A Machine to End War

A Famous Inventor, Picturing Life 100 Years from = Now,=20 Reveals an Astounding
Scientific Venture Which He Believes Will = Change=20 the Course of History=20

Liberty, February 1937

by Nikola Tesla
as told to
George = Sylvester Viereck=20

Tesla. "It seems," he says, "that I have always been ahead of = my time."=20

Editor's Note: Nikola Tesla, now in his seventy-eighth year, = has been=20 called the father of radio, television, power transmission, the = induction=20 motor, and the robot, and the discoverer of the cosmic ray. = Recently he=20 has announced a heretofore unknown source of energy present = everywhere in=20 unlimited amounts, and he is now working upon a device which he = believes=20 will make war impracticable.=20

Tesla and Edison have often been represented as rivals. They = were=20 rivals, to a certain extent, in the battle between the alternating = and=20 direct current in which Tesla championed the former. He won; the = great=20 power plants at Niagara Falls and elsewhere are founded on the = Tesla=20 system. Otherwise the two men were merely opposites. Edison had a = genius=20 for practical inventions immediately applicable. Tesla, whose = inventions=20 were far ahead of the time, aroused antagonisms which delayed the = fruition=20 of his ideas for years.=20

However, great physicists like Kelvin and Crookes spoke of his=20 inventions as marvelous. "Tesla," said Professor A. E. Kennelly of = Harvard=20 University when the Edison medal was presented to the inventor, = "set=20 wheels going round all over the world. . . . What he showed was a=20 revelation to science and art unto ail time."=20

"Were we," remarks B. A. Behrend, distinguished author and = engineer,"=20 to seize and to eliminate the results of Mr. Tesla's work, the = wheels of=20 industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would = stop, our=20 towns would be dark, our mills would be dead and idle."

FORECASTING is perilous. No man can look very far into the = future.=20 Progress and invention evolve in directions other than those = anticipated.=20 Such has been my experience, although I may flatter myself that = many of=20 the developments which I forecast have been verified by events in = the=20 first third of the twentieth century.=20

It seems that I have always been ahead of my time. I had to = wait=20 nineteen years before Niagara was harnessed by my system, fifteen = years=20 before the basic inventions for wireless which I gave to the world = in 1893=20 were applied universally. I announced the cosmic ray and my theory = of=20 radio activity in 1896. One of my most important = discoveries--terrestrial=20 resonance--which is the foundation of wireless power transmission = and=20 which I announced in 1899, is not understood even today. Nearly = two years=20 after I had flashed an electric current around the globe, Edison,=20 Steinmetz, Marconi, and others declared that it would not be = possible to=20 transmit even signals by wireless across the Atlantic. Having = anticipated=20 so many important developments, it is not without assurance that I = attempt=20 to predict what life is likely to be in the twenty-first century.=20

Life is and will ever remain an equation incapable of solution, = but it=20 contains certain known factors. We may definitely say that it is a = movement even if we do not fully understand its nature. Movement = implies a=20 body which is being moved and a force which propels it against = resistance.=20 Man, in the large, is a mass urged on by a force. Hence the = general laws=20 governing movement in the realm of mechanics are applicable to = humanity.=20

There are three ways by which the energy which determines human = progress can be increased: First, we may increase the mass. This, = in the=20 case of humanity, would mean the improvement of living conditions, = health,=20 eugenics, etc. Second, we may reduce the frictional forces which = impede=20 progress, such as ignorance, insanity, and religious fanaticism. = Third, we=20 may multiply the energy of the human mass by enchaining the forces = of the=20 universe, like those of the sun, the ocean, the winds and tides.=20

The first method increases food and well-being. The second = tends to=20 bring peace. The third enhances our ability to work and to = achieve. There=20 can be no progress that is not constantly directed toward = increasing=20 well-being, peace, and achievement. Here the mechanistic = conception of=20 life is one with the teachings of Buddha and the Sermon on the = Mount.=20

While I am not a believer in the orthodox sense, I commend = religion,=20 first, because every individual should have some ideal--religious, = artistic, scientific, or humanitarian--to give significance to his = life.=20 Second, because all the great religions contain wise prescriptions = relating to the conduct of life, which hold good now as they did = when they=20 were promulgated.=20

