6 ms·

Nikola Tesla’s Predictions for the 21st Century

106 points by imdhmd 13y ago

chime 13y ago
> Today the most civilized countries of the world spend a maximum of their income on war and a minimum on education. The twenty-first century will reverse this order. It will be more glorious to fight against ignorance than to die on the field of battle. Alas.
- Pwnguinz 13y ago
  We're barely 13.4% into the twenty-first century. Give us some time, will ya? Even Tesla didn't make that prediction until the 1930's, well after the turn of the century.
- InclinedPlane 13y ago
  Public defense spending is about on par with public educational spending (if you factor in private spending education on college education then education wins out). Additionally, the total of pension, health care, and welfare spending trumps defense spending by a factor of nearly 3.5x to 1. It's simply not correct to fantasize that our government is exclusively military focused to the exclusion of all else, defense spending is quite large but it's not enormous compared to the equal or greater public spending priorities of education, health, pensions, etc. http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2013USbn_14bs1n_2010000102#usgs302 http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2013USbn_1...
  - benpbenp 13y ago
    I just discovered that site while looking into this question as well. It seems really useful. Here are two charts that backup your point further. Education since 1900: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1900_2015USp_14s1li011lcn_20t http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1900_2015... Defense since 1792: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1792_2015USp_14s1li011lcn_30f_Defense_Spending_Spikes http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1792_2015... In particular, it is worth noting how low military spending was before WWII. I would be very interested to find similar charts for all world powers going back to ancient times, if anyone can help.
  - D9u 13y ago
    Your own linked to site lists the following expenditures by the US federal government: Pensions = 24% Health Care = 24% Defense = 23% Welfare = 12% Interest = 6% Other Spending = 4% Transportation = 3% Education = 3% Protection = 2% General Government = 1% http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/piechart_2013_US_fed http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/piechart_2013_US_fed Who's fantasizing here? Of course, these figures don't include so-called "black budgets" for such things as CIA/DEA/etc "front companies" from which these agencies generate & draw funds without congressional oversight.
    - InclinedPlane 13y ago
      You're being intellectually dishonest, it's not cool. The vast majority of educational spending is at the local and state level, the vast majority of defense spending is at the federal level. If you look at the totals of spending across all levels (federal, state, local) you can see how close the spending levels for education and defense are. The numbers are even summed for you.
      - D9u 13y ago
        Who is being "intellectually dishonest?" When you refer to "our government," I automatically assume that you mean the federal government, as I'm unsure of whether you reside in the same state as I, or not. I was referring to the federal government, and the amounts spent are consistent with the claims made above. Were the federal government to spend as much on education as is spent on defense our nation wouldn't be as "dumbed-down" as we presently are. In my state the schools are dilapidated, and teachers are underpaid, which results in high school graduates who are barely literate. However, our police are well paid, well equipped, and well funded, a good portion of which is from federal sources. My state receives roughly 29% (44th in the nation) of its funding from the federal government, and spends 25% of the total state budget on education. Of the amount spent on education, 68% goes to salaries & pensions. If the federal government spent more on education, the respective states would be able to increase their spending on education, which is what I believed this thread to be about.
        13y ago
  - gnosis 13y ago
    Another perspective, from the War Resistors League[0]: Where your income tax money really goes: * Total Outlays (Federal Funds): $2,650 billion * MILITARY: 54% and $1,449 billion * NON-MILITARY: 46% and $1,210 billion "'Current military' includes Dept. of Defense ($653 billion), the military portion from other departments ($150 billion), and an additional $162 billion to supplement the Budget’s misleading and vast underestimate of only $38 billion for the "war on terror." "Past military" represents veterans’ benefits plus 80% of the interest on the debt.[1] These figures are from an analysis of detailed tables in the "Analytical Perspectives" book of the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2009. The figures are federal funds, which do not include trust funds -- such as Social Security -- that are raised and spent separately from income taxes. What you pay (or don’t pay) by April 15, 2008, goes to the federal funds portion of the budget. The government practice of combining trust and federal funds began during the Vietnam War, thus making the human needs portion of the budget seem larger and the military portion smaller." [0] - http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm [1] - "Analysts differ on how much of the debt stems from the military; other groups estimate 50% to 60%. We use 80% because we believe if there had been no military spending most (if not all) of the national debt would have been eliminated. For further explanation, please see box at bottom of page."
