“There can be no doubt that, of all the frictional
resistances, the one that most retards human movement is
ignorance. Not without reason said that man of wisdom,
Buddha: “Ignorance is the greatest evil in the world.”
The friction which results from ignorance, and which is
greatly increased owing to the numerous languages and
nationalities, can be reduced only by the spread of
knowledge and the unification of the heterogeneous
elements of humanity. No effort could be better spent.
But however ignorance may have retarded the onward
movement of man in times past, it is certain that,
nowadays, negative forces have become of greater
importance. Among these there is one of far greater
moment than any other. It is called organized warfare.
When we consider the millions of individuals, often the
ablest in mind and body, the flower of humanity, who are
compelled to a life of inactivity and unproductiveness,
the immense sums of money daily required for the
maintenance of armies and war apparatus, representing
ever so much of human energy, all the effort uselessly
spent in the production of arms and implements of
destruction, the loss of life and the fostering of a
barbarous spirit, we are appalled at the inestimable loss
to mankind which the existence of these deplorable
conditions must involve. What can we do to combat best
this great evil?” -Nikola Tesla
—Read the full article by Tesla on PBS.
[from THE ONWARD MOVEMENT OF MAN–THE ENERGY OF THE MOVEMENT–THE THREE WAYS OF INCREASING HUMAN ENERGY]
Read from the collection of articles on the Tesla index at PBS.
Photograph by Alvaro Tapia
Written in response to Smithsonian article Tesla the Eugenicist