
Nikola Tesla’s Predictions for the 21st Century - imdhmd
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2013/04/nikola-teslas-amazing-predictions-for-the-21st-century/
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mikecane
I'm very surprised they missed the most important prediction by Tesla:

>>>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.

>>>We shall be able to witness and hear events — the inauguration of a
President, the playing of a world series game, the havoc of an earthquake or
the terror of a battle — just as though we were present.

From: When Woman Is Boss <http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1926-01-30.htm>

Looking at that again, there are other gems but the above stuck with me
because, well, just look at it.

~~~
loceng
I wonder if what anything he has said would be considered prior art for
current patents ...

~~~
nickpinkston
He even imagined One Click buying through the world brain - amazing prescience
;-)

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chime
> Today the most civilized countries of the world spend a maximum of their
> income on war and a minimum on education. The twenty-first century will
> reverse this order. It will be more glorious to fight against ignorance than
> to die on the field of battle.

Alas.

~~~
InclinedPlane
Public defense spending is about on par with public educational spending (if
you factor in private spending education on college education then education
wins out). Additionally, the total of pension, health care, and welfare
spending trumps defense spending by a factor of nearly 3.5x to 1. It's simply
not correct to fantasize that our government is exclusively military focused
to the exclusion of all else, defense spending is quite large but it's not
enormous compared to the equal or greater public spending priorities of
education, health, pensions, etc.

[http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2013USbn_1...](http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2013USbn_14bs1n_2010000102#usgs302)

~~~
D9u
Your own linked to site lists the following expenditures by the US federal
government:

    
    
        Pensions = 24%
        Health Care = 24%
        Defense = 23%
        Welfare = 12%
        Interest = 6%
        Other Spending = 4%
        Transportation = 3%
        Education = 3%
        Protection = 2%
        General Government = 1% 
    

<http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/piechart_2013_US_fed>

Who's fantasizing here?

Of course, these figures don't include so-called "black budgets" for such
things as CIA/DEA/etc "front companies" from which these agencies generate &
draw funds without congressional oversight.

~~~
InclinedPlane
You're being intellectually dishonest, it's not cool. The vast majority of
educational spending is at the local and state level, the vast majority of
defense spending is at the federal level. If you look at the totals of
spending across all levels (federal, state, local) you can see how close the
spending levels for education and defense are. The numbers are even summed for
you.

~~~
D9u
Who is being "intellectually dishonest?" When you refer to "our government," I
automatically assume that you mean the federal government, as I'm unsure of
whether you reside in the same state as I, or not. I was referring to the
federal government, and the amounts spent are consistent with the claims made
above.

Were the federal government to spend as much on education as is spent on
defense our nation wouldn't be as "dumbed-down" as we presently are.

In my state the schools are dilapidated, and teachers are underpaid, which
results in high school graduates who are barely literate.

However, our police are well paid, well equipped, and well funded, a good
portion of which is from federal sources.

My state receives roughly 29% (44th in the nation) of its funding from the
federal government, and spends 25% of the total state budget on education. Of
the amount spent on education, 68% goes to salaries & pensions.

If the federal government spent more on education, the respective states would
be able to increase their spending on education, which is what I believed this
thread to be about.

~~~
arrrg
In the US education is handled by the states while military is handled on the
federal level. To look only at the federal level when talking about education
doesn’t even make sense. You are a dishonest and clumsy ideologue that bends
the facts to his or her will, selling a distorted picture of reality.

Maybe you want education to be handled on the federal level. That’s a valid
position to take – but it still wouldn’t make sense to then only look at
federal spending on education to compare it with military spending.

~~~
D9u
Yet the federal government _does_ spend money on education. This is a fact,
and in no way am I being dishonest when I say that if the federal government
spent more money on education then we would have a more well educated
electorate.

The respective states actually do fund defense, although to a lesser degree
than the federal government.

Kindly illustrate how I'm bending facts to sell a _"distorted picture of
reality?"_

~~~
ams6110
_if the federal government spent more money on education then we would have a
more well educated electorate_

I don't think this can be assumed. Funding alone is not a good predictor of
educational outcomes [1], and the source of the funds (local, state, federal)
also matters.

[1] [http://www.educationnews.org/education-policy-and-
politics/s...](http://www.educationnews.org/education-policy-and-
politics/study-finds-no-relationship-between-ed-spending-and-results/)

~~~
D9u
A two year study can hardly be considered to be definitive. I wonder what the
results would be for a 20 year study?

Also, my state is one of those which spends the least on education, so my
views are probably skewed as a result.

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pesenti
This is no different from fortune telling
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect>). Make a bunch of predictions,
some will be accurate, some will be a off, and some will be really bad. But
people will remember the accurate ones and adapt enough the off ones that it
looks like you were a visionary.

~~~
dakotasmith
So long as you also invent alternating current.

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yummyfajitas
I think the author of the article is reaching on some of these predictions:

 _The Secretary of Hygiene or Physical Culture will be far more important in
the cabinet of the President of the United States who holds office in the year
2035 than the Secretary of War._

I have no idea how he interpreted that to predict the EPA. This is something
closer to Health&Human Services or the Secretary of the Gym ("Physical
Culture" referred to exercise in those days).

~~~
sgk284
In the very next sentences, Tesla elaborates on that he is referring to
pollution on beaches and unsanitary drinking water. That's why this is most
closely connected to the EPA.

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johnohara
_The struggle for existence being lessened, there should be development along
ideal rather than material lines._

Insight into why he pursued his extraordinary ideas so passionately.

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whyenot
I wish you wouldn't have changed the title. I'd be very interested in Tesla
Motors' predictions, not so much in "Nikola Tesla's Amazing" predictions.

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imdhmd
> I am convinced that within a century coffee, tea, and tobacco will be no
> longer in vogue.

Tea is a great herbal drink. IMO, its here to stay.

~~~
firefoxman1
Back then in the U.S. and Europe, black tea was pretty much the only thing
they knew as "tea". Of the different types of tea, black is the least healthy
and most caffeinated, which is why he would call it a "stimulant".

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yalogin
Of course Tesla could not have predicted the military industrial complex and
the gun lobby in the US.

~~~
nwzpaperman
JP Morgan bankrolled Tesla's tinkering...come on, son!

Governments live and die by their debt issuance capabilities. In 2008, Hank
Paulson saved the world through his altruistic service as Secretary Treasurer
and saving our benevolent banks. The MIC needs money to enforce all of our
legal contracts. Tesla didn't have a prediction to make because it is the same
today as it was then.

Read some history, yo!

"Tragedy and Hope" is one place to start--not to be confused with finish.

~~~
DamnYuppie
A quicker and equally valid starting tome would be "None Dare Call It
Conspiracy".

