You may live to see man made horrors beyond your comprehension
You may live to see man made horrors beyond your comprehension
„You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension.“
Никола Тесла 44
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You May Live To See Man-Made Horrors Beyond Your Comprehension
Nikola Tesla? Apocryphal?
Dear Quote Investigator: Nikola Tesla was a brilliant inventor and showman with a science fictional mystique. The following ominous quotation is attributed to him:
You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension.
Would you please help to find a solid citation?
Quote Investigator: The earliest strong match located by QI appeared in a 1947 “Esquire” magazine profile of Nikola Tesla titled “Ahead of His Time” by Dick Holdsworth. The quotation was spoken by the inventor during a demonstration held in New York: [1] 1947 October, Esquire, Volume 28, Number 4, Ahead of His Time by Dick Holdsworth, Start Page 124, Quote Page 125, Column 1, Esquire Inc., New York. (Verified on microfilm)
At the first Electrical Exhibition held in the old Madison Square Garden in 1898 the inventor astonished spectators as he controlled by radio remote control an iron rowboat, which floated in a large tank of water in the center of the arena.
Tesla successfully operated a propeller attached to an electric motor, and he guided the small boat through intricate movements with a rudder. The observer’s reactions to the remarkable display were influenced by a mysterious event that occurred in February 1898. An explosion ripped through the warship USS Maine while it was docked in Havana Harbor and it quickly sank. Unsurprisingly, an unnamed military man observing Tesla’s demonstration envisioned the watercraft as a potential weapon, Emphasis added by QI: [2] 1947 October, Esquire, Volume 28, Number 4, Ahead of His Time by Dick Holdsworth, Start Page 124, Quote Page 125, Column 1, Esquire Inc., New York. (Verified on microfilm)
“Why, with your radio boat—loaded with dynamite—we would have any enemy navy in the world at the bottom in no time,” exclaimed an admiral who saw the demonstration.
“With this principle,” replied Nikola Tesla more prophetically than he knew, “you may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension.”
Tesla’s words were reportedly spoken forty-nine years before the “Esquire” article appeared in 1947, and Tesla himself died four years before publication in 1943. Thus, the credibility of this ascriptional evidence is reduced. Perhaps future researchers will be able to build on this lead.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In November 1898 several newspapers published an article about Tesla’s remotely controlled boat which he demonstrated in his laboratory. The model was not placed in water instead it was displayed on a table so that the movements of the propeller and rudder were visible to visitors.
The article title and subtitle in a Washington D.C. newspaper were: “Tesla Will Abolish War” and “Peace Among Men Assured by an Electric Spark”. Indeed, Tesla noted that his device could be used to sink ships, but he preferred to emphasize a peaceful positive vision of the future: [3] 1898 November 8, The Evening Times, Tesla Will Abolish War: Peace Among Men Assured by an Electric Spark, Quote Page 3, Column 1, Washington, District of Columbia. (Newspapers_com) [4] 1898 November 11, The Topeka State Journal, Electric Marvel: Tesla Claims an Invention That Makes War Impossible, Quote Page 4, Column 3, Topeka, Kansas. (Chronicling America)
“But I have no desire that my fame should rest on the invention of a merely destructive device, no matter how terrible. I prefer to be remembered as the inventor who succeeded in abolishing war. That will be my highest pride. But there are many peaceful uses to which my invention can be put, conspicuously that of rescuing the shipwrecked.
“It will be perfectly feasible to equip our life saving stations with life cars, or life boats, directed and controlled from the shore which will approach stranded vessels and bring off the passengers and crews without risking the lives of the brave fellows who are now forced to fight their way to the rescue through the raging surf.
Skipping forward to 1999, the “New York Daily News” published an article titled “Nikola Tesla Thundermaker” with the following epigraph: [5] 1999 April 19, New York Daily News, Nikola Tesla Thundermaker by Jonathan Lewin and Jay Maeder, (Epigraph to article), New York. (Online archive nydailynews.com; accessed August 21, 2016) link
“You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension.”
— Nikola Tesla, 1898
In conclusion, there is some support for the assertion that Nikola Tesla spoke the quotation under investigation during an Electrical Exhibition held in New York in 1898. The topic of the warning was remote-controlled devices. Yet, the evidence consists of a newspaper report that appeared decades later in 1947. Thus, the current documentation is weak.
(Great thanks to Lorelei Black whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Black told QI about the 1999 citation.)
You May Live to See Man-Made Horrors Beyond Your Comprehension Meme
Popular:
You May Live to See Man-Made Horrors Beyond Your Comprehension
About
You May Live to See Man-Made Horrors Beyond Your Comprehension is a quote spoken by Nikola Tesla at the first Electrical Exhibition in September 1898 in response to a question about militarizing his radio-controlled model rowboat invention. The quote has been used in memes including image macros and photoshops over the course of the 2000s, often in response to cringeworthy or cursed content. The quote is often written, «You will live to see man-made horrors …»
Origin
According to Quote Investigator, [1] the quote first appeared in a 1947 Esquire magazine profile on Nikola Tesla. The article talks about an instance at the first Electrical Exhibition, which took place in September 1898 at Madison Square Garden. Tesla showed off a radio-operated steel rowboat at the exhibition. One demonstrator saw the potential in the boat to be militarized, suggesting that if you attached dynamite to the boat you could easily take out enemy ships. Tesla allegedly replied, «With this principle, you may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension.» The quote’s historical accuracy is not completely credible considering the gap of time between the event and the Esquire article.