There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the = ideal of=20 science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because = science is=20 founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine = which never=20 came into being and never will end. The human being is no = exception to the=20 natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine. Nothing = enters our=20 minds or determines our actions which is not directly or = indirectly a=20 response to stimuli beating upon our sense organs from without. = Owing to=20 the similarity of our construction and the sameness of our = environment, we=20 respond in like manner to similar stimuli, and from the = concordance of our=20 reactions, understanding is barn. In the course of ages, = mechanisms of=20 infinite complexity are developed, but what we call "soul " or = "spirit,"=20 is nothing more than the sum of the functionings of the body. When = this=20 functioning ceases, the "soul" or the "spirit" ceases likewise.=20

I expressed these ideas long before the behaviorists, led by = Pavlov in=20 Russia and by Watson in the United States, proclaimed their new=20 psychology. This apparently mechanistic conception is not = antagonistic to=20 an ethical conception of life. The acceptance by mankind at large = of these=20 tenets will not destroy religious ideals. Today Buddhism and = Christianity=20 are the greatest religions both in number of disciples and in = importance.=20 I believe that the essence of both will he the religion of the = human race=20 in the twenty-first century.=20

The year 2100 will see eugenics universally established. In = past ages,=20 the law governing the survival of the fittest roughly weeded out = the less=20 desirable strains. Then man's new sense of pity began to interfere = with=20 the ruthless workings of nature. As a result, we continue to keep = alive=20 and to breed the unfit. The only method compatible with our = notions of=20 civilization and the race is to prevent the breeding of the unfit = by=20 sterilization and the deliberate guidance of the mating instinct, = Several=20 European countries and a number of states of the American Union = sterilize=20 the criminal and the insane. This is not sufficient. The trend of = opinion=20 among eugenists is that we must make marriage more difficult. = Certainly no=20 one who is not a desirable parent should be permitted to produce = progeny.=20 A century from now it will no more occur to a normal person to = mate with a=20 person eugenically unfit than to marry a habitual criminal.=20

Hygiene, physical culture will be recognized branches of = education and=20 government. The Secretary of Hygiene or Physical Culture will he = far more=20 important in the cabinet of the President of the United States who = holds=20 office in the year 2035 than the Secretary of War. The pollution = of our=20 beaches such as exists today around New York City will seem as = unthinkable=20 to our children and grandchildren as life without plumbing seems = to us.=20 Our water supply will he far more carefully supervised, and only a = lunatic=20 will drink unsterilized water.

MORE=20 people die or grow sick from polluted water than from coffee, tea, = tobacco, and other stimulants. I myself eschew all stimulants. I = also=20 practically abstain from meat. I am convinced that within a = century=20 coffee, tea, and tobacco will be no longer in vogue. Alcohol, = however,=20 will still be used. It is not a stimulant but a veritable elixir = of life.=20 The abolition of stimulants will not come about forcibly. It will = simply=20 be no longer fashionable to poison the system with harmful = ingredients.=20 Bernarr Macfadden has shown how it is possible to provide = palatable food=20 based upon natural products such as milk, honey, and wheat. I = believe that=20 the food which is served today in his penny restaurants will be = the basis=20 of epicurean meals in the smartest banquet halls of the = twenty-first=20 century.=20

There will be enough wheat and wheat products to feed the = entire world,=20 including the teeming millions of China and India, now chronically = on the=20 verge of starvation. The earth is bountiful, and where her bounty = fails,=20 nitrogen drawn from the air will refertilize her womb. I developed = a=20 process for this purpose in 1900. It was perfected fourteen years = later=20 under the stress of war by German chemists.=20

Long before the next century dawns, systematic reforestation = and the=20 scientific management of natural resources will have made an end = of all=20 devastating droughts, forest fires, and floods. The universal = utilization=20 of water power and its long-distance transmission will supply = every=20 household with cheap power and will dispense with the necessity of = burning=20 fuel. The struggle for existence being lessened, there should be=20 development along ideal rather than material lines.=20

Today the most civilized countries of the world spend a maximum = of=20 their income on war and a minimum on education. The twenty-first = century=20 will reverse this order. It will be more glorious to fight against = ignorance than to die on the field of battle. The discovery of a = new=20 scientific truth will be more important than the squabbles of = diplomats.=20 Even the newspapers of our own day are beginning to treat = scientific=20 discoveries and the creation of fresh philosophical concepts as = news. The=20 newspapers of the twenty-first century will give a mere "stick" in = the=20 back pages to accounts of crime or political controversies, but = will=20 headline on the front pages the proclamation of a new scientific=20 hypothesis.

