Tesla's enduring legacy: Visions of the future and modern impact

Nikola Tesla is widely recognized as a visionary genius ahead of his time. People often believed he could foresee the development of science decades, or even centuries, into the future. But do his visions hold relevance today?

In an article published in "Liberty," Nikola Tesla, then 79 years old, was celebrated as a remarkable inventor whose work significantly impacted the development of science. The editorial highlighted numerous innovations introduced by the Serbian-American scientist. Bernard Arthur Behrend, a renowned engineer, wrote that without Tesla's achievements, the industry, electric cars, and trains would cease functioning, cities would be plunged into darkness, and mills would come to a standstill. Tesla is often called the "father of radio, television, power transmission, the induction motor, and the robot, and the discoverer of the cosmic ray."

The rivalry between Tesla and Thomas Edison is a crucial topic. In the dispute over alternating current and direct current, Tesla advocated for alternating current, ultimately gaining recognition as his system was implemented in major power plants, including Niagara Falls.

Tesla was identified as a futurist, often proposing innovative solutions that were initially met with misunderstanding. In an interview, he mentioned that he had to wait 19 years for his idea concerning Niagara Falls to be realized and 15 years for the widespread application of his wireless communication devices.

Tesla admitted that predicting the future is difficult, as progress and innovations often develop in unexpected directions. Nevertheless, many of his earlier predictions have come true. He compared life to an unsolved mathematical equation with certain constant elements, the most important of which is motion. He emphasized that the principles of mechanics also apply to human life.

Tesla believed that progress is driven by energy, which can be increased by improving living and health conditions, reducing ignorance, madness, and religious fanaticism, and harnessing the natural forces of the universe, such as the sun, oceans, winds, and tides.

Tesla also had predictions regarding health and armaments in the 21st century. He predicted that hygiene and physical activity would play crucial roles and that countries would invest less in armaments and more in education. He believed that in the future, the Secretary of Hygiene and Physical Culture position in the U.S. President's cabinet would be more critical than the Secretary of Defense. He also expected that people would adopt healthier lifestyles and reduce meat consumption significantly.

In Nikola Tesla's opinion, substances like tobacco, coffee, and tea would lose popularity, but alcohol would remain the "elixir of life." Tesla foresaw a future in which robots gradually replace humans in simple tasks, which is becoming increasingly realistic today.

At the end of the interview, Tesla presented a vision of an invention that could end wars—a machine that could destroy targets at a distance of 200 miles. He emphasized that his device would create a defensive barrier, preventing effective attacks on any country, making wars pointless.

Tesla believed that the world must go through several destructive wars before his inventions were accepted. He was convinced that in the future, every country would be protected from attack thanks to inventions like his — as long as it doesn't get lost in further bloody conflicts. Unfortunately, just 4.5 years later, the world was struck by World War II...