Posted on 07/06/2015 1:32:17 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
It would be very difficult to argue that Nikola Tesla was not a genius. The famous 20th-century Serbian-American is known most for his design of the alternating (AC) electricity system.
But a single feat of engineering would not necessarily be enough to consider this man a genius. Indeed, he could also speak 8 languages and had a completely eidetic memory. Over his life he held 300 patents; and all of these things combined is probably the reason Elon Musk named his technology company after the great Nikola Tesla.
But looking at statements he made in his lifetime, Tesla seemed to also be some kind of prophet. After all, he predicted smartphones in 1926. In an interview with John B. Kennedy, he said, “When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket.”
Additionally, he also seemed to predict the female sexual revolution that is also happening right now.
“This struggle of the human female toward sex equality will end in a new sex order, with the female as superior. It is not in the shallow physical imitation of men that women will assert first their equality and later their superiority, but in the awakening of the intellect of women.”
I still believe he figured out how to tap a resonance of the Earths magnetic field to generate electricity.
“I still believe he figured out how to tap a resonance of the Earths magnetic field to generate electricity.”
As I recall, he used resonance while trying to use the earth as a tuned capacitor to store electricity. That was the occasion when his huge coil burned out the power station of Colorado Springs.
Thanks for the ping. Tesla said he saw the design of the AC motor-generator as a moving picture in his mind.
Well, technically that wouldn’t be generating anything, just collecting it from a natural source, but maybe he accomplished it. It’s certainly something he seems to have been attempting with his “lightning towers”.
Please pull 46. Not meant as post but rather a private reply. Personal Info.
Thanks a bunch.
Read a book on Tesla. Let’s see IIRC. The day after he died in his hotel, naval intelligence locked up his papers and took a model of a gadget out of the hotel vault. He had turned it over to the hotel as collateral against his room bill. Tesla thought he could send an electrical wave out and stop enemy ships and planes from attacking the US. His papers have all been released, but the model has never been.
BFL
What did he mean?
He almost surely meant simplicity of use - of portability. He clearly understood technology advancing, ie, becoming more complex technically - he also realized that it would make using them simpler.
It’s far far far easier to make a call today from almost anywhere...a boat out at sea, in the middle of Africa, or in your home or office....than it was to make a call from your home back in his day....
That's not what he said. His statement was - "the instruments through which we shall be able to do [t]his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone".
I suspect he envisioned a system akin to his idea of power transmission to everybody with no moving parts, just a bunch of antennae put up to catch electricity from the air.
Your analysis is in a vacuum IMO....taking the literal statement but NOT putting it in context of everything else he nailed! Context matters. We’ll never know....but I am confident I got this....
“Predicting the future” is simply a matter of observing and understanding the present to the point that “predicting” what comes next is trivial.
There are few humans throughout history with this type of brain/mind construction capable of far exceeding “normal” capacity to observe and understand.
True and most of them are thought crazy while they’re alive.....by most folks.
“Crazy” is thinking things that “normal” people don’t think.
Those things could be brilliant, or delusional, but the “normal” thinker sometimes has trouble discerning between the two.
Thanks for the tip on Defiance. All caught up and enjoying Season 3. "Come with me if you want to live!" cracked me up.
Agreed. If I remember correctly he was communicating with Martian’s.
In the late 1940’s it used to take several hours to communicate with our relatives in the Midwest. One would tell the local operator the number wanted and they would tell you they would call you back when contact was established.
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