Electric Mind
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That is where the research should be focused.

One focus of your research a century ago was cellular - and your multiple-channel approach works around the current bandwidth crunch.

My world telegraphy system makes use of continuous waves - what have come to be called Tesla currents - from which any number of operations can be derived. I realized that the first problem to overcome was that of interference, so I constructed vacuum tubes which responded to a combination of two or more frequencies. The telautomaton displayed at Madison Square Garden in 1898 was constructed in this fashion. By multiplying frequencies in this manner a virtually unlimited number of non-interfering channels can be created. The key is to combine frequencies.

Primitive forms of artificial intelligence