New York American, February 7, 1915

http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1915-02-07.htm
Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe. Though seemingly
affeted only by its immediate surrounding, the s!here of e"ternal influene e"tends to infinite
distane. There is no onstellation or nebula, no sun or !lanet, in all the de!ths of limitless
s!ae, no !assing wanderer of the starry heavens, that does not e"erise some ontrol over
its destiny#not in the vague and delusive sense of astrology, but in the rigid and !ositive
meaning of !hysial siene.
$ore than this an be said. There is no thing endowed with life#from man, who is enslaving
the elements, to the humblest reature#in all this world that does not sway it in turn.
%henever ation is born from fore, though it be infinitesimal, the osmi balane is u!set
and universal motion result.
&erbert '!ener has inter!reted life as a ontinuous ad(ustment to the environment, a
definition of this inoneivably om!le" manifestation )uite in aord with advaned sientifi
thought, but, !erha!s, not broad enough to e"!ress our !resent views. %ith eah ste!
forward in the investigation of its laws and mysteries our one!tions of nature and its !hases
have been gaining in de!th and breadth.
*n the early stages of intelletual develo!ment man was onsious of but a small !art of the
maroosm. &e knew nothing of the wonders of the miroso!i world, of the moleules
om!osing it, of the atoms making u! the moleules and of the dwindlingly small world of
eletrons within the atoms. To him life was synonymous with voluntary motion and ation. +
!lant did not suggest to him what it does to us#that it lives and feels, fights for its e"istene,
that it suffers and en(oys. Not only have we found this to be true, but we have asertained that
even matter alled inorgani, believed to be dead, res!onds to irritants and gives
unmistakable evidene of the !resene of a living !rini!le within.
Thus, everything that e"ists, organi or inorgani, animated or inert, is suse!tible to stimulus
from the outside. There is no ga! between, no break of ontinuity, no s!eial and
distinguishing vital agent. The same law governs all matter, all the universe is alive. The
momentous )uestion of '!ener, ,%hat is it that auses inorgani matter to run into organi
forms-, has been answered. *t is the sun.s heat and light. %herever they are there is life. /nly
in the boundless wastes of interstellar s!ae, in the eternal darkness and old, is animation
sus!ended, and, !ossibly, at the tem!erature of absolute 0ero all matter may die.
$+N +' + $+1&*N2
This realisti as!et of the !ere!tible universe, as a lokwork wound u! and running down,
dis!ensing with the neessity of a hy!ermehanial vital !rini!le, need not be in disord with
our religious and artisti as!irations#those undefinable and beautiful efforts through whih
the human mind endeavors to free itself from material bonds. /n the ontrary, the better
understanding of nature, the onsiousness that our knowledge is true, an only be all the
more elevating and ins!iring.
*t was 3esartes, the great Frenh !hiloso!her, who in the seventeenth entury, laid the first
foundation to the mehanisti theory of life, not a little assisted by &arvey.s e!ohal disovery
of blood irulation. &e held that animals were sim!ly automata without onsiousness and
reogni0ed that man, though !ossessed of a higher and distintive )uality, is ina!able of
ation other than those harateristi of a mahine. &e also made the first attem!t to e"!lain
the !hysial mehanism of memory. 4ut in this time many funtions of the human body were
not as yet understood, and in this res!et some of his assum!tions were erroneous.
5reat strides have sine been made in the art of anatomy, !hysiology and all branhes of
siene, and the workings of the man6mahine are now !erfetly lear. Yet the very fewest
among us are able to trae their ations to !rimary e"ternal auses. lt is indis!ensable to the
arguments * shall advane to kee! in mind the main fats whih * have myself established in
years of lose reasoning and observation and whih may be summed u! as follows7
1. The human being is a self6!ro!elled automaton entirely under the ontrol of e"ternal
influenes. %illful and !redetermined though they a!!ear, his ations are governed not from
within, but from without. &e is like a float tossed about by the waves of a turbulent sea.
8. There is no memory or retentive faulty based on lasting im!ression. %hat we designate as
memory is but inreased res!onsiveness to re!eated stimuli.
9. *t is not true, as 3esartes taught, that the brain is an aumulator. There is no !ermanent
reord in the brain, there is no stored knowledge. :nowledge is something akin to an eho
that needs a disturbane to be alled into being.
;. +ll knowledge or form one!tion is evoked through the medium of the eye, either in
res!onse to disturbanes diretly reeived on the retina or to their fainter seondary effets
and reverberations. /ther sense organs an only all forth feelings whih have no reality of
e"istene and of whih no one!tion an be formed
5. 1ontrary to the most im!ortant tenet of 1artesian !hiloso!hy that the !ere!tions of the
mind are illusionary, the eye transmits to it the true and aurate likeness of e"ternal things.
