Real Talk!

Born in 1856 in Austria-Hungary, Nicola Tesla is known for his inventive work in electricity and magnetism. His creative contributions to alternating current, the induction motor, rotating magnetic field and wireless technology, were the basis for what is called the “Second Industrial Revolution”.

Tesla died in New York, in 1943- the same year in which the Supreme Court of the United States gave him credit for inventing the radio.

In 1884, Tesla arrived in New York and went to work for Thomas Edison. While there is much conjecture about a rivalry between Edison and Tesla, I happened upon an interesting quote in Tesla’s own words- this quote, I feel sums up the relationship: “… I designed twenty-four different types of standard machines with short cores and of uniform pattern, which replaced the old ones. The Manager had promised me fifty thousand dollars on the completion of this task but it turned out to be a practical joke. This gave me a painful shock and I resigned my position.”

Oh, the things we do to one another.

I also read a report written by Tesla in January of 1905 in which he discusses “Universal Peace”- something that Tesla felt was realizable, in the fullest sense. He did also state, that it “might not require eons for its accomplishment, however probable this may appear, judging from the imperceptibly slow growth of all great reformatory ideas of the past…“ and “while a result of cumulative effort through centuries past, might come into existence quickly, not unlike a crystal suddenly forms…” he had grave concerns that we were too reliant on government and/or the state to create a pact between nations, creating peace through some sort of parliamentary decision.

Tesla urged us to recognize that international meetings are merely formal procedures; pomp and circumstance meant as an expression to demonstrate through pageantry a “common desire”.

Further, Tesla spoke of how “…the bacteria of the “Weltschmerz” was affecting humanity. (Weltschmerz meaning something like the feeling of world-pain or world-sadness. Something akin to recognition of a world weary of pain and cruelty.)
However, he believed that most conflict (large or small) was the result of misunderstanding, aggravated by the predominant sense of combativeness that is predominant to humanity.

The cure for this, Tesla felt, was the systematic spread of general knowledge and a consistent exchange of thought and dialogue. He identified NEWSPAPERS as being the most effective method of disseminating general information and creating an environment conducive to harmony. He stated that newspapers were “… undoubtedly more effective than institutions of learning, libraries, museums and individual correspondence, all combined. The knowledge they convey is, on the whole, superficial and sometimes defective, but it is poured out in a mighty stream that reaches far and wide.”

One universal tongue (language), acknowledgment of the power of photography and art, reaching beyond our immediate senses and reducing the distances between nations were also identified by Tesla as being significant factors that would contribute to realizing PEACE.

In 1937, Tesla was quoted as saying, “… it seems that I have always been ahead of my time. I had to wait nineteen years before Niagara was harnessed by my system, fifteen years before the basic inventions for WIRELESS, which I gave to the world in 1892, were applied universally. I announced the cosmic ray and my theory of radio activity in 1896. One of my most important discoveries- terrestrial resonance- which is the foundation of wireless power transmission and which I announced in 1899 is NOT, UNDERSTOOD EVEN TODAY.”

In that same article, Tesla went on to make some predictions, which he said were made “…not without assurance…” about what life was likely to be in the 21st century.

· The general laws governing movement in the realm of mechanics are applicable to humanity
· The universe is a great machine which never came into being and will never end
· Buddhism and Christianity are the greatest religions both in number of disciples and importance, the essence of both will be the religion of the human race
· Marriage must be made more difficult and no undesirable parent should be permitted to produce progeny
· Hygiene and physical culture will be recognized branches of education and government
· Peace could be attained through breaking down barriers and annihilating distance-
Note: His theories had a ring of the “global village” concept. (Wyndham Lewis, 1948 & McLuhan, 1962)
· Pollution of beaches will be unthinkable and our water supply will be far more carefully supervised “… only a lunatic will drink unsterilized water.”
· More people will grow sick and or die from polluted water than from coffee, tea, tobacco and other stimulants
· Alcohol will still be used, not as a stimulant, but as an elixir of life
· It will no longer fashionable to poison the system with harmful ingredients
· There will be enough wheat and wheat products to feed the entire world
· The earth will be bountiful and where the bounty fails, there is enough nitrogen to draw from the air to refertilize (Tesla designed a system for the process in 1900)
· Long before the next century dawns, systematic reforestation and the scientific management of natural resources will make an end of all droughts, forest fires and floods
· Universal utilization of water power and its long-distance transmission will supply every household with cheap power- dispensing with the need of burning fuel
· There will be a reversal of values, where today (1937) most civilized countries spend more of their income on war than on education, there will be more glory in fighting ignorance than on dying in the battlefield
· There will be a discovery of new scientific truths that will be more important than any squabbles of diplomats
· All devices that could be used for aggression shall be utilized for peaceful purposes
· Newspapers will print headlines proclaiming new scientific hypothesis and crimes and political controversies in the back pages
· 3 ways by which the energy which determines human progress can be increased: a) by increasing the mass, improving living conditions, health, eugenics etc.
b) By reducing frictional forces like ignorance, insanity and religious fanaticism that impeded progress
c) By multiplying the energy of the human mass by enchaining the forces of the universe (the sun, the ocean, winds and tides)

