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The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#71

Post by acqq »

acqq wrote: post #58
bkovacev wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it always have to be someone that involves politics into this? Tesla during his life said he is of Serbian origin and thinks of himself as a Serbian, even though he was born in Croatia. Don't steer it up in here too, I'd like HN to remain what it is.

In fact, born in the territories that are currently inside of the borders of the country now called Croatia which at that time didn’t exist as the independent country, especially not there. As far as I understand, he was born in the “Military Frontier” lands of Austro-Hungarian monarchy (Wikipedia: “Born 10 July 1856 Smiljan, Austrian Empire”), and went to Polytechnic school in Graz, today Austria: https://teslaunive…

Of course, pedantry isn't easy: I was also anachronistic by mentioning “Austro-Hungarian” which also didn't exist at the time Tesla was born, but at least I've quoted Wikipedia correctly. Wikipedia must be right, it was just Austrian Empire in 1856 as Tesla was born:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria-Hungary

Austro-Hungarian Empire came into existence in 1867, 11 years later.

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#72

Post by UncleSlacky »

WalterBright wrote: post #24
hyperpallium wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

funfact: though Elon Musk has a company named after Tesla, in an interview, he has said Edison is the better role model. e.g. It's not that Edison invented a light bulb - he created the first power grid. It's like inventing an internet client, and the internet.

It's also popular to say Edison did not invent the light bulb. It is correct that he was not the first to invent a glowing wire. Edison's key innovation was the thin, high resistance filament which used high voltage and low current. That design was said to be impossible by all the experts of the time, but it is what made the light bulb practical and useful. Edison's light bulb was attacked on all fronts in patent cou…

You're forgetting Joseph Swan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Swan#Electric_light

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#73

Post by matte_black »

pvaldes wrote: post #63
andai wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you respond if I electrocuted you, saying my intention was to save you from pain?

I would be fuming if somebody electrocute me, that's for sure; but much better than if they kill me with a rusty axe. That would be very impolite and unforgeivable.

I’d be fuming as well, though not from anger but rather as charred remains.

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#74

Post by jeffwass »

Red_Tarsius wrote: post #47
jeffwass wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those that denigrate Edison in favour of Tesla often ignore or aren’t aware of Tesla’s own dark side. Here’s an article, a few years ago and also from Smithsonian Magazine, telling of some of Tesla’s disturbing opinions. For example, advocating forced eugenics to weed out ‘undesirables’ from the human race. He felt that the forced sterilisation of criminals and mentally ill in Nazi Germany didn’t go far enough. https…

I'll play devil's advocate , since there's more truth to Tesla's words than you're giving him credit for. The comforts of modern society allow the proliferation of dysgenic traits. The system rewards reckless breeding of people who don't have the means to support children. Genetic selection happens whether we talk about it or not. We meddled with better pets, livestock and crops. Why not give improved humans a try? Y…

You might feel differently if the state decided you don’t meet the minimum requirements for permission to breed.

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#75

Post by matte_black »

wellboy wrote: post #70
Red_Tarsius wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll play devil's advocate , since there's more truth to Tesla's words than you're giving him credit for. The comforts of modern society allow the proliferation of dysgenic traits. The system rewards reckless breeding of people who don't have the means to support children. Genetic selection happens whether we talk about it or not. We meddled with better pets, livestock and crops. Why not give improved humans a try? Y…

So you're saying we should give eugenics a try?

Why not really? It doesn’t affect anyone currently alive and only helps promote better genes, which is what the human race is doing now anyway, but very inefficiently.

I’d like to see it happen. The only thing that gives me pause is what if we accidentally make humans with critical genetic flaws we did not see coming, or low genetic diversity.

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#76

Post by NhanH »

jeffwass wrote: post #74
Red_Tarsius wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll play devil's advocate , since there's more truth to Tesla's words than you're giving him credit for. The comforts of modern society allow the proliferation of dysgenic traits. The system rewards reckless breeding of people who don't have the means to support children. Genetic selection happens whether we talk about it or not. We meddled with better pets, livestock and crops. Why not give improved humans a try? Y…

You might feel differently if the state decided you don’t meet the minimum requirements for permission to breed.

Your comment doesn't contain an argument, and it is even attacking a strawman as the GP did explicitly call out non-compulsory as an aspect of it. But I will bite anyway.

Taken GP's reasoning to the extreme, what do you think if the state prohibit someone from having children if (hypothetically) it is known at 100% certainty that their offsprings will inherit a horrible genetic diseases that causes pain and suffering their whole lives, and their life expectancy is 15 years?

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#77

Post by klum »

rxhernandez wrote: post #62
WalterBright wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's more of an indication of how our modern sensibilities have changed. When I was a kid I was taken to the local zoo, where lions were displayed in small, bare concrete cages. I felt sorry for them, and did not enjoy the trip. But that doesn't mean the zookeepers were bad people, people just thought differently about animals in those days.

You're right, it really is too difficult to live and let live. It's really too difficult to think, is everyone benefitting all that much from the pain I'm inflecting on whatever I'm hurting. Please, these are adults that knew what they were doing and that the pain they were causing didn't satisfy some need, but some want. If you don't want to go down in history as an asshole, don't be a dick when you or your tribe ar…

A lot of people are okay with testing things like drugs on animals. You can at least imagine a scenario where Edison was driven by concern for public welfare, thinking the higher voltage used by Tesla was going to cause disasters and trying to make people aware of the danger.

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#78

Post by klum »

lanbanger wrote: post #57

Tesla had many great ideas, but was lazy and had a bad habit of disappearing off down on a tangent that his investors had not been told about, and had not agreed to invest in. I recommend this book ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/494.Wizard ) to anyone who wants to know the full story.

I read that book as well... one of the tangents was (paraphrasing from memory) when he secured financing from J. P. Morgan for a proof-of-concept wireless transmission tower (the Wardenclyffe tower). He then dramatically scaled up his plans without consulting with Morgan and tried to motivate this by picturing the project as a reflection of Morgans position in society -- surely you can see that only the best will do! After running out of money, he kept asking J. P. Morgan for more money for the rest of Morgan's life... and a large part of Morgan's sons life!

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#79

Post by asmithmd1 »

hyperpallium wrote: post #20
WalterBright wrote: post #5

These days it's fashionable to venerate Tesla and denigrate Edison. Tesla's contributions to AC motors and power are great and beyond dispute. The others, not so much. For those who like to denigrate Edison by comparison, I challenge to read "Edison" by Josephson and maintain that opinion. I.e. Tesla transformed AC power, Edison transformed multiple foundational industries.

funfact: though Elon Musk has a company named after Tesla, in an interview, he has said Edison is the better role model. e.g. It's not that Edison invented a light bulb - he created the first power grid. It's like inventing an internet client, and the internet.

Edison invented the first corporate R&D lab that spun inventions out into companies:

Light bulb and wiring - GE

phonograph - National Phonograph Company

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#80

Post by donretag »

acqq wrote: post #58
bkovacev wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it always have to be someone that involves politics into this? Tesla during his life said he is of Serbian origin and thinks of himself as a Serbian, even though he was born in Croatia. Don't steer it up in here too, I'd like HN to remain what it is.

In fact, born in the territories that are currently inside of the borders of the country now called Croatia which at that time didn’t exist as the independent country, especially not there. As far as I understand, he was born in the “Military Frontier” lands of Austro-Hungarian monarchy (Wikipedia: “Born 10 July 1856 Smiljan, Austrian Empire”), and went to Polytechnic school in Graz, today Austria: https://teslaunive…

Even if Croatia did not exist at the time of Tesla's birth, it does not change the fact that he was not born in Serbia.
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