Dagogo Altraide - Cold Fusion Presents: New Thinking: From Einstein to Artificial Intelligence, the Science and Technology that Transformed Our World

New
Thinking

I would like to thank God, my family, and my friends for their support, and tolerating my occasional complaining, while writing this book. A special thanks to my sister, Piriye, for her role in helping this book take shape. Last but not least, I want to show gratitude to all of my YouTube subscribers for making this opportunity possible in the first place.

ColdFusion Presents:

New
Thinking

From Einstein to Artificial Intelligence, the Science and Technology That Transformed Our World

Dagogo Altraide

Mango Publishing
Coral Gables

Copyright 2019 Dagogo Altraide

Cover Design: Dagogo Altraide
Layout Design: Jermaine Lau

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Cold Fusion Presents: New Thinking: From Einstein to Artificial Intelligence, the Science and Technology That Transformed Our World

Library of Congress Cataloging
ISBN: (print) 978-1-63353-750-7 (ebook) 978-1-63353-751-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018952299

BISAC category code: TEC000000TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / General

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

The spread of civilization may be likened to a fire; first, a feeble spark, next a flickering flame, then a mighty blaze, ever increasing in speed and power.

Nikola Tesla

The history of mankind is built on new thinking. We use the previous generation of tools as a foundation to build new tools, which in turn build even more powerful toolsa feedback loop that keeps on accelerating. Some of these innovations change the world forever: fire, steam power, the transistor. Some, not so much: the Power Glove, the Clapper, Smell-O-Vision. What hidden stories lie behind the technology we all use today? New Thinking is the story of human innovation. Through war and peace, it is humanity at its most inventive, and sometimes most destructive. In this book, we will take a walk through the history of technology, the history of us: from the Industrial Revolution to Artificial Intelligence.

Before we start, however, we need to talk about the new thinker of all new thinkersan inventor who is so important to the history of technology that hes nicknamed The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century. I am speaking, of course, about Nikola Tesla.

You wont find Teslas name in the following chapters of this book. This isnt because he isnt important. Its because he is too important. If I were to include Tesla, his name would be on every second page.

Lets run down a few of the inventions he was either instrumental in realizing, or invented himself: alternating current, the induction motor, the Tesla coil, wireless lighting, the steam-powered oscillating generator, the radio, hydroelectric power, x-ray imaging, the remote control. This doesnt even begin to list the things he envisioned but couldnt get around to or realize because his thinking was too advanced for the materials at hand. There is a reason Elon Musk named his car company after Tesla.

The legend of Nikola Tesla grows by the year, and the crazy thing is, the legend probably doesnt even capture half of the amazing truth. This is a man who once built a small earthquake machine in New York, and then dared Mark Twain to stand on it. The machine only caused a small rumble, but it was enough to loosen the bowels of the famous author. Teslas legend includes wireless power, weather control, and a death ray that he reportedly carried with him in an unmarked baga bag that mysteriously went missing after his death.

Many of the wilder legends about Tesla are unsubstantiated, though there are more than enough verified stories to fill an encyclopedia. Tesla was so ahead of his time that, when he first displayed his radio remote-control boat at an electricity exhibition in Madison Square Garden, the technology was so far beyond anything onlookers had seen that some literally thought Tesla was either a magician or telepathic, while others chalked the display up to a tiny trained monkey that had been hidden in the remote-control boat.

Alternating current, along with the induction motor, is the reason we can plug things into the walls in our homes. It was such a huge step that it wasnt just shown off at the famous 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair, it was used to light it.

Without Tesla, we wouldnt have the electricity in our homes, the motors in our cars, or the ability to change the channel when American Idol starts. We wouldnt be able to see broken bones on an x-ray image or listen to the weekly Top 40 on the radio.

Tesla is the poster boy for Arthur C. Clarkes famous quote: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

But rather than spending all of our time with this amazing Serbian-born inventor, lets start at the beginning with chapter 1, and the Industrial Revolution.

Part 1

Origins

Chapter 1

The Industrial Revolution

If youve ever eaten food you didnt grow, put on clothes you didnt make, driven a car, used electricity, watched TV, used a phone or computer, slept on a bed, used a toilet, consumed water from a tap, or been inside a building, then congratulations, youve lived with the consequences of the Industrial Revolution. This event was the single biggest change for mankind in history.

Before the Industrial Revolution, people lived on the land that provided them with food and the means for clothing and shelter. Average life expectancy was around forty years (including infant mortality), and any form of structured education was extremely rare. All the while, disease and malnutrition were rife. Until the revolution, humans never used tools or objects that werent produced within their immediate community or traded. The fastest any human could travel was the speed of a horse. Over 80 percent of the population lived on farms. With no mass production or the ability to transport large quantities of goods a long distance, people had to be close to their source of food. It was the only means of living. Today, the number of people on farms in the United States is down to less than 1 percent.

So where did the dawn of our modern era take place?

The Steam Engine That Powered a Revolution

It all began in England, around 1712. At the time, a primitive tin and coal mining industry existed, but there was a major problem. The mines would get flooded whenever it rained, and in England, rain was a pretty common occurrence. Every time a mine flooded, production stopped. This meant that production was subject to weather conditions. To deal with the flooding, scores of men carrying endless buckets of water would be commissioned to bail out the mines. As you can imagine, this was very inefficient and costly. There had to be a better solution.