It is also interesting to note that Tesla had invented what he called a “Wall of Power”. This invention was a device meant to be used for defense purposes. Tesla had a means of harnessing enough power through a stream “thinner than a hair” so strong that it could destroy anything that came within 200 miles of it.

Tesla was convinced that within a century, every nation would be able to make itself completely immune from attack. He felt that peace would be assured through the mastery of machinery- used for protection against war- rather than for aggressive, destructive purposes.

I have to include this quote from the 1937 piece, “… unless mankind’s attention is too violently diverted by external wars and internal revolutions, there is no reason why the electric millennium should not begin in a few decades.” UH OH… I guess we were distracted!

Interestingly, a few decades later, McLuhan’s writings (from the early 1960’s) theorized the qualities of a medium have much the same effect as the actual information it is meant to transmit. (For example, reading a description of a scene in a newspaper has a very different effect on someone than hearing about it, or seeing a picture of it, or watching a cartoon illustration, rather than real life rendition, seeing a black and white video versus watching colour video- etc. Imagine a silent films with and then without music. What would those television sit-coms have been, without canned laughter?)

Under the influence of the electronic-age media, McLuhan suggested that the mode of delivery of information would so change society, that humankind could move from fragmented individualism (which he felt was created by the print-era of information delivery) toward a more tribal-like collective- a unified society.

As inexperienced and unprepared as we were for this sort of society, there would no doubt be potential pitfalls. With this in mind, McLuhan extrapolated on current trends in technology and the effect it had on human communication. He was relatively optimistic about the outcome- his reservations lay in the potential for sophisticated manipulation of the mass media. His book, “The Medium is the Massage” resonates this message.

McLuhan called our era a ''transitional era of profound pain and tragic identity quest.'' ''But,'' he added, ''the agony of our age is the labor pain of rebirth.''

Weltschmerz?

I happen to believe that it is the internet (among other things) that is leading some of us to liberation. It is taking the power of information away from the monopoly of government and corporations and putting it in the hands of the individual, morally thinking, personally responsible citizen of Earth… and I don’t want to be manipulated by some corporate identity…and I don’t need to have personal government enforcement… although, I can give you a list of people that might need to be legislated into ethical morality.

On the other hand, as someone who has always preferred quiet solitude and then, having had to cope through brain injury- I can tell you that world moves too quickly and we are assaulted, everywhere, by too many signals, too many messages and too much stimulation… and the worst of all offending places, aside from amusement parks, are the mega-sized supermarkets!

I wonder if an atrocity could happen if nobody agrees to participate? If nobody follows, who would lead? What if we all did our homework and then just figured out the right answer? Who would anyone have to believe?

Want to have some fun? Do a google search like: “Build your own wind turbine” or “Make your own solar panel” or “Your own alternative energy”. You can actually DIY energy systems. I’m not sure that you would have the support of your local building authorities or your insurance company or mortgage lender, for that matter… but it can be done!

In this area, we have a surprising number of homes that have systems operated by water, wind and light. My internet and television signals come into my home by way of satellite and then wirelessly network throughout the house.

Sometimes, I’ve wondered what it would be like, if you could actually see all of the “stuff” that rolls past your window. Once, I thought I saw the sound of a tree falling.