    - hexis 13y ago
      How does it work out when you figure in State, County, and Local spending?
  - jessriedel 13y ago
    The government is not the people. Public spending is not the country's spending.
- bulatb 13y ago
  I wonder on what basis people make predictions like that. It seems like wishful thinking.
pesenti 13y ago
This is no different from fortune telling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect). Make a bunch of predictions, some will be accurate, some will be a off, and some will be really bad. But people will remember the accurate ones and adapt enough the off ones that it looks like you were a visionary.
- dakotasmith 13y ago
  So long as you also invent alternating current.
- jimmaswell 13y ago
  What are Tesla's wrong/a bit off predictions?
yummyfajitas 13y ago
I think the author of the article is reaching on some of these predictions: The Secretary of Hygiene or Physical Culture will be far more important in the cabinet of the President of the United States who holds office in the year 2035 than the Secretary of War. I have no idea how he interpreted that to predict the EPA. This is something closer to Health&Human Services or the Secretary of the Gym ("Physical Culture" referred to exercise in those days).
- sgk284 13y ago
  In the very next sentences, Tesla elaborates on that he is referring to pollution on beaches and unsanitary drinking water. That's why this is most closely connected to the EPA.
mikecane 13y ago
I'm very surprised they missed the most important prediction by Tesla: >>>When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket. >>>We shall be able to witness and hear events — the inauguration of a President, the playing of a world series game, the havoc of an earthquake or the terror of a battle — just as though we were present. From: When Woman Is Boss http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1926-01-30.htm http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1926-01-30.htm Looking at that again, there are other gems but the above stuck with me because, well, just look at it.
- loceng 13y ago
  I wonder if what anything he has said would be considered prior art for current patents ...
  - nickpinkston 13y ago
    He even imagined One Click buying through the world brain - amazing prescience ;-)
yalogin 13y ago
Of course Tesla could not have predicted the military industrial complex and the gun lobby in the US.
- nwzpaperman 13y ago
  JP Morgan bankrolled Tesla's tinkering...come on, son! Governments live and die by their debt issuance capabilities. In 2008, Hank Paulson saved the world through his altruistic service as Secretary Treasurer and saving our benevolent banks. The MIC needs money to enforce all of our legal contracts. Tesla didn't have a prediction to make because it is the same today as it was then. Read some history, yo! "Tragedy and Hope" is one place to start--not to be confused with finish.
  - DamnYuppie 13y ago
    A quicker and equally valid starting tome would be "None Dare Call It Conspiracy".
imdhmd 13y ago
> I am convinced that within a century coffee, tea, and tobacco will be no longer in vogue. Tea is a great herbal drink. IMO, its here to stay.
- firefoxman1 13y ago
  Back then in the U.S. and Europe, black tea was pretty much the only thing they knew as "tea". Of the different types of tea, black is the least healthy and most caffeinated, which is why he would call it a "stimulant".
johnohara 13y ago
The struggle for existence being lessened, there should be development along ideal rather than material lines. Insight into why he pursued his extraordinary ideas so passionately.
whyenot 13y ago
I wish you wouldn't have changed the title. I'd be very interested in Tesla Motors' predictions, not so much in "Nikola Tesla's Amazing" predictions.
losethos 13y ago
We need to kill all India-niggers, for one thing. God says... 19:20 And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street. 19:21 So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink. 19:22 Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. 19:23 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. 19:24 Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. 19:25 But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. ---- God talks to you, you write an operating system, you are a rocket scientist. India nigger doctor sterilizes you and makes you impotent, harass and talk patronizing. God is just mother fuckers--retards. Mother fuckers think God is super ego or some shit. Can't understand God. Plaent of the fucken Apes, all-round. God says... capable otherwhiles pow seduced you'll_see showed I_was_just_thinking vacation achieve comprehended retired resistest sun-rising departest

106 points by imdhmd 13y ago

chime 13y ago

> Today the most civilized countries of the world spend a maximum of their income on war and a minimum on education. The twenty-first century will reverse this order. It will be more glorious to fight against ignorance than to die on the field of battle. Alas.

