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Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today

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Re: Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today

#31

Post by mewpmewp2 »

danybittel wrote: post #26
mrtnmcc wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't everyone do this? I remember at the age of five finally learning to control my falling dreams at night, to be able to freeze in the air and eventually fly (the Matrix scene definitely resonated later). This was the beginning of a continuous exercise of imagining things more and more exactly and controlling that imagination. Now as an engineer, I spend most of my time staring at a wall simulating and refining…

You may be exceptional. In my experience, it often works / looks perfect in the head. But putting it to paper, it falls apart quickly. Imagine a bicycle, it is easy to imagine it accurately. Then draw it (or construct it), one usually struggles a lot. The step to materialize it, is where you need a lot of practice. The worst are the the "idea" guys. They think they have already done all the work, and somebody else ju…

I imagine it will vary widely depending on the complexity of something. The more complex something is the more likely you fail to predict some things accurately, so based on this conversation it's difficult to tell whether someone is exceptional or not, as exceptional would be when you are able to do more complex designs accurately than most other folks.

Re: Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today

#32

Post by beambot »

mrtnmcc wrote: post #20
neither_color wrote: post #8

If you want to get into the mind of Tesla a bit I highly recommend "My Inventions", his sort of autobiography where he described how his mind worked. He spent a lot of time developing his imagination at a young age and "traveling" in his head. I was surprised to read that he would visualize entire designs in his imagination and then go through prototypes and iterations several times before bringing that idea into the…

Doesn't everyone do this? I remember at the age of five finally learning to control my falling dreams at night, to be able to freeze in the air and eventually fly (the Matrix scene definitely resonated later). This was the beginning of a continuous exercise of imagining things more and more exactly and controlling that imagination. Now as an engineer, I spend most of my time staring at a wall simulating and refining…

It's really not all that common.

Fascinating take on the subject: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/inner-monologue-...

> According to Hulburt, not many people have an inner monologue 100 per cent of the time, but most do sometimes. He estimates that inner monologue is a frequent thing for 30 to 50 per cent of people.

Re: Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today

#33

Post by mckirk »

glenngillen wrote: post #9

My headphones apparently use them as part of the cooling system: https://www.nuraphone.com/backstage/how-the-nuraphone-uses-m...

That's fascinating, I'd never heard of those! I'm still looking for the 'perfect' wireless headphones, so I'll definitely research them some more.

How is their sound, in your experience? And is the cooling effect actually noticeable?

Re: Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today

#34

Post by peanutz454 »

gfody wrote: post #23
mrtnmcc wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't everyone do this? I remember at the age of five finally learning to control my falling dreams at night, to be able to freeze in the air and eventually fly (the Matrix scene definitely resonated later). This was the beginning of a continuous exercise of imagining things more and more exactly and controlling that imagination. Now as an engineer, I spend most of my time staring at a wall simulating and refining…

I think that as a race our mind evolves and modes of thinking that we take for granted today may have been unique to geniuses 100 years ago. Along these lines bicameralism is a neat theory that adds a whole dimension to old literature although it might be considered debunked these days.

Evolution is painfully slow. Humans from 1000s of year ago are not very different from us, even in their intelligence. I believe the only trait that has changed recently is height, and there are explanations for it.

Re: Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today

#35

Post by peanutz454 »

danybittel wrote: post #26
mrtnmcc wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't everyone do this? I remember at the age of five finally learning to control my falling dreams at night, to be able to freeze in the air and eventually fly (the Matrix scene definitely resonated later). This was the beginning of a continuous exercise of imagining things more and more exactly and controlling that imagination. Now as an engineer, I spend most of my time staring at a wall simulating and refining…

You may be exceptional. In my experience, it often works / looks perfect in the head. But putting it to paper, it falls apart quickly. Imagine a bicycle, it is easy to imagine it accurately. Then draw it (or construct it), one usually struggles a lot. The step to materialize it, is where you need a lot of practice. The worst are the the "idea" guys. They think they have already done all the work, and somebody else ju…

Obviously individual differenes matter, but OPs ability has a lot to do with practise. If you work a lot with 3D objects you will get better at imagining them in your mind.

Re: Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today

#36

Post by gfody »

peanutz454 wrote: post #34
gfody wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that as a race our mind evolves and modes of thinking that we take for granted today may have been unique to geniuses 100 years ago. Along these lines bicameralism is a neat theory that adds a whole dimension to old literature although it might be considered debunked these days.

Evolution is painfully slow. Humans from 1000s of year ago are not very different from us, even in their intelligence. I believe the only trait that has changed recently is height, and there are explanations for it.

genetic evolution sure but memetic evolution is a whole new beast

Re: Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today

#37

Post by vagrantJin »

klyrs wrote: post #30
gfody wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we're really lacking in ability to effectively describe the qualia of "imagining" - it could be that some people visualize internal fidelity more closely matching the raw signal of their optic nerve and others have an entirely separate way of experiencing. for myself I can say that I mentally visualize just fine but it is nothing at all like actual vision. if you asked me how is it different then this is where words…

It's weird. I can construct objects and run physics experiments in my head (not on Tesla's level), and it's a clear tactile sense to me, textures included. I can also play familiar tunes (in my youth this included symphonies, simplified into sections and solos) and mix flavors in my head. But the weirdest part is, I can hardly see a thing in there.

I think most people in the culinary space spend a lot of time tasting imaginary dishes. Running experimental flavours before trying to make it.

The caveat is that you probably should have a certain level of experience and mastery to make full use of this ability.

Re: Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today

#38

Post by RhodoGSA »

Tesla always seems to be described as eccentric but his autobiography doesn't read that way at all. If there was one person in history i could sit down and have a beer with it'd be him. I wonder what other inventions/ ideas he discovered and toyed around with whose time has come, but where obscure during his lifetime.

Re: Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today

#39

Post by samplatt »

glenngillen wrote: post #9

My headphones apparently use them as part of the cooling system: https://www.nuraphone.com/backstage/how-the-nuraphone-uses-m...

How are the Nuraphone cans with sound leakage? I've had hearing issues since childhood and tend to turn the volume WAY up. Nuraphone has been on my radar for a while, but I exclusively buy headphones with as near-to-zero external leakage as possible, since I don't want to piss off my co-workers with audible music.

Re: Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today

#40

Post by ksaj »

neither_color wrote: post #8

If you want to get into the mind of Tesla a bit I highly recommend "My Inventions", his sort of autobiography where he described how his mind worked. He spent a lot of time developing his imagination at a young age and "traveling" in his head. I was surprised to read that he would visualize entire designs in his imagination and then go through prototypes and iterations several times before bringing that idea into the…

Nikolo Paganini was known to practice violin without actually touching one. Same goes for composing. He (allegedly at least) used to conceptualize in his mind how his hands would move for each part, and would master those movements, even though he wasn't actually doing them. It greatly played into his reputation of having made a deal with the devil, because people only very rarely heard him practice or compose - he just went ahead with new content seemingly out of the blue, but in reality put a lot of work into it.

It sounds very similar to what Nikola Tesla often did.

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