Science Plays God

[Monte Davis]

To the very limited extent that Tesla ever explained his "low cost energy
plan" (which oscillated between broadcast power and earth-as-conductor
power), it wasn't "canned" because it wouldn't be profitable for Big Energy
-- it was nonsense.    

Yes, Tesla was a genuinely brilliant inventor, experimenter and engineer in
the 1880s and 1890s, but from the early 1900s on he grew increasingly
isolated, cranky, and megalomaniac. Again and again over his last thirty
years he claimed to be about to demonstrate revolutionary new devices and
principles, but something always came up to put it off. 

The Tesla cult (there's really no other word for it) is a perfect example of
have-it-both-ways woo. That other scientists and the global electrical
industry recognized, hailed, and widely used his early ideas is evidence of
his genius -- but that his later ideas went nowhere is evidence of a
jealous, narrow-minded conspiracy by other scientists and the global energy
industry. (You might also look up his enthusiasm for eugenics and
sterilization of the "unfit" -- or would that be hard to reconcile with your
admiration for Tesla the ignored/suppressed Prophet of People's Energy?) 

Just for starters, from Wikipedia: 

"Tesla exhibited a pre-atomic understanding of physics in his writings; he
disagreed with the theory of atoms being composed of smaller subatomic
particles, stating there was no such thing as an electron creating an
electric charge (he believed that if electrons existed at all they were some
fourth state of matter or sub-atom that could only exist in an experimental
vacuum and that they had nothing to do with electricity). Tesla believed
that atoms are immutable-they could not change state or be split in any way.
He was a believer in the 19th century concept of an all pervasive 'ether'
that transmitted electrical energy.

"Tesla was generally antagonistic towards theories about the conversion of
matter into energy. He was also critical of Einstein's theory of relativity,
saying:  'I hold that space cannot be curved, for the simple reason that it
can have no properties. It might as well be said that God has properties. He
has not, but only attributes and these are of our own making. Of properties
we can only speak when dealing with matter filling the space. To say that in
the presence of large bodies space becomes curved is equivalent to stating
that something can act upon nothing. I, for one, refuse to subscribe to such
a view.'

"Tesla claimed to have developed his own physical principle regarding matter
and energy that he started working on in 1892 and in 1937, at age 81,
claimed in a letter to have completed a 'dynamic theory of gravity' that
'[would] put an end to idle speculations and false conceptions, as that of
curved space.' He stated that the theory was 'worked out in all details' and
that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Further elucidation of his
theory was never found in his writings."


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Joseph Tracy
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2013 9:23 AM
To: P-list List
Subject: Re: Science Plays God

Completely agree  that differences and divergences appear everywhere, but
with the current dominance and continued ascendence of the western,
agonistic, competitive markets complex  and a science that serves that model
I'm wondering if there is a distinctive difference in the "science" of
cultures that are more oriented to  harmony, cyclical pattern, balance.
Something as simple as the difference between vellum and paper. Perhaps not
.  Tesla wanted to solve mankind's energy challenge much more than to get
rich .  His marketable ideas made millions for others , his low cost energy
plan was canned...