ExtraOrdinary Times - ExtraOrdinary Thoughts! Page 6

equipped with a large whip antenna, a modular space that could carry a charge, diving rudders, a prop and electric running lights that could all be remotely controlled. He even had the forethought to equip his boats with a crude logic gate which prevented them from being taken over by another transmitter other than his own.

Tesla's US Patent number 613,809 describes the first device anywhere for wireless remote control and served as the basis for denying later claims to the fundamentals of robotic technology. Later, in the "Problem of Increasing Energy", he describes his robotic boat as...

A machine having all the bodily or translatory movements and the operations of the interior mechanism controlled from a distance without wires. The crewless boat shown in the photograph contains its own motive power, propelling and steering machinery, and numerous other accessories, all of which are controlled by transmitting from a distance, without wires, electrical oscillations to a circuit carried by the boat and adjusted to respond only to these oscillations.

Tesla clearly states in the "Problem of Increasing Energy" that wars were detrimental to humanity and Tomorrow's Soldiers The US military's robotic vehicles 1 Predator remote-controlled reconnaissance and fighter drone. Has already been used in the Iraq war retarded humanity's movement in a number of ways, not the least through the death of our fellow humans. Ever the pragmatist, he was resigned to the belief that humanity would never cease to wage war. However, he believed that the retardation effects of war could be greatly reduced through robotics as a means to wage war without killing one another.

He envisioned automated warriors battling it out amongst themselves. On today's battleground, the US Military forces have taken their first steps toward the automated battleground. Today's robots are saving lives as they sniff out bombs and track down enemy forces. However, this is only half of Tesla's dream. While today's military makeup is decidedly one-sided with our machines killing enemy personnel, Tesla's ultimate vision calls for BOTH sides to robotized, with robots destroying robots instead of people.

It was Tesla's sincere hope to keep the energy war generates by converting war into contests. He wished to end the bloodshed completely as he so elegantly stated in the "Problem of Increasing Energy"...

To bring on this result men must be dispensed with: machine must fight machine.

Materials Science.....

Tesla went on to explore a number of technologies he thought would help the advancement of mankind. At the time Tesla wrote his article, materials science was in a primitive state. A lot of the ideas he advocated in this area were pretty radical at the time, and some were of limited use due to the lack of general knowledge. Many were somewhat Biased as they were practical applications to accelerate the integration of electrical power into the workplace.

For instance, he advocated using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. He theorized that using hydrogen as fuel would be more cost efficient than coal to manufacture iron and steel. However, it was later discovered that too much hydrogen in the process caused a phenomenon known as hydrogen embrittlement which makes the steel too brittle.

Despite this drawback, some steel furnaces used steam injection. The heat of the furnace would split water and the hydrogen would immediately burn. This dramatic increase in heat reduced the amount of fuel needed. Due to the hydrogen embrittlement problem, the process is closely monitored.

Tesla recognized that advances in metallurgy and other material sci-