers, roads, a residential community, insulated underground pipes and service tanks. His city includes a panel which indicates which parts or pipes may be malfunctioning within the system.
"With my system, NWC (National Water Commission) would be able to identify exactly where the pipes have been ruptured instead of digging up the road every minute. This is the first world way of doing things," he said.
The idea, he said, did not come from the 'Net or the pages of a book. It resided in his head. It "just comes to my intellect and I have lots of new tactics to tackle the old problems," he noted.
It took George three weeks to build his city. However, it may take a lifetime before Jamaica is able to embrace (or even closely look at) his offbeat ideas and his vast intellect.
"Jamaican society responds differently to varying kinds of giftedness. If someone is an athlete, or is able to move their bodies, and dance well, society applauds them, but society is afraid of the gifted writer and the gifted child who is a scientist," said Dr. Dennis Minott, the noted educator and one-time patent evaluator to the Government.
Declining to comment specifically on Douglas' case, because he's unfamiliar with all the details, Dr. Douglas noted that "when a scientist challenges theories or a writer pens something controversial or different, we get uncomfortable."
Still, part of Douglas' trouble, as he continues to dream and create, is the cloud of questions hanging over his life: Is he a genius or not? Will he die a pauper? Or will he be able to live by his ingenuity?
Time will tell.
