Tesla's Speculations Ridiculed

Severe Criticism of the Electrical Inventor's Divagations in Higher Fields — His Work in Fundamental Theories Declared to Be Valueless.

An article by Nikola Tesla, the electrician, on 'The Problem of Increasing Human Energy, with Special Reference to Harnessing the Sun's Energy,' published in a recent number of the Century, has aroused sharp criticism from men versed in electrical science; one of these criticisms, understood to come from the pen of a leading professor of electrical science in this city, is published in Science to-day. A summary of it follows:

The present writer has lately gone over the text of the article, pen in hand, and herewith presents a small portion of his notes. They seem to him to show that the article in question is composed, essentially, of three different kinds of writing. The first kind describes Mr. Tesla's experiments in electricity and shows what he has already accomplished. . . . . . . . The second describes what Mr. Tesla expects to accomplish in the future. His prophecies are no sanguine, in many cases, that even a general reader may presume to compare them with the comparatively small things already accomplished, and to point out how very unlikely it is that any great part of his expectations will be realized within any reasonable future — within Mr. Tesla's own lifetime, for example. The third element of this article consists of philosophical arguments about things in general—about human life — what it is — the future of the solar system — the solidarity of the human race — the Christian religion — vegetable food — theoretical dynamics — athletics in colleges — drinking water — ozone — education of women — ice — fertilizers — insanity — warfare — flying-machines — iron manufacture — aluminum — liquid air — self-acting engines — the inhabitants of Mars — etc., etc., etc. It is not too much to say that this portion of Mr. Tesla's paper is in the main so trivial, so superficial, so obviously weak, as to throw doubts upon the whole essay. Many of the subjects treated are the oldest problems of the human race. They have been discussed by every philosopher since Aristotle. It is fairly astonishing to see Mr. Tesla's reasonings in print at this day. They compare with the logic of giants like Spinoza, Kant, Lord Kelvin, Herbert Spencer, and the rest as a baby's prattle to the 'Summa Theologia'.

The paper begins by asking profound questions with regard to human life. . . . Man is, according to Mr. Tesla, "a mass," one physical mass. Call this physical mass M. M is a quantity, which can be expressed in tons or in ounces. Mankind is "impelled in one direction" — one direction!! by a force f, "which is resisted by another force R, acting in a direction directly opposite." The idea in Mr. Tesla's mind is apparently that the force R is the reaction of the first force f. But every reaction is not only opposite to its action, but equal to it, according to Newton. Not so in Mr. Tesla's universe. Reactions are opposite to, but less than actions. There is an effective force left over, which, in his scheme, imparts a velocity V to mankind M. "Human energy will then be given (measured) by the product 1/2 M V², in which M is the total mass of man in the ordinary interpretation of the term 'mass,' and V is a certain hypothetical velocity which, in the present state of science, we are unable exactly to define and determine." How learned all this looks! and how foolish it all is! Mr. Tesla's algebraic formula is mere solemn rubbish.

Commenting then on Mr. Tesla's divagations on warfare, flying machines, etc., the writer continues:

He tells us that as a boy he noticed that whatever he thought of he saw. He visualized words in his mind. By attention he discovered that every occurrence in his mind was suggested by some previous outside occurrence or object. Hence, he was not a free agent, but played upon by his environment. He was the sport of the universe — an automaton. "I have demonstrated to my absolute satisfaction that I am an automaton endowed with power of movement, which merely responds to external stimuli beating on its sense-organs, and thinks and acts and moves accordingly." He may be an automaton; but if he thinks that the foregoing argument proves it, he is no logician. Being an automaton himself, Mr. Tesla proceeded to make another automaton. He consented to make it full-grown to save time. It was also unnecessary to endow it with the power of propagating its kind, since Mr. Tesla himself could make more machines when he wanted them. He likewise consented to make it without a mind, because a mind "I could easily embody in it by conveying to it my own intelligence."

With these slight differences from the Garden of Eden, Mr. Tesla's workshop has turned out a kind of electrical boat or animated bath-tub whose movements can be controlled from a distance. This machine "behaved just like a blindfolded person obeying directions received through the ear." It had a "borrowed mind." In fact, it had no mind at all, except in Mr. Tesla's confused terminology. It had the same kind of a mind as a Waltham watch. It is now Mr. Tesla's intention to build an "automaton" "which will have its own mind." "It will be capable of distinguishing between what it ought and what it ought not to do." Of course, such words are merely quibbles. In exactly the same sense a steam-engine has its own mind and distinguishes what it ought from what it ought not to do. So did Maelzel's mechanical duck.

With a touching little eulogy on iron, and the prediction that aluminum is soon to take its place, and a good word for coal and for gas-engines, he passes on to the question of obtaining energy direct from the sun, and discusses the "possibility of a self-acting engine or machine, inanimate, yet capable, like a living being, of deriving energy from the medium." His conclusion is that it is possible though it cannot be produced for a long time yet. It is not pressing, then, to discuss his results. We will wait until some are forthcoming.

The next paragraphs of Mr. Tesla's long paper are taken up with the description of his experiments on electrical matters, wireless telegraphy (which Marconi independently discovered and has made practical), etc. Into these we will not follow him, except to say that he claims to be able to produce electrical effects on the planets Venus or Mars by methods which he is very careful not to explain. He expects an answer, too: "That we can send a message to a planet is certain, that we can get an answer is probable; man is not the only being in the Infinite gifted with a mind."

We might go on page by page, pointing out error, extravagance and bathos like the preceding. There seems to be no special need to go further. It should be evident to any impartial reader that the value of Mr. Tesla's general philosophical speculations and opinions is exactly nil. The value of his work in electricity must be judged by experts. The weight of his predictions as to future discoveries would be greater if his judgment on things in general were less unsound. It is passing strange that such loose reasonings can find a publisher. It is to be hoped that they will gain little credence from his readers.