Althouse: "Is it ironic or apt that a man who had dedicated much of his life to the future of wireless communication would fall for the ancient, living technology of a carrier pigeon?"

March 4, 2015

"Is it ironic or apt that a man who had dedicated much of his life to the future of wireless communication would fall for the ancient, living technology of a carrier pigeon?"

"And is it ironic or apt that a man whose final years as an inventor were dedicated to a fearful direct-energy 'teleforce' weapon (dubbed the 'death ray' by the press) fell in love with the key symbol for peace?"

18 comments:

Laslo Spatula said...: Link didn't work for me.

I am Laslo.; 3/4/15, 8:39 AM
Curious George said...: Bad link; 3/4/15, 8:53 AM
traditionalguy said...: The Death Ray is zapping the link. It is like the new solar energy bird barbecues we are all paying for because Green Energy idiots hate birds.; 3/4/15, 8:56 AM
madAsHell said...: I haven't read the article yet, but I've seen enough dementia to know....even sharp minds fail.; 3/4/15, 10:03 AM
Paco Wové said...: This is probably the intended link.

Now up on Amazon: Man's search for Irony, by Viktor Frankl.

Ironic hipsters love love love Tesla. He's all science-y and romantic, never hard and boring.; 3/4/15, 10:20 AM
Rocketeer said...: I'm no ironic hipster, but I love Tesla. Brilliant, but, you know - Pigeon Love - so insane too.; 3/4/15, 10:54 AM
Peter said...: Is the link supposed to go here?

http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/55/pettman.php

If so, I thought the most meaningful parts were at the end:

"Dominic Pettman is a professor of culture and media at the New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College, New York. His books include In Divisible Cities (Punctum Books, 2013) and Human Error: Species Being and Media Machines (University of Minnesota Press, 2011)."

"Cabinet is published by Immaterial Incorporated, a non-profit organization supported by the Lambent Foundation, the Orphiflamme Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Danielson Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Katchadourian Family Foundation, and many generous individuals."

Species Being, the New School, and government support: what could possibly go wrong?; 3/4/15, 12:00 PM
Mary Beth said...: http://Is it ironic or apt that a man who had dedicated much of his life to the future of wireless communication would fall for the ancient, living technology of a carrier pigeon?; 3/4/15, 12:24 PM
Mary Beth said...: http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/55/pettman.php

?

I have not become a robot in the last 2 or 3 minutes.; 3/4/15, 12:27 PM
Bobby said...: I'm also no ironic hipster, but I think all Americans should love love love Tesla. He's definitely on the short list of Americans that were most responsible for our industrial-fueled growth into a global superpower- had his and Westinghouse's AC not prevailed over Edison and JP Morgan's DC in the War of Currents, our growth and development as a nation would have been greatly stifled. No way we could have scaled up the way we did as efficiedntly as we did. (And I'm not even talking about the third combatant, Rockefeller's Standard Oil, which- had they succeeded in the War- would have set us back decades or more).

Fortunately, capitalism (specifically, competition) allowed the best to rise. More proof that government works best when it enforces contracts, preserves competition and stays away from making choices for industry as to what works best for them.; 3/4/15, 12:35 PM
Jaq said...: As someone who spent the better part of my career in telecom messaging protocols, I will say it is apt.

Since it appears to be about Tesla, all bets are off. There are lots of unsolved and fascinating aspects of carrier pigeon navigation. Early theories were that they sensed the same kinds of electromagnetic waves, somehow, that were the subject of Tesla's life's work. I think now the thinking is that they listen to subsonic vibrations generated by the geology of the area.

There is a spot in Upstate New York, near Cornell, famous for its ornithology department which studies such things, where they get consistently lost.

Incidentally, Mozart also fell in love with a bird, a starling. The story goes that he would play a scale for the bird and the bird would not only sing it back to him, but everywhere Mozart sharped the scale, the starling would flat it.

Supposedly, according to some people, Mozart's "musical joke" was actually composed upon the death of this bird, and is theorized to be something only he and the bird would understand.; 3/4/15, 1:27 PM
Jaq said...: I liked my chicken Ginger, and was very upset to hear the neighbor's dog munching on her one night after pulling the siding off the chicken coup, but I don't think I am a genius.; 3/4/15, 1:30 PM
Larry J said...: Bobby said...
I'm also no ironic hipster, but I think all Americans should love love love Tesla. He's definitely on the short list of Americans that were most responsible for our industrial-fueled growth into a global superpower- had his and Westinghouse's AC not prevailed over Edison and JP Morgan's DC in the War of Currents, our growth and development as a nation would have been greatly stifled.

Westinghouse and Tesla won the War of Currents, only to lose. Tesla tore up his contract with Westinghouse for patent royalties worth $10 million (in the late 1800s, which could be over a billion dollars today). He was essentially broke when he died. Edison and his backers (especially JP Morgan) formed General Electric. They had far more money than Westinghouse and waged lawfare to get those patents. They had no claim on those patents but with their resources, they could bankrupt Westinghouse. Westinghouse caved. GE and Morgan became the dominate players in the electric market after that.; 3/4/15, 1:32 PM
Larry J said...: "And is it ironic or apt that a man whose final years as an inventor were dedicated to a fearful direct-energy 'teleforce' weapon (dubbed the 'death ray' by the press) fell in love with the key symbol for peace?"

Since when have pigeons been the key symbol for peace? I thought those were doves.; 3/4/15, 1:33 PM
Jaq said...: Pigeon is the common name for the Rock Dove.; 3/4/15, 1:41 PM
ken in tx said...: Pigeons are a kind of dove. They are also known as Rock Doves.; 3/4/15, 1:44 PM
Bobby said...: Larry,

Yeah, that's another fascinating part of Tesla's story, right? He knew and understood that AC was superior because of its ability to be transmitted over great distances. But he also knew that his patent royalties made it economically unviable - in a rather altruistic move, he waived his royalties (and as you point out, ultimately died in poverty as a result) so that Westinghouse could compete and win.

At the end of the day, you're right that JP Morgan won the war behind the War- he'd bought out Edison and turned Edison Electric into GE; he'd muscled his way into using AC instead of Edison's inferior DC; and he lit up the country. I'm not at all discounting JP Morgan's contribution, but he did it with Tesla's AC, not Edison's DC (which, if they hadn't fought in the War of Current, he'd never have known the problems with Edison's DC, not being an engineer himself).; 3/4/15, 3:22 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Sorry about the bad link. Thanks to those who provided it.

Fixed now.; 3/4/15, 9:47 PM