Nikola Tesla: Predicting cellphones in 1926?

[Errata]

Originally Posted by jimmy101_again

"Prediction" is really pretty simple and basically has zero value. "Reduction to practice" is the key step.

Eh, it depends on context and detail. Predicting better and more widespread use of wireless communication technology in the 1920s was not a high degree of difficulty for anyone as immersed in the technology of that era as he was.

There is such a thing as an impressive prediction, but in context this isn't really one of those.

[jimmy101_again]

Originally Posted by Errata

Eh, it depends on context and detail. Predicting better and more widespread use of wireless communication technology in the 1920s was not a high degree of difficulty for anyone as immersed in the technology of that era as he was.

There is such a thing as an impressive prediction, but in context this isn't really one of those.

I agree. In a nut shell; for his prediction to be realized a couple other technologies, ones he never imagined, had to not only be invented but also widely implemented.

The Cult of Tesla gives him way to much credit for things that he really didn't contribute all that much to. And, they tend to ignore the predictions he made that were flat out wrong, or inventions that never amounted to much (or didn't even work).