"It will be possible to destroy anything approaching within 200 = miles.=20 My invention will provide a wall of power," declares Tesla.

PROGRESS=20 along such lines will be impossible while nations persist in the = savage=20 practice of killing each other off. I inherited from my father, an = erudite=20 man who labored hard for peace, an ineradicable hatred of war. = Like other=20 inventors, I believed at one time that war could he stopped by = making it=20 more destructive. But I found that I was mistaken. I = underestimated man's=20 combative instinct, which it will take more than a century to = breed out.=20 We cannot abolish war by outlawing it. We cannot end it by = disarming the=20 strong. War can be stopped, not by making the strong weak but by = making=20 every nation, weak or strong, able to defend itself.=20

Hitherto all devices that could be used for defense could also = be=20 utilized to serve for aggression. This nullified the value of the=20 improvement for purposes of peace. But I was fortunate enough to = evolve a=20 new idea and to perfect means which can be used chiefly for = defense. If it=20 is adopted, it will revolutionize the relations between nations. = It will=20 make any country, large or small, impregnable against armies, = airplanes,=20 and other means for attack. My invention requires a large plant, = but once=20 it is established it will he possible tb destroy anything, men or=20 machines, approaching within a radius of 200 miles. It will, so to = speak,=20 provide a wall of power offering an insuperable obstacle against = any=20 effective aggression.=20

If no country can be attacked successfully, there can be no = purpose in=20 war. My discovery ends the menace of airplanes or submarines, but = it=20 insures the supremacy of the battleship, because battleships may = be=20 provided with some of the required equipment. There might still be = war at=20 sea, but no warship could successfully attack the shore line, as = the coast=20 equipment will be superior to the armament of any battleship.=20

I want to state explicitly that this invention of mine does not = contemplate the use of any so-called " death rays." Rays are not=20 applicable because they cannot be produced in requisite quantities = and=20 diminish rapidly in intensity with distance. All the energy of New = York=20 City (approximately two million horsepower) transformed into rays = and=20 projected twenty miles, could not kill a human being, because, = according=20 to a well known law of physics, it would disperse to such an = extent as to=20 be ineffectual.=20

My apparatus projects particles which may.be relatively large = or of=20 microscopic dimensions, enabling us to convey to a small area at a = great=20 distance trillions of times more energy than is possible with rays = of any=20 kind. Many thousands of horsepower can thus be transmitted by a = stream=20 thinner than a hair, so that nothing can resist. This wonderful = feature=20 will make it possible, among other things, to achieve undreamed-of = results=20 in television, for there will be almost no limit to the intensity = of=20 illumination, the size of the picture, or distance of projection.=20

I do not say that there may not be several destructive wars = before the=20 world accepts my gift. I may not live to see its acceptance. But I = am=20 convinced that a century from now every nation will render itself = immune=20 from attack by my device or by a device based upon a similar = principle.=20

At present we suffer from the derangement of our civilization = because=20 we have not yet completely adjusted ourselves to the machine age. = The=20 solution of our problems does not lie in destroying but in = mastering the=20 machine.=20

Innumerable activities still performed by human hands today = will be=20 performed by automatons. At this very moment scientists working in = the=20 laboratories of American universities are attempting to create = what has=20 been described as a "thinking machine." I anticipated this = development.=20

I actually constructed "robots." Today the robot is an accepted = fact,=20 but the principle has not been pushed far enough. In the = twenty-first=20 century the robot will take the place which slave labor occupied = in=20 ancient civilization. There is no reason at all why most of this = should=20 not come to pass in less than a century, treeing mankind to pursue = its=20 higher aspirations.=20

And unless mankind's attention is too violently diverted by = external=20 wars and internal revolutions, there is no reason why the electric = millennium should not begin in a few decades.


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