Why would Tesla want free enrgy for everyone?

[zoobyshoe]

Not only that, he was respected enough that an SI unit was named after him.

That's true. Also a band, and a car.

 

[Proton Soup]

That nutcase is coming out of your wall at 60hz as you read this. He had one or two sound ideas.

ya, he was even playing with remote control boats at the time while letting credit for "radio" slip to marconi. the guy was completely brilliant, while edison was a hack who was probably mostly taking credit for the ideas of the guys working in his shop (one of whom was Tesla, briefly).

 

[Relay]

Tesla was a great scientist and a terrible business man. He helped the industrial revolution to proceed much faster than it could have without him.
If we look at his last years, the candle is out. He died poor, confused, and broken. He was hit by a taxi and tried to cure himself.
If I recall right, Henry Ford died in a similar way. A spring thaw flooded the river banks near his power house. He died in a dark, cold, wet home.
So don't burn your candle on both ends, it won't end well.

 

[RaDoonZ]

I believe Tesla would have made money off every tower that was built. There needed to be towers that created and projected the electrical power into the air. I think everyone would also need some way to harvest electric from the air and convert/clean it for household and business use. He would in fact make quite a bit of money from the patented tech every time one was sold and installed.

 

[alt]

Don't know about Tesla, but the notion of free energy for everyone is a bit of a, umm, pyrrhic one, I would say. Imagine, if there was boundless free energy. Rather than some utopia resulting, I think the consequences would be disastrous.

 

[Proton Soup]

I believe Tesla would have made money off every tower that was built. There needed to be towers that created and projected the electrical power into the air. I think everyone would also need some way to harvest electric from the air and convert/clean it for household and business use. He would in fact make quite a bit of money from the patented tech every time one was sold and installed.

wouldn't work. a patent only protects you for a few years. then anyone can build a device to leach off the atmospheric grid that YOU pay money to energize. or, they could ignore your patent rights, leach off the grid before your patent expires, and send you into financial ruin right away.

 

[Relay]

Maybe Tesla found a way to get energy for free. There's no shortage of energy in the universe. The Earth intercepts only one part of 2.205 billion parts of energy which the Sun puts out. We still can't reproduce his ball lightning. Maybe he was a nice guy.

 

[Drakkith]

Maybe Tesla found a way to get energy for free. There's no shortage of energy in the universe. The Earth intercepts only one part of 2.205 billion parts of energy which the Sun puts out. We still can't reproduce his ball lightning. Maybe he was a nice guy.

Nice Guy Tesla. Sounds like a meme.

 

[rootX]

Few prices stat:
http://www.hydroquebec.com/publications/en/comparison_prices/pdf/comp_2010_en.pdf

Electricity would never be free but at least so cheap that at least it's unfeasible for next few decades to consider new means of harnessing energy in the universe.

 

[Drakkith]

Few prices stat:
http://www.hydroquebec.com/publications/en/comparison_prices/pdf/comp_2010_en.pdf

Electricity would never be free but at least so cheap that at least it's unfeasible for next few decades to consider new means of harnessing energy in the universe.

Odd...told me the file was damaged and couldn't be repaired...

 

[zoobyshoe]

Why we Tesla want to give away free energy when he knew he could make money off
of it?

His motives were probably psychological. As a boy there was an incident in his village where his interest in machines and devices paid off unexpectedly to increase his status:

"A new fire engine had been purchased, along with uniforms for a fire department, and this called for a celebration. The community turned out for a parade, there were speeches, and then the command was given to pump water with the new equipment. Not a drop came from the nozzle. While the village fathers stood in puzzled dismay, the bright lad flung himself into the river and found, as he had suspected, that the hose had collapsed. He corrected the problem, instantly drenching the delighted village fathers. Long after, Tesla would recall that 'Archimedes running naked thru the streets of Syracuse did not make a greater impression than myself. I was carried on the shoulders and was the hero of the day.'"

Tesla, Man Out of Time
Margaret Chaney, p. 8

I think Tesla spent most of his life trying to regain/maintain that hero status he enjoyed when he saved the day back in his village. Being hailed as the hero who gave free electricity to all would have been a reward more valuable to him than money.