Talking with the Planets
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Collier's Weekly, February 9, 1901, page 4-5
At
the request of COLLIER'S WEEKLY Mr. Tesla presents herewith a frank statement
of what he expects to accomplish and how he hopes to establish communication
with the planets.
THE IDEA of communicating with the inhabitants of other worlds is an old one.
But for ages it has been regarded merely as a poet's dream, forever unrealizable.
And with the invention and perfection of the telescope and the ever-widening
knowledge of the heavens, its hold upon our imaginations has been increased, and
the scientific achievements during the latter part of the nineteenth century,
together with the development of the tendency toward the nature ideal of Goethe,
have intensified it to such a degree that it seems as if it were destined to
become the dominating idea of the century that has just begun. The desire to
know something of our neighbors in the immense depths of space does not spring
from idle curiosity nor from thirst for knowledge, but from a deeper cause, and
it is a feeling firmly rooted in the heart of every human being capable of
thinking at all.
Whence, then, does it come? Who knows? Who can assign limits to the subtlety
of nature's influences? Perhaps, if we could clearly perceive all the intricate
mechanism of the glorious spectacle that is continually unfolding before us, and
could, also, trace this desire to its distant origin, we might find it in the
sorrowful vibrations of the earth which began when it parted from its celestial
parent.
But in this age of reason it is not astonishing to find persons who scoff at
the very thought of effecting communication with a planet. First of all, the
argument is made that there is only a small probability of other planets being
inhabited at all. This argument has never appealed to me. In the solar system,
there seem to be only two planets--Venus and Mars--capable of sustaining life
such as ours: but this does not mean that there might not be on all of them some
other forms of life. Chemical processes may be maintained without the aid of
oxygen, and it is still a question whether chemical processes are absolutely
necessary for the sustenance of organized beings. My idea is that the
development of life must lead to forms of existence that will be possible
without nourishment and which will not be shackled by consequent limitations.
Why should a living being not be able to obtain all the energy it needs for the
performance of its life functions from the environment, instead of through
consumption of food, and transforming, by a complicated process, the energy of
chemical combinations into life-sustaining energy?
If there were such beings on one of the planets we should know next to
nothing about them. Nor is it necessary to go so far in our assumptions, for we
can readily conceive that, in the same degree as the atmosphere diminishes in
density, moisture disappears and the planet freezes up, organic life might also
undergo corresponding modifications, leading finally to forms which, according
to our present ideas of life, are impossible. I will readily admit, of course,
that if there should be a sudden catastrophe of any kind all life processes
might be arrested; but if the change, no matter how great, should be gradual,
and occupied ages, so that the ultimate results could be intelligently foreseen,
I cannot but think that reasoning beings would still find means of existence.
They would adapt themselves to their constantly changing environment. So I think
it quite possible that in a frozen planet, such as our moon is supposed to be,
intelligent beings may still dwell, in its interior, if not on its surface.
I can never forget the first sensations I experienced when it dawned upon me that I had observed something possibly of incalculable consequences to mankind. I felt as though I were present at the birth of a new knowledge or the revelation of a great truth. Even now, at times, I can vividly recall the incident, and see my apparatus as though it were actually before me. My first observations positively terrified me, as there was present in them something mysterious, not to say supernatural, and I was alone in my laboratory at night; but at that time the idea of these disturbances being intelligently controlled signals did not yet present itself to me.
The changes I noted were taking place periodically, and with such a clear
suggestion of number and order that they were not traceable to any cause then
known to me. I was familiar, of course, with such electrical disturbances as are
produced by the sun, Aurora Borealis and earth currents, and I was as sure as I
could be of any fact that these variations were due to none of these causes. The
nature of my experiments precluded the possibility of the changes being produced
by atmospheric disturbances, as has been rashly asserted by some. It was some
time afterward when the thought flashed upon my mind that the disturbances I had
observed might be due to an intelligent control. Although I could not decipher
their meaning, it was impossible for me to think of them as having been entirely
accidental. The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to
hear the greeting of one planet to another. A purpose was behind these
electrical signals; and it was with this conviction that I announced to the Red
Cross Society, when it asked me to indicate one of the great possible
achievements of the next hundred years, that it would probably be the
confirmation and interpretation of this planetary challenge to us.
Since my return to New York more urgent work has consumed all my attention;
but I have never ceased to think of those experiences and of the observations
made in Colorado. I am constantly endeavoring to improve and perfect my
apparatus, and just as soon as practicable I shall again take up the thread of
my investigations at the point where I have been forced to lay it down for a
time.
At the present stage of
progress, there would be no insurmountable obstacle in constructing a machine
capable of conveying a message to Mars, nor would there be any great difficulty
in recording signals transmitted to us by the inhabitants of that planet, if
they be skilled electricians. Communication once established, even in the
simplest way, as by a mere interchange of numbers, the progress toward more
intelligible communication would be rapid. Absolute certitude as to the receipt
and interchange of messages would be reached as soon as we could respond with
the number "four," say, in reply to the signal "one, two, three." The Martians,
or the inhabitants of whatever planet had signalled to us, would understand at
once that we had caught their message across the gulf of space and had sent back
a response. To convey a knowledge of form by such means is, while very difficult,
not impossible, and I have already found a way of doing it.
What a tremendous stir this would make in the world! How soon will it come?
For that it will some time be accomplished must be clear to every thoughtful
being.
Something, at least, science has gained. But I hope that it will also be
demonstrated soon that in my experiments in the West I was not merely beholding
a vision, but had caught sight of a great and profound truth.
I shall again take up the thread of my investigations at the point where I have been forced to lay it down for a time.......