Freedom of Information Release on Nikola Tesla (2011) • Hacker News Board

Re: Freedom of Information Release on Nikola Tesla (2011)

#101

Post by readhn » Tue, Oct 24, 2017, 8:36 PM UTC

Sangermaine wrote: post #84

readhn wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how do you know that "hallucinations/strange visions of light" are not real effects that he did observe? if one person is more receptive to certain things than the other .. it does not make him or her crazy... "The mathematics of string theory suggests that the world we know is not complete. In addition to our four familiar dimensions - three-dimensional space and time - string theory predicts the existence of six ex…

I'm not sure how to respond to this. You're asking if Tesla had the power to see extra-dimensional structures? I guess I'm fairly secure in assuming that Tesla was experiencing hallucinations, in ways that are common among people experiencing hallucinations (unexplained lights are fairly standard), rather than possessing extra-dimensional superpowers that would, as far as we know, be completely unique to him. Unless…

"as far as we know". typical westerner body of knowledge is extremely limited.

its easy to throw out a baby with the bathwater..

Re: Freedom of Information Release on Nikola Tesla (2011)

#102

Post by dragandj » Tue, Oct 24, 2017, 8:46 PM UTC

readhn wrote: post #56

mabbo wrote: post #50

It's important to keep in mind that near the end of his days, Tesla sure seemed to be experiencing some mental illness. He made wild claims that were never quite backed up by proof, claims that even now no one seems to believe were actually possible. It's a sad end to a brilliant mind. But then, when you're the FBI and WW2 is ongoing, you pay attention when a famous and brilliant inventor claims to have death rays an…

He made wild claims that were never quite backed up by proof, claims that even now no one seems to believe were actually possible ------- when Leonardo da vinci sketched out a parachute or a helicopter-looking self propelling device prototypes that took 500 years to actually build - what did contemporaries think of him? who are we to judge a great mind? we simply cant. yes he might have gone mad, but there is a very…

Jules Verne's novels from 19th century described submarines and flight to the Moon, but there are lots of TODO steps to fill in to create, or even "sketch" actual working submarines and rockets.

Re: Freedom of Information Release on Nikola Tesla (2011)

#103

Post by Rhinobird » Tue, Oct 24, 2017, 9:07 PM UTC

hacker11235 wrote: post #97

stephengillie wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a new iPhone or an older Android, you could utilize this technology to charge your phone.

Right, inductive charging. From what I've read it doesn't seem like this was the method Tesla was researching for long range transmission was it?

Tesla was trying to make use of the conductivity present in the ground and ionosphere to transmit power. Not inductive, but more like capacitively coupled.

Re: Freedom of Information Release on Nikola Tesla (2011)

#104

Post by killjoywashere » Tue, Oct 24, 2017, 9:25 PM UTC

bthornbury wrote: post #98

canjobear wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> who are we to judge a great mind? we simply cant. It's not like these "great minds" are alien superintelligences. How much smarter do you think they were than the average person, in terms of IQ? Maybe 2x maximum? Seems quite possible to judge. Tesla was not a Singularity.

IQ is an irrelevant metric. Look at his achievements pragmatically. In terms of understanding of electric phenomena, its difficult to point at another with a similar level of understanding (or at least productive understanding). With that in mind, it would seem he's quite a bit "smarter" than even very intelligent people, with the same life long pursuit.

its difficult to point at another contemporary with a similar level of understanding

Re: Freedom of Information Release on Nikola Tesla (2011)

#105

Post by brlewis » Tue, Oct 24, 2017, 10:02 PM UTC

dumbfounder wrote: post #90

canjobear wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> who are we to judge a great mind? we simply cant. It's not like these "great minds" are alien superintelligences. How much smarter do you think they were than the average person, in terms of IQ? Maybe 2x maximum? Seems quite possible to judge. Tesla was not a Singularity.

> It's not like these "great minds" are alien superintelligences. I disagree, I define a truly great mind as one that thinks very differently from others, and solves problems others can't. Not someone who can just solve problems more quickly. Why do you think it matters what his IQ is? You can't measure someone's ability to think about new things with a test that asks you to solve relatively simple brainteasers. I am…

Unusual minds solve problems others can't, but also make mistakes others wouldn't. I don't claim to know which of these two phenomena is exhibited in Tesla's wild ideas.

Re: Freedom of Information Release on Nikola Tesla (2011)

#106

Post by oscargrouch » Tue, Oct 24, 2017, 10:09 PM UTC

canjobear wrote: post #88

readhn wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He made wild claims that were never quite backed up by proof, claims that even now no one seems to believe were actually possible ------- when Leonardo da vinci sketched out a parachute or a helicopter-looking self propelling device prototypes that took 500 years to actually build - what did contemporaries think of him? who are we to judge a great mind? we simply cant. yes he might have gone mad, but there is a very…

> who are we to judge a great mind? we simply cant. It's not like these "great minds" are alien superintelligences. How much smarter do you think they were than the average person, in terms of IQ? Maybe 2x maximum? Seems quite possible to judge. Tesla was not a Singularity.

