I have watched the Movie about Thomas Edisons Live on TCM, at the end of the movie he is showed receiving an Award from the Academy of Science? he is making a speech and says something in the way of, that he regrets having made some of his Inventions, I guess that it was because of using them in Warfare. Is there a Transcript of that speech Online?
And did Nicola Tesla make similar statements?
Thanks
Now, I am really disappointed, this Movie must be know, it was with Spencer Tracy in the leading Role or do I not get any reply because it is such a obvious question that nobody bothers to answer it, please SDMB Members try harder…
The movie is Edison, the Man, but I don’t know if the actual Edison ever made that speech or if it was just fictionalized for the purposes of the film.
Edison was happy that none of his inventions had been turned into weapons, but he also was a consultant for the Navy during World War I. Here are some of his statements that show he was of two minds about war.
This Wikipedia page about the competition between AC and DC proponents says, “Edison later came to regret that he had not listened to Tesla and used alternating current.”
In the references section it says that this information comes from “Cheney, M., et al., (1999). Tesla, master of lightning. Page 19. (cf., ‘Edison would much later admit that the biggest mistake he ever made was in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating’.)”
I’ll assume in this context, “not listening” is euphemism for “did everything in my power to destroy the man”. Up to and including killing an elephant on air, presumably for the evulz.