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Mr_Mayhem's avatar

To sum it up, Tesla’s problem was he delivered too much sizzle, and not enough steak.

Isn’t that the case also for the occult scene in general?

Someone said the basis for supporting flat-earth cults, is they ascribe enormous significance to seemingly revealing trivial minutia or false paradoxes in the overall scheme of the primary matter under consideration, while rejecting and blocking interplay of general organizing principles that actually determine the outcomes.

It’s classic sleight of hand, and “good” cult constructs get people to echo it like a viral parrot.

The issue isn’t the issue, it’s the method or emphasis used to construct a model of reality, that is the issue.

And the Magicians’s emphasis is to fool people by their own acceptance of a fallacy of conjecture, not merely of a particular pile of facts, but acceptance of the false way “truth” is derived from them.

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Vasile's avatar

I liked the parallel with ed Kaczynski (aka The Unabomber).

Also liked the fact that "logarithm" (instead of algorithm) wording was fixed.

Re: Cybernetics: I think the merit for laying the foundational work in the Science of Cybernetics, should be shared between Norbert Wiener and a Romanian. Matthew, did you know about Ștefan Odobleja ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%98tefan_Odobleja )?

Now, in regards to Tesla's automaton: Are we sure it's not a misinterpretation of the actual public demonstration and patent? Isn't it about the radio remote-controlled little boat - which marks Tesla's dabble into long range radio-based communication? I'm not sure if Tesla had an assistant during those public demonstrations. If he had one, are we sure such person wasn't just assisting with guiding / maneuvering the radio-controlled boat? I'm trying to understand, and put into the right context, Tesla's statements regarding the variability / shielding effect of the radio transmitter due to demonstrator's / controller's body movement, or "flexing muscles". Because technically speaking, there is some truth in that (especially with an under-powered transmitter, or difficult EM propagation in a specific region etc). Other than that, I find it hilarious.

One key takeaway that I've learned from this series on Tesla so far: Every human is multi-faceted: There is Tesla the Engineer, Tesla the Theoretical Physicist, Tesla the psychological / sociological being, Tesla the Metaphysicist and Cosmologist, Tesla the dreamer-of-future, Tesla the Eugenicist, and so on :).

And I'll make sure to remember him mostly for the Engineer facet, i.e. where he had excelled.

This brings in a possibly interesting idea: Matthew, what would you say if you did the same exercise and started a series on: "Einstein the Human", to also remove lots of aura and myths about such character? And to keep the analysis fair with Tesla in the same time.

Thank you.

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