Adaequatio Intellectus Nostri Cum Re [Latin] - Conformity Of Intellect To The Fact
How shall the love of God be understood by those who have been nurtured in sight only of the greed of man? - Jacob Riis
Sigmund Lehrer left Germany for America, probably sometime in 1850. It could be argued he never reached the land of milk and honey, as he never made it past the tenements of New York City. Nevertheless, there he set in motion events that, 225 years later, would culminate in the Laurasia mission.
To Sigmund, the milk may have seemed spoiled, the honey contaminated, but he and his young wife Victoria did what they had to do. They toiled in sweatshops, eventually scrimping enough to buy their own sewing machines. They could not have known their business would grow into a global corporation of unprecedented technological innovation, amassing more assets than most nations.
Sigmund and Victoria’s three children joined their struggle, expanding operations significantly, especially their eldest son Brandeis and his wife Ilina. Their only son, Elias, was born on Thursday, January 1, 1885. Tragically, Ilina died during childbirth, and over the next decade, Brandeis spiraled into alcoholism. Elias learned the sweater trade until his father could no longer work or care for him. By age eight, he was on the streets—rushing the growler, selling pencils, rags, and later newspapers.
At ten, Elias rode the orphan train to Galesburg, Illinois, where he was adopted by Charles Sheen, a wealthy mercantile owner whose wife had also died in childbirth. By then, Sheen’s daughter was a Christian missionary in Tanzania with her husband.
In 1901, at age 16, Elias enjoyed a brief visit with his adoptive sister and her husband in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater, where the Maasai people’s vibrant culture, fierce independence, and apolitical nature left a lasting impression. After just two months, Charles Sheen suffered a debilitating stroke, and Elias returned home to aid his recovery and manage the mercantile.
With no family nearby and Elizabeth occupied with missionary work, the family business fell to young Elias. His timing and experience were extraordinary. Steeped in a relentless work ethic, he knew the hustle from his street days. He understood the sewing machine’s domestic and industrial potential, which slashed clothing production time, created jobs, and enabled superior manufacturing quality. He also recognized its downsides: sweatshops and mechanization’s toll.
Galesburg, a railroad hub, fueled Elias’s ambition. Inspired by Montgomery Ward and Sears, he launched a catalog and mail-order business, barely keeping up with demand. By the time Charles Sheen recovered, Elias had expanded the mercantile, employing over 100 people in ordering, shipping, stocking, warehousing, and clerical work.
Elias’s wife, Genevieve, gave birth to their son Felix on Friday, March 31, 1911. Felix would take Sheen Company international, later renaming it Lehrer/Sheen. The company’s trajectory shifted when Felix saw Elektro, a robot, at the 1939 World’s Fair.
Lehrer/Sheen’s leadership initially viewed robotics as a novelty—or worse, mechanical monstrosities. Felix acknowledged their technophobia but, by the early 1950s, established a technologies division for robotics research, including hydraulic and pneumatic applications.
Thus began Lehrer/Sheen’s technologies division, mastering the science of craft. Already producing sewing machines, typewriters, radios, refrigerators, and vacuum cleaners, the company pivoted by 2010, phasing out traditional manufacturing to focus on robotics, including androids and gynoids.
In the 1980s, Wendell Lehrer quietly expanded the company by acquiring fixed assets—land, buildings, machinery, patents, and trademarks. His acquisitions spanned agriculture, manufacturing, real estate, and mineral rights. His son Calvin, born Tuesday, January 4, 1966, maintained this growth, enabling his son Dietrich, born Monday, June 2, 2015, to continue the strategy, not for profit, but for land.
In the 2040s, Lehrer/Sheen began quietly developing a prototype for a space station. On Wednesday, November 5, 2075, Dietrich Lehrer, his grandson Christian, and a human-robotic crew boarded the space station Laurasia. Captains of Laurasia maintain a monthly blog for the public Lyceum, beginning Thursday, January 7, 2076.
