Nikola Tesla predicted a lot of 21st century technologies quite accurately. Some of the predictions were spot on. Others, not so much. We might complain that it’s 2015 and we’re still waiting on hoverboards. But if Nikola Tesla were alive today, he’d probably wonder where the hell our fuel-free, super fast airplanes were.
Tesla on TV and portable phones
At the beginning of 1926, television was barely making its first baby steps and Tesla was already looking ahead to the distant world of videophones, broadcast TV, and worldwide mobile communication
- Wireless transmission of power was of particular interest to Tesla, but it’s his predictions around mobile phone technology that have proved most prescient
Tesla on female superiority, for better and worse
Nikola Tesla proclaimed that one day soon women would rise to be superior to men, but he didn’t mean that as a positive thing.
- In fact, within the context of his beliefs at the time, he was downright terrified that women would become “victims” of their own success.
Tesla on Eugenics and the Perfection of Humanity
Tesla’s advocacy of forced sterilization and government approval of marriage partners wasn’t that bizarre in some circles, but they’re certainly an aspect of Tesla’s belief system that many people here in the 21st century would like to forget. Tesla was a brilliant inventor and visionary thinker.
Tesla on flying machines
“Perhaps the most valuable application of wireless energy will be the propulsion of flying machines, which will carry no fuel and will be free from any limitations of the present airplanes and dirigibles. We shall ride from New York to Europe in a few hours. International boundaries will be largely obliterated and a great step will be made toward the unification and harmonious existence of the various races inhabiting the globe.”
Tesla on Wireless Power and Printing Newspapers in the Home
Present wireless receiving apparatus will be scrapped for much simpler machines; static and all forms of interference will be eliminated; innumerable transmitters and receivers may be operated without interference.
- It is more than probable that the household’s daily newspaper will be printed “wirelessly” in the home during the night.