Pwnguinz 13y ago
We're barely 13.4% into the twenty-first century. Give us some time, will ya? Even Tesla didn't make that prediction until the 1930's, well after the turn of the century.
InclinedPlane 13y ago
Public defense spending is about on par with public educational spending (if you factor in private spending education on college education then education wins out). Additionally, the total of pension, health care, and welfare spending trumps defense spending by a factor of nearly 3.5x to 1. It's simply not correct to fantasize that our government is exclusively military focused to the exclusion of all else, defense spending is quite large but it's not enormous compared to the equal or greater public spending priorities of education, health, pensions, etc. http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2013USbn_14bs1n_2010000102#usgs302 http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2013USbn_1...
- benpbenp 13y ago
  I just discovered that site while looking into this question as well. It seems really useful. Here are two charts that backup your point further. Education since 1900: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1900_2015USp_14s1li011lcn_20t http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1900_2015... Defense since 1792: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1792_2015USp_14s1li011lcn_30f_Defense_Spending_Spikes http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1792_2015... In particular, it is worth noting how low military spending was before WWII. I would be very interested to find similar charts for all world powers going back to ancient times, if anyone can help.
- D9u 13y ago
  Your own linked to site lists the following expenditures by the US federal government: Pensions = 24% Health Care = 24% Defense = 23% Welfare = 12% Interest = 6% Other Spending = 4% Transportation = 3% Education = 3% Protection = 2% General Government = 1% http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/piechart_2013_US_fed http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/piechart_2013_US_fed Who's fantasizing here? Of course, these figures don't include so-called "black budgets" for such things as CIA/DEA/etc "front companies" from which these agencies generate & draw funds without congressional oversight.
  - InclinedPlane 13y ago
    You're being intellectually dishonest, it's not cool. The vast majority of educational spending is at the local and state level, the vast majority of defense spending is at the federal level. If you look at the totals of spending across all levels (federal, state, local) you can see how close the spending levels for education and defense are. The numbers are even summed for you.
    - D9u 13y ago
      Who is being "intellectually dishonest?" When you refer to "our government," I automatically assume that you mean the federal government, as I'm unsure of whether you reside in the same state as I, or not. I was referring to the federal government, and the amounts spent are consistent with the claims made above. Were the federal government to spend as much on education as is spent on defense our nation wouldn't be as "dumbed-down" as we presently are. In my state the schools are dilapidated, and teachers are underpaid, which results in high school graduates who are barely literate. However, our police are well paid, well equipped, and well funded, a good portion of which is from federal sources. My state receives roughly 29% (44th in the nation) of its funding from the federal government, and spends 25% of the total state budget on education. Of the amount spent on education, 68% goes to salaries & pensions. If the federal government spent more on education, the respective states would be able to increase their spending on education, which is what I believed this thread to be about.
      - 13y ago
- gnosis 13y ago
  Another perspective, from the War Resistors League[0]: Where your income tax money really goes: * Total Outlays (Federal Funds): $2,650 billion * MILITARY: 54% and $1,449 billion * NON-MILITARY: 46% and $1,210 billion "'Current military' includes Dept. of Defense ($653 billion), the military portion from other departments ($150 billion), and an additional $162 billion to supplement the Budget’s misleading and vast underestimate of only $38 billion for the "war on terror." "Past military" represents veterans’ benefits plus 80% of the interest on the debt.[1] These figures are from an analysis of detailed tables in the "Analytical Perspectives" book of the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2009. The figures are federal funds, which do not include trust funds -- such as Social Security -- that are raised and spent separately from income taxes. What you pay (or don’t pay) by April 15, 2008, goes to the federal funds portion of the budget. The government practice of combining trust and federal funds began during the Vietnam War, thus making the human needs portion of the budget seem larger and the military portion smaller." [0] - http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm [1] - "Analysts differ on how much of the debt stems from the military; other groups estimate 50% to 60%. We use 80% because we believe if there had been no military spending most (if not all) of the national debt would have been eliminated. For further explanation, please see box at bottom of page."
  - hexis 13y ago
    How does it work out when you figure in State, County, and Local spending?
- jessriedel 13y ago
  The government is not the people. Public spending is not the country's spending.
bulatb 13y ago
I wonder on what basis people make predictions like that. It seems like wishful thinking.