Spread
The quote is often used in image macros on quote pages. For example, an image of the quote attached to some sort of metal was posted by Twitter [3] page @fractivist in 2013 (shown below, left). In June 2014 blog Emily’s Quotes [4] posted an image macro of the quote over an image of a swan (shown below, right).
The quote is sometimes used in image macros and memes as a reaction to perceived cringeworthy content. For example, on June 15th, 2017, iFunny [5] user KingCrimzon_2015 posted an image macro attaching the quote to content about a surgery that allows trans females to have children. On November 10th, 2020, now-deleted Tumblr [8] user ailment posted, ‘nikola tesla was like “you will live to see man made horrors beyond your comprehension’ yeah dude and they’ll prolly be branded with your last name. how does that make you feel» referencing Elon Musk’s company, Tesla. The post gained over 122,000 notes in a year. A screenshot of the post along with comments was shared by Instagram [9] page thedisappointingexperience on January 31st, 2021, gaining over 21,000 likes in 10 months (shown below).
On February 9th, Instagram [6] page scienceluxe posted the image of the quote on the piece of metal, gaining over 21,000 likes in nine months. On August 29th, iFunny [2] user ecrs posted a version of the Hey Girls, Did You Know meme photoshopping the quote into the bottom captions, gaining over 5,700 smiles in three months (shown below).
On September 29th, iFunny [7] user DominusTecum posted an Aww Sweet meme using the quote, gaining over 1,800 smiles in two months (show below).
58 Inspirational Quotes By Nikola Tesla That Are Still Relevant
Nikola Tesla was an inventor and engineer who garnered over 300 patents in his lifetime. His most famous work, however, was the development of alternating current which laid the foundation for futuristic technologies. Here are a few interesting piece of trivia from the life of this famous scientist.
A lightning storm was raging when Tesla was born and apparently the midwife deemed it to be a bad omen and said “This child will be a child of darkness.” Hearing this, his mother replied, “No. He will be a child of light.”
Tesla was a man of wit and humor and he would indulge in funny correspondences with friends. For instance, he penned this letter to an acquaintance after dining with friend Rudyard Kipling.
April 1, 1901
My dear Mrs. Johnson,
What is the matter with inkspiller Kipling? He actually dared to invite me to dine in an obscure hotel where I would be sure to get hair and cockroaches in the soup.
Yours truly,
N. Tesla
Tesla was an inventor who realized the importance of renewable resources and even conducted research on how to utilize energy from earth and air. He was also a humanist who is described by Jane Alcorn as someone who “did what he did for the sake of the betterment of mankind and wanted to give people an opportunity to have a better quality of life. Thus, he never seemed to care about monetary gain and never had enough money for his research.”
Here are a few inspirational quotes by the famous scientist Nikola Tesla.
Torment Nexus Meme
Popular:
Torment Nexus
About
Torment Nexus is a trope of creating a product that was originally described in fiction as something that for the benefit of humanity should never be created. Spawned by a viral tweet, the catchphrase «Don’t Create the Torment Nexus» has been used to describe such occurrences. Examples include MoviePass’ eye-tracking technology, similar to a Black Mirror episode, and Netflix’s Squid Game reality show, based on a show of the same name that was intended as a commentary on capitalism and human exploitation.
Origin
On November 8th, 2021, two weeks following Meta presenting their metaverse vision at Meta Connect 2021, Twitter [1] user @AlexBlechman made a humorous tweet in which he described a tech company blindly creating Torment Nexus from a sci-fi novel called Don’t Create the Torment Nexus. The tweet gained over 35,000 retweets and 120,800 likes in seven months (shown below).
Spread
The post by AlexBlechman received viral spread through reposts on other social media in the following weeks. For example, on November 22nd, 2021, Redditor CalibanDrive reposted it to the /r/ABoringDystopia [2] subreddit, where it gained over 15,800 upvotes in seven months. A repost to the /r/Cyberpunk [3] subreddit made on January 22nd, 2022, received over 10,300 upvotes in five months.
Following the tweet, the phrases «Torment Nexus,» «Don’t create the Torment Nexus» and variations achieved virality as a comment on news of various perceivably dystopian technologies being developed, similar to the Man-Made Horrors Beyond My Comprehension meme. For example, on February 13th, 2022, Twitter [4] user @ThomasPortz replied with a screenshot of the Torment Nexus tweet to the news of MoviePass intending to track people’s eyes through cameras while they watch ads, similar to a scene from a Black Mirror episode. The tweet gained over 360 retweets and 4,000 likes in four months (shown below, left).
On June 14th, 2022, after Netflix announced the development of a reality TV show based on its hit survival drama Squid Game, multiple tweets bringing up the Torment Nexus trope were made. For example, a tweet [5] by Twitter user @NerdyChineseBoy (shown below, left) gained 10,400 retweets and 60,000 likes in less than 24 hours, and a tweet [6] by @blockwonkel received over 190 retweets and 1,000 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, center).