A Taste of Tesla's Legacy

[StreamOfTheSky]

First I've ever heard of this...I think I joined after the second to last post! I'll read the entire thread tomorrow when I have more free time. But yay, Telsa!

 

[Roudi]

Join date in your profile: August 2005.

Date of my second-to-last post: April 2005.

Yep, you definitely joined after. No worries, there's a ton to digest, and it barely scratches the surface of what I had stored away in old documents.

 

[Thanael]

Is the misspelling of Tesla's name intentional? (Hint: It's not Nikolai!)

 

[Roudi]

Yeah. It's an old draft, so it's my bad, not intentional.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Just a quibble- as I recall, after the DC vs AC battle, Tesla and Edison weren't on the best of terms, so I'm a bit puzzled by your use of the name "EdiTech." I realize that the CEO who founded this company wasn't the Wizard of Menlo Park, but the RW Tesla was whacky and stubborn enough to harbor a grudge about the possibility of his and Edisons names being linked again, esp. without his name being featured.

Given that this is alt-history, you might presume that he didn't tear up his royalty check with Westinghouse, which would have made him the world's first billionaire (no, I'm not exaggerating) and possibly having his TeslaTech company being run by the young George...and reveling in the coup of having his old rival's descendant working for him.

Other than that...nice!

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Just a quibble- as I recall, after the DC vs AC battle, Tesla and Edison weren't on the best of terms, so I'm a bit puzzled by your use of the name "EdiTech." I realize that the CEO who founded this company wasn't the Wizard of Menlo Park, but the RW Tesla was whacky and stubborn enough to harbor a grudge about the possibility of his and Edisons names being linked again, esp. without his name being featured.

Why is it whacky and stubborn? I hate Edison for what he did, and I never even knew Tesla personally. Tesla worked for Edison, but Edison didn't reimburse him for his work, as promised. The sick electrocuted animals in the street and pushed for AC to be used for the first electric chair execution (which he helped sponsor the creation of) to tie Tesla's superior idea to death. He deserves every bit of ridicule and scorn that can be thrown at him. I know Tesla was eccentric, probably had OCD, and maybe was a bit crazy, but I don't understand how he's so uniformly considered a mad scientist and yet no one tends to accuse a man who calmly murdered defenseless animals on stage as a matter of spectacle to be one.

Back to the thread topic, I am still a little confused as to the Tesla/Edison relation in this setting, too.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Why is it whacky and stubborn?

<snip>

I know Tesla was eccentric, probably had OCD, and maybe was a bit crazy, but I don't understand how he's so uniformly considered a mad scientist and yet no one tends to accuse a man who calmly murdered defenseless animals on stage as a matter of spectacle to be one.

Back to the thread topic, I am still a little confused as to the Tesla/Edison relation in this setting, too.

I'm saying its whacky and stubborn to hold the grudge against
Gregory Thomas (G.T.) Edison, not Thomas Alva Edison. G.T. had nothing to do with what T.A. did.

And no, I don't consider him a "mad scientist"- I consider him a great genius who happened to have a couple of low-level disorders (definitely OCD), plus a bit of a temper.

 

[Roudi]

Dannyalcatraz has it right in his second post. G.T. Edison is not his uncle, Thomas. As far as the setting goes, none of the history is changed; Tesla and Edison were still at odds, both lived and died as we all know they did (insofar as we know anything about Tesla's mysterious death). It just so happens that Edison's nephew has been secretly continuing Tesla's work. The key here is "secretly". Not so secret if your public corporation is calle TeslaTech now, is it?

It's also a bit of historic irony; Tesla's mantle taken up by an Edison. Given how G.T. Edison bears that mantle, it's up to the reader to decide if it carries the same spirit as Tesla or if he's perverted the work of a great scientist.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

OK, I can buy that.

P.S.: As a black American living in the South, this made me giggle:

G.T. Edison is not his uncle, Thomas.

 

[kroh]

Nice to see that this is back on track. I still have more images for this that have sat around and kind of lingered. IN any case... what if anything is happening to the images that were there and do you need the other ones?

Regards,
Walt