Tesla's enduring visions: Genius predictions in a modern world

Nikola Tesla is widely recognised as an outstanding genius ahead of his time. Contemporary people often believed he could foresee the future development of science spanning a hundred or even two hundred years. Do his visions hold relevance today?

In an article published in "Liberty," Nikola Tesla, then 79 years old, was highlighted as a remarkable inventor whose work played a crucial role in 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 an extremely significant topic. In the dispute regarding alternating current and direct current, Tesla advocated for alternating current, ultimately gaining recognition as his system was implemented in central power plants, including at Niagara Falls.

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

Tesla admitted that predicting the future is a difficult task, 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 emphasised 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 predicted health and armaments in the 21st century. He predicted that hygiene and physical activity would be crucial, and 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 important than the Secretary of Defence. He also expected that people would adopt healthier lifestyles and that meat consumption would significantly decrease.

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 320 kilometres. He emphasised that his device would create a defensive barrier, preventing effective attacks on any nation and making wars pointless.

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