
One Story of Nikola Tesla - diwank
http://flyingmoose.org/truthfic/tesla.htm
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narrator
Has anyone read the Nikola Tesla's biography "My Inventions"? The guy makes
some absolutely mind-blowing predictions. For example, in Tesla's book he
predicts drone based warfare and the global electronic distribution of music
almost 100 years ahead of time.

In the recent book about Google, "In The Plex", the author comments that
reading the biography of Tesla was a major influence on Larry Page and made
him mindful that he didn't get cheated out of realizing his vision by an
Edison or a Morgan.

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salemh
Also the "end" of war to be the utter connectedness of humanity via free
communication :) Its a great book, if somewhat dry in writing (constant
referalls to "I did _ and _," etc.)

He had strange from-childhood debilitating migraines and white flashes
blinding him, built models of his inventions in his mind (which I find
fascinating, I don't think most people can think in three-dimensions),
sometimes due to being debilitated.

He admits toward the end of his book he was not a good "business" man but was
"happy" that his patents may "eventually" cause the betternment of mankind.
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0910077002/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0910077002/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=xlracom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0910077002)

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prajjwal
Sad. Growing up, Edison came across to me as a man worthy of idolizing. Edison
was inferior to Tesla not only in terms of intellect, but also as a human
being. Edison may have been a great businessman, but Tesla was the genius who
was far ahead of his time. I'm glad to see his story told.

~~~
acqq
Did you know that the electric chair "invention" was funded by Edison in the
"war of currents" again Tesla:

[http://inventors.about.com/od/hstartinventions/a/Electric_Ch...](http://inventors.about.com/od/hstartinventions/a/Electric_Chair.htm)

Edison also organized electrocutions of animals:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3582295>

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prajjwal
Yes I did, but I found this stuff out when I was 15(I'm 19 now). Before that,
from what I had been taught, we used to count Edison among the greatest minds
of all time. Sad. Nobody knew about/bothered to even mention the great mind
that was Tesla.

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SkyMarshal
Tesla's work on wireless power transmission [1] was particularly fascinating.
Apparently he figured out that electricity could be propagated through the
atmosphere in waves, and the inherent efficiency (or lack thereof) problem
could be solved by amplifying it using its magnetic resonant frequency, the
same way sound and physical vibrations can be amplified via application of
their resonant frequency. The result would be efficient wireless electricity
transmission from any spot on the planet to any other.

His Wardenclyffe Tower project [2] in Long Island was an attempt to implement
the idea, but was never completed due to financial problems. It overran its
budget, and investors weren't willing to continue funding it. One of his
primary patrons, John Jacob Astor, also died on the Titanic a few years later.
I can't help but imagine what the world would look like today had Astor
survived, funded Tesla, and Wardenclyffe successfully proven the concept.

1\. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer>

2\. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardenclyffe_Tower>

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j45
Tesla is the real genius of our time. I'd want to meet him before Einstein, or
any other thinker of the last 100 years.

Edison couldn't spell Tesla, but even in those days, he who told the story
best, won.

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femto
I'd want to meet both. Tesla is to electrical engineering, as Einstein is to
physics.

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j45
Totally. If you had to pick one.. what then? :)

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ajays
Niagara Falls, NY has a statue of Tesla:
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajays/245729699/in/set-72057594...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajays/245729699/in/set-72057594081822346)

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richworks
Nikola Tesla is a true genius. We take many of his inventions and
contributions to the world of engineering for granted. His works continue to
astound us even today...

Edison, on the other hand was always a scumbag.. More of a marketeer than a
scientist..

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Wistar
"Tesla," Edison replied, "you don't understand that I'm an asshole."

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shareme
Edison sounds like a blowhard with the initials JC :)

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borispavlovic
There's a pretty good museum of Nikola Tesla in Belgrade. Worth visiting.

<http://www.tesla-museum.org/meni_en.htm>

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amirmansour
As an electrical engineering student, and having Tesla as personal hero, I
love seeing people talk about him in the mainstream. A movie was made about
Tesla and all the crap he had to go through from his childhood to his death.
Check it out: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079985/>

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defen
I hadn't realized that Tesla had anything to do with logic gates, so I looked
it up and found this patent: <http://www.google.com/patents?vid=613809>

However, I'll admit that the prose is too Victorian and patent-y for me to
decipher where he actually describes an AND gate.

~~~
ctdonath
Funny how Sony references that patent for "Remote control of VCR with
electronic mail".

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racecar789
Great PBS documentary of him. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQC1lOZpsjQ>

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_k
Just think how many inventions aren't seeing the light of day because of
existing monopolies, political legislation, ...

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tnuc
Lets not forget Topsy. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsy_(elephant)>

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geekytenny
Be a Tesla and hire an Edison

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yelkhatib
there was a fascinating podcast about Tesla 2 weeks ago in Studio360:
<http://www.studio360.org/2012/jan/27/>

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kveykva
Adjusted for inflation that $50,000 is over $1,100,000 ...

~~~
astrodust
Or $0 adjusted for inflation is still $0 when you get screwed.

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zotz
While Tesla was researching wireless electricity, he was being supported by JP
Morgan. Morgan had an interest in what was then a monopoly on copper. That
monopoly wanted their copper wires to rule the world, not free wireless power.
Tesla's vision of helping humanity didn't fit into the designs of a monopoly,
so Morgan made sure Tesla's research went nowhere.

As Morgan said, "If anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?"
Tesla's mistake, as brilliant as he was, was his inability or unwillingness to
see how the Dogs of Money keep all the good scraps for themselves. I know many
brilliant people today with the same difficulty.

~~~
ctdonath
I see the same with wireless Internet. Every wifi device should be programmed
to contribute to ad-hoc networks for eventual near-universal free access, but
ISPs would never stand for it.

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zotz
As nanotech increases in dominance, perhaps someday we can just make our own
wireless ad hoc hardware as you describe. As the overall push is toward
decentralized services and utilities, hardware is already starting to mirror
reality, slow as it may be.

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maxerickson
If you can do arbitrary manufacturing, why not just build fiber trunks that
are completely open?

It would probably only work if the manufacturing could be done in place, and
it might get exciting if things started growing defense systems.

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hackermom
I never liked Edison. He always came off as a simple and lucky hack; just a
businessman, while Tesla was the genius and inventor the world still owes all
to.

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nextparadigms
Remember how many compared Steve Jobs to Edison when he died? Maybe they
weren't so wrong after all.

~~~
ralfd
Well, this (quote from Wikipedia)… > Tesla was widely known for his great
showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an
artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed
reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure.

… seems pretty Jobsian to me. And you bet when Bill Gates is dead (hopefully
far far away in the future) he will also be compared to Edison.

Because, maybe, these kind of comparison just doesn't make sense. Because
great men and times are most of the times not alike. Because we are just
stupid with our stupid simplifications.

Geeks and Nerds have certainly a hard on for Tesla, the misunderstood
underdog, with all his complicated character of scientific genius and
OCD/phobia/celibacy. But I wouldn't diminish the achievements of Edison. And
Edison was (surprisiningly) never one of the super-rich of his time. There is
a reason he needed J.P.Morgan. He only had shares in companies, but never
controlled them, even if they did bear his name.

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lclaude01
Take a look at this documentary: The eye of the storm - the inventions of
Nicola Tesla.

Two parts: 1) Tesla and the war effort 2) Tesla and Alien visitors