Im not from the field (speaking as an 'average joe' here), but i dont think genius come from brain mechanical power alone.

When you try to map some trends 'genius' people have that others dont, it comes to have some form of free/ilimited thinking, like kids often do, persistence and even stuborness based on faith that something others dont get it its actually possible, criativity, a good environment and in the end choose that path that im sure can become a big burden, that will require a lot of spirit, persistence and good will.

So i guess IQ tests alone will never be able to frame or to detect real geniuses in a objective automated manner.

Of course that more brainpower give you more chances to become a genius, but there are some traces of the personality that must also be there.

For instance, the majority of the smart people in the world, will not go through this route, giving they can just use their brains to get rich, famous, powerful and use it in a more egotistical and self-fulfilling manner.

Re: Freedom of Information Release on Nikola Tesla (2011)

#107

Post by mhh__ » Tue, Oct 24, 2017, 11:11 PM UTC

bthornbury wrote: post #98

canjobear wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> who are we to judge a great mind? we simply cant. It's not like these "great minds" are alien superintelligences. How much smarter do you think they were than the average person, in terms of IQ? Maybe 2x maximum? Seems quite possible to judge. Tesla was not a Singularity.

IQ is an irrelevant metric. Look at his achievements pragmatically. In terms of understanding of electric phenomena, its difficult to point at another with a similar level of understanding (or at least productive understanding). With that in mind, it would seem he's quite a bit "smarter" than even very intelligent people, with the same life long pursuit.

> In terms of understanding of electric phenomena, its difficult to point at another with a similar level of understanding (or at least productive understanding).

Maxwell? Faraday? Heaviside? etc. Or are we explicitly talking circuits?

Re: Freedom of Information Release on Nikola Tesla (2011)

#108

Post by mr_woozy » Tue, Oct 24, 2017, 11:43 PM UTC

hacker11235 wrote: post #97

stephengillie wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a new iPhone or an older Android, you could utilize this technology to charge your phone.

Right, inductive charging. From what I've read it doesn't seem like this was the method Tesla was researching for long range transmission was it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-wire_transmission_line

Re: Freedom of Information Release on Nikola Tesla (2011)

#109

Post by foobarian » Wed, Oct 25, 2017, 12:14 AM UTC

qxzw wrote: post #6

Another Croatian - Serbian conflict regarding his ancestry in 5,4,3 ... Kidding aside, what would people like him achieve if they had resources of today, computers and internet...

Reminds me of a crackpot theory popular in Serbia where it is thought that the Serbs took control of "Tesla's secret weapon based on the formula v^3=0." The weapon is alleged to allow remote mind control [e.g. 1, in Serbian] and is probably inspired by the death rays/particle beam weapons Tesla wrote about. [2]

[1] http://www.intermagazin.rs/teslino-super-oruzje-izum-koji-ko...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleforce

Re: Freedom of Information Release on Nikola Tesla (2011)

#110

Post by opportune » Wed, Oct 25, 2017, 12:21 AM UTC

canjobear wrote: post #88

readhn wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He made wild claims that were never quite backed up by proof, claims that even now no one seems to believe were actually possible ------- when Leonardo da vinci sketched out a parachute or a helicopter-looking self propelling device prototypes that took 500 years to actually build - what did contemporaries think of him? who are we to judge a great mind? we simply cant. yes he might have gone mad, but there is a very…

> who are we to judge a great mind? we simply cant. It's not like these "great minds" are alien superintelligences. How much smarter do you think they were than the average person, in terms of IQ? Maybe 2x maximum? Seems quite possible to judge. Tesla was not a Singularity.

IQ isn't an absolute score of intelligence, it's relative and assumes a normal distribution. Someone with a 200 IQ is not twice as intelligent as someone with a 100 IQ, they are ~7 standard deviations better on the score of a test designed to assess intelligence.

IQ is definitely not the end all-be-all of intelligence because you can train yourself to become better at taking IQ tests by taking IQ tests: that's what all those people with >180 IQ who are "the smartest people in the world" did. And of course intelligence is only part of the equation: people could be much smarter than Tesla but simply never become interested in electricity, and even very smart people can make mistakes and arrive at incorrect conclusions (perhaps due to ego as well - we are all human). There are also different forms of intelligence, as some people are much better than others at verbal/spatial/logical reasoning but perform averagely in other categories.

So in general I'd say IQ is not a good way to look at this. We should look more at the fact that mental illness can affect everyone, and if someone starts suddenly making provably false outlandish claims, that doesn't mean they weren't once a great scientist or very intelligent person.