pesenti 13y ago

This is no different from fortune telling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect). Make a bunch of predictions, some will be accurate, some will be a off, and some will be really bad. But people will remember the accurate ones and adapt enough the off ones that it looks like you were a visionary.

dakotasmith 13y ago
So long as you also invent alternating current.
jimmaswell 13y ago
What are Tesla's wrong/a bit off predictions?

yummyfajitas 13y ago

I think the author of the article is reaching on some of these predictions: The Secretary of Hygiene or Physical Culture will be far more important in the cabinet of the President of the United States who holds office in the year 2035 than the Secretary of War. I have no idea how he interpreted that to predict the EPA. This is something closer to Health&Human Services or the Secretary of the Gym ("Physical Culture" referred to exercise in those days).

sgk284 13y ago
In the very next sentences, Tesla elaborates on that he is referring to pollution on beaches and unsanitary drinking water. That's why this is most closely connected to the EPA.

mikecane 13y ago

I'm very surprised they missed the most important prediction by Tesla: >>>When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket. >>>We shall be able to witness and hear events — the inauguration of a President, the playing of a world series game, the havoc of an earthquake or the terror of a battle — just as though we were present. From: When Woman Is Boss http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1926-01-30.htm http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1926-01-30.htm Looking at that again, there are other gems but the above stuck with me because, well, just look at it.

loceng 13y ago
I wonder if what anything he has said would be considered prior art for current patents ...
- nickpinkston 13y ago
  He even imagined One Click buying through the world brain - amazing prescience ;-)

yalogin 13y ago

Of course Tesla could not have predicted the military industrial complex and the gun lobby in the US.

nwzpaperman 13y ago
JP Morgan bankrolled Tesla's tinkering...come on, son! Governments live and die by their debt issuance capabilities. In 2008, Hank Paulson saved the world through his altruistic service as Secretary Treasurer and saving our benevolent banks. The MIC needs money to enforce all of our legal contracts. Tesla didn't have a prediction to make because it is the same today as it was then. Read some history, yo! "Tragedy and Hope" is one place to start--not to be confused with finish.
- DamnYuppie 13y ago
  A quicker and equally valid starting tome would be "None Dare Call It Conspiracy".

imdhmd 13y ago

> I am convinced that within a century coffee, tea, and tobacco will be no longer in vogue. Tea is a great herbal drink. IMO, its here to stay.

firefoxman1 13y ago
Back then in the U.S. and Europe, black tea was pretty much the only thing they knew as "tea". Of the different types of tea, black is the least healthy and most caffeinated, which is why he would call it a "stimulant".

johnohara 13y ago

The struggle for existence being lessened, there should be development along ideal rather than material lines. Insight into why he pursued his extraordinary ideas so passionately.

whyenot 13y ago

I wish you wouldn't have changed the title. I'd be very interested in Tesla Motors' predictions, not so much in "Nikola Tesla's Amazing" predictions.

losethos 13y ago

We need to kill all India-niggers, for one thing. God says... 19:20 And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street. 19:21 So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink. 19:22 Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. 19:23 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. 19:24 Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. 19:25 But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. ---- God talks to you, you write an operating system, you are a rocket scientist. India nigger doctor sterilizes you and makes you impotent, harass and talk patronizing. God is just mother fuckers--retards. Mother fuckers think God is super ego or some shit. Can't understand God. Plaent of the fucken Apes, all-round. God says... capable otherwhiles pow seduced you'll_see showed I_was_just_thinking vacation achieve comprehended retired resistest sun-rising departest