This is beause light !ro!agates in straight lines and the image ast on the retina is an e"at
re!rodution of the e"ternal form and one whih, owing to the mehanism of the o!ti nerve,
an not be distorted in the transmission to the brain. %hat is more, the !roess must be
reversible, that in to say, a form brought to onsiousness an, by refle" ation, re!rodue the
original image on the retina (ust as an eho an re!rodue the original disturbane *f this view
is borne out by e"!eriment an immense revolution in all human relations and de!artments of
ativity will be the onse)uene.
N+T<=+> F/=12' *NF><2N12 <'
+e!ting all this as true let us onsider some of the fores and influenes whih at on suh
a wonderfully om!le" automati engine with organs inoneivably sensitive and deliate, as
it is arried by the s!inning terrestrial globe in lightning flight through s!ae. For the sake of
sim!liity we may assume that the earth.s a"is is !er!endiular to the eli!ti and that the
human automaton is at the e)uator. >et his weight be one hundred and si"ty !ounds then, at
the rotational veloity of about 1,58? feet !er seond with whih he is whirled around, the
mehanial energy stored in his body will be nearly 5,7@?,??? foot !ounds, whih is about the
energy of a hundred6!ound annon ball.
This momentum is onstant as well as u!ward entrifugal !ush, amounting to about fifty6five
hundredth of a !ound, and both will !robably be without marked influene on his life funtions.
The sun, having a mass 998,??? times that of the earth, but being 89,??? times farther, will
attrat the automaton with a fore of about one6tenth of one !ound, alternately inreasing and
diminishing his normal weight by that amount
Though not onsious of these !eriodi hanges, he is surely affeted by them.
The earth in its rotation around the sun arries him with the !rodigious s!eed of nineteen
miles !er seond and the mehanial energy im!arted to him is over 85,1A?,???,??? foot
!ounds. The largest gun ever made in 5ermany hurls a !ro(etile weighing one ton with a
mu00le veloity of 9,7?? feet !er seond, the energy being ;89,???,??? foot !ounds. &ene
the momentum of the automaton.s body is nearly si"ty times greater. *t would be suffiient to
develo! 7A8,;?? horse6!ower for one minute, and if the motion were suddenly arrested the
body would be instantly e"!loded with a fore suffiient to arry a !ro(etile weighing over
si"ty tons to a distane of twenty6eight miles.
This enormous energy is, however, not onstant, but varies with the !osition of the automaton
in relation to the sun. The irumferene of the earth has a s!eed of 1,58? feet !er seond,
whih is either added to or subtrated from the translatory veloity of nineteen miles through
s!ae. /wing to this the energy will vary from twelve to twelve hours by an amount
a!!ro"imately e)ual to 1,599,???,??? foot !ounds, whih means that energy streams in some
unknown way into and out of the body of the automaton at the rate of about si"ty6four horse6
!ower.
4ut this is not all. The wholeBsolar system is urged towards the remote onstellation &erules
at a s!eed whih some estimate at some twenty miles !er seond and owing to this there
should be similar annual hanges in the flu" of energy, whih may reah the a!!alling figure
of over one hundred billion foot !ounds. +ll these varying and !urely mehanial effets are
rendered more om!le" through the inlination of the orbital !lanes and many other
!ermanent or asual mass ations.
This automaton, is, however sub(eted to other fores and influenes. &is body is at the
eletri !otential of two billion volts, whih flutuates violently and inessantly. The whole
earth is alive with eletrial vibrations in whih he takes !art. The atmos!here rushes him
with a !ressure of from si"teen to twenty tons, aording, to barometri ondition. &e reeives
the energy of the sun.s rays in varying intervals at a mean rate of about forty foot !ounds !er
seond, and is sub(eted to !eriodi bombardment of the sun.s !artiles, whih !ass through
his body as if it were tissue !a!er. The air is rent with sounds whih beat on his eardrums,
and he is shaken by the uneasing tremors of the earth.s rust. &e is e"!osed to great
tem!erature hanges, to rain and wind.
%hat wonder then that in suh a terrible turmoil, in whih ast iron e"istene would seem
im!ossible, this deliate human engine should at in an e"e!tional mannerC *f all automata
were in every res!et alike they would reat in e"atly the same way, but this is not the ase.
There is onordane in res!onse to those disturbanes only whih are most fre)uently
re!eated, not to all. *t is )uite easy to !rovide two eletrial systems whih, when sub(eted to
the same influene, will behave in (ust the o!!osite way.
'o also two human beings, and what is true of individuals also holds good for their large
aggregations. %e all slee! !eriodially. This is not an indis!ensable !hysiologial neessity
any more than sto!!age at intervals is a re)uirement for an engine. *t is merely a ondition
gradually im!osed u!on us by the diurnal revolution of the globe, and this is one of the many
evidenes of the truth of the mehanisti theory. %e note a rhythm or ebb and tide, in ideas
and o!inions, in finanial and !olitial movements, in every de!artment of our intelletual
ativity.
