The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla • Hacker News Board

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#81

Post by acqq » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 4:03 PM UTC

donretag wrote: post #80

acqq wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I never claimed he was. ‘trodemode’s claim was Croatia, and that’s what isn’t historical.

However if you’d actually want to visit Tesla’s birthplace, you would need to buy a ticket to Croatia. The place is in Croatia now.

Ethnically Tesla was a Serb, his birthplace was then Austrian Military Frontier and now in Croatia, that’s the background to different attempts of ignoring the history.

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#82

Post by madengr » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 4:45 PM UTC

His Colorado Springs lab notes are a good read. One of the things he struggled with was RF detection (rectification). Don’t think he figured it out, but tried many experiments.

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#83

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 4:53 PM UTC

vinceguidry wrote: post #66

dsego wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't make any sense. Edit: Serious question, is that rhetoric, platitude, bromide, something else?

Truth isn't just fact, it's also narrative. Trying to separate the two is impossible, therefore truth can often be political.

[deleted]

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#84

Post by kashyapc » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 5:04 PM UTC

Some of you here must surely be familiar -- one of the most engaging biographies of Tesla was written by Margaret Cheney: Man Out of Time:

http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tesla/Margaret-Cheney/...

(The title might sound a tad clickbait-y, but deservedly so. Also remember that it was written in 2001, about six years before HN was created.)

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#85

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 5:50 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #41

ronald_raygun wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the AC/DC wars Edison fought with Tesla, he'd electrocute animals to show how dangerous AC was. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/thomas-edison-histo...

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.

[deleted]

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#86

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 5:55 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#87

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 6:32 PM UTC

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.

[deleted]

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#88

Post by Jerry64545 » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 6:46 PM UTC

shubhamjain wrote: post #40

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.

I wonder if it's similar to the popular perception of Jobs and Woz. Steve Jobs is often regarded (for the right reasons) as an arrogant, unforgiving CEO who excelled by exploiting the works of a benign genius. The truth is, however exceptional Woz was, there are far more brilliant hackers than people who transform industries.

If Woz wouldn't have happeded to Steve, he would have been nothing. But if Steve wouldn't have happened to Woz, he still would have had a great career at HP.

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#89

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 6:48 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #41

ronald_raygun wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the AC/DC wars Edison fought with Tesla, he'd electrocute animals to show how dangerous AC was. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/thomas-edison-histo...

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.

[deleted]

Re: The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

#90

Post by SolaceQuantum » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 6:49 PM UTC

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…

Ill respond by simply pointing out that eugenics doesn’t work to remove “dysgenic” traits Nazi Germany eliminated 70-100% of their schizophrenics and just a generation or two later Germany has levels of schizophrenic patients same as everyone else. It even had higher than normal levels after the eradication. Killing off people with shitty genetic traits simply doesn’t work to reduce it in your population.

https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/article/36/1/...