If Things Could be Redone

I recently thought about Nicola Tesla. Many think Thomas Edison was the master of electricity but that is not the truth at all. Nicola Tesla had developed a far superior form of electricity, AC, to Edison’s DC current. Aside from his invention of the radio communication and whatnot, one of the most amazing things Tesla created was a wireless power plant. Tesla discovered that the Earth itself, through terrestrial stationary waves, could be used as a conductor of electricity under certain frequencies. He constructed a plant in Colorado Springs. When the Colorado Springs Tesla Coil magnifying transmitter was energized, it created sparks 30 feet long and could be seen 10 miles away. Tesla had a field of 200 lamps, simply planted in the ground, which was powered from 25 miles away.

Financially supported by J. Pierpont Morgan, Tesla built the Wardenclyffe laboratory and its famous transmitting tower in Shoreham, Long Island. It was 187 feet high, capped by a 68-foot copper dome which housed the magnifying transmitter. It was planned to be the first broadcasting system, sending out signals and electricity in unlimited amounts to any part of the globe. His discovery of terrestrial stationary waves could be used to power ocean liners, destroy warships, run industry and transportation and send communications instantaneously all over the globe.

But it was too efficient. Eventually his main investor pulled out and I believe this quote couldn’t explain Tesla’s fate any better, “If anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?” Edison seized the opportunity and launched a vicious smear campaign against Tesla. Without funding and under attack from Edison, Tesla was forced to withdraw his amazing discovery from society, and Edison and his wires took over to this day.

I couldn’t help but think how radically different our life would be had Tesla succeeded. We would be living a life free of wires! Imagine, no batteries, no telephone polls, no need for a (satellite) cell phone even, because it would all come from the ground! And yet, all because of the above events, such a thing seems preposterous. Now we are stuck with what we have and it would be almost impossible to change it. This is because technology evolves. Very few things are a true innovation. Almost everything we have today is based on the technology before it. Whatever method the first of a technology is implemented, that will affect all the subsequent technologies after it.

So I though about all the things that would be different if they were invented on a different concept. Like;

What if the engine wasn’t engine wasn’t based on combustion?

What if computers weren’t based on 1s and 0s?

Or transistors?

What if weapons weren’t based on a ballistic object? What if they were based on energy or something?

What if TVs weren’t based on pixels?

What if cameras weren’t based on heliographs?

There’s a ton of other considerations one can ponder. Just take the time to ponder what various things would be like if their original inventions had slightly different concepts. It’s too bad really. Our world would be so much more efficient and different if Tesla’s innovation had been allowed to develop.