&/% %+=' +=2 'T+=T23
*t only shows that in all this a !hysial system of mass inertia is involved whih affords a
further striking !roof. *f we ae!t the theory as a fundamental truth and, furthermore, e"tend
the limits of our sense !ere!tions beyond those within whih we beome onsious of the
e"ternal im!ressions, then all the states in human life, however unusual, an be !lausibly
e"!lained. + few e"am!les may be given in illustration.
The eye res!onds only to light vibrations through a ertain rather narrow range, but the limits
are not shar!ly defined. *t is also affeted by vibrations beyond, only in lesser degree. +
!erson may thus beome aware of the !resene of another in darkness, or through
intervening obstales, and !eo!le laboring under illusions asribe this to tele!athy. 'uh
transmission of thought is absurdly im!ossible.
The trained observer notes without diffiulty that these !henomena are due to suggestion or
oinidene. The same may be said of oral im!ressions, to whih musial and imitative
!eo!le are es!eially suse!tible. + !erson !ossessing these )ualities will often res!ond to
mehanial shoks or vibrations whih are inaudible.
To mention another instane of momentary interest referene may be made to daning, whih
om!rises ertain harmonious musular ontrations and ontortions of the body in res!onse
to a rhythm. &ow they ome to be in vogue (ust now, an be satisfatorily e"!lained by
su!!osing the e"istene of some new !eriodi disturbanes in the environment, whih are
transmitted through the air or the ground and may be of mehanial, eletrial or other
harater.
2"atly so it is with wars, revolutions and similar e"e!tional states of soiety.
Though it may seem so, a war an never be aused by arbitrary ats of man.
*t is invariably the more or less diret result of osmi disturbane in whih the sun is hiefly
onerned.
*n many international onflits of historial reord whih were !rei!itated by famine,
!estilene or terrestrial atastro!hes the diret de!endene of the sun is unmistakable. 4ut in
most ases the underlying !rimary auses are numerous and hard to trae.
*n the !resent war it would be !artiularly diffiult to show that the a!!arently willful ats of a
few individuals were not ausative. 4e it so, the mehanisti theory, being founded on truth
demonstrated in everyday e"!eriene, absolutely !reludes the !ossibility of suh a state
being anything but the inevitable onse)uene of osmi disturbane.
The )uestion naturally !resents itself as to whether there is some intimate relation between
wars and terrestrial u!heavals. The latter are of deided influene on tem!erament and
dis!osition, and might at times be instrumental in aelerating the lash but aside from this
there seems to be no mutual de!endene, though both may be due to the same !rimary
ause.
%hat an be asserted with !erfet onfidene is that the earth may be thrown into
onvulsions through mehanial effets suh as are !rodued in modern warfare. This
statement may be startling, but it admits of a sim!le e"!lanation.
2arth)uakes are !rini!ally due to two auses#subterranean e"!losions or strutural
ad(ustments. The former are alled volani, involve immense energy and are hard to start.
The latter are named tetoniD their energy is om!aratively insignifiant and they an be
aused by the slightest shok or tremor. The fre)uent slides in the 1ulebra are dis!laements
of this kind.
%+= +N3 T&2 2+=T&E<+:2
Theoretially, it may be said that one might think of a tetoni earth)uake and ause it to
our as a result of the thought, for (ust !reeding the release the mass may be in the most
deliate balane. There is a !o!ular error in regard to the energy of suh dis!laements. *n a
ase reently re!orted as )uite e"traordinary, e"tending as it did over a vast territory, the
energy was estimated at A5,???,???,???,??? foot tons. +ssuming even that the whole work
was !erformed in one minute it would only be e)uivalent to that of 7,5??,??? horse6!ower
during one year, whih seems muh, but is little for a terrestrial u!heaval. The energy of the
sun.s rays falling on the same area is a thousand times greater.
The e"!losions of mines, tor!edoes, mortars and guns develo! reative fores on the ground
whih are measured in hundreds or even thousands of tons and make themselves felt all over
the globe. Their effet, however, may be enormously magnified by resonane. The earth is a
s!here of a rigidity slightly greater than that of steel and vibrates one in about one hour and
forty6nine minutes.
*f, as might well be !ossible, the onussions ha!!en to be !ro!erly timed their ombined
ation ould start tetoni ad(ustments in any !art of the earth, and the *talian alamity may
thus have been the result of e"!losions in Frane. That man an !rodue suh terrestrial
onvulsions is beyond any doubt, and the time may be near when it will be done for !ur!oses
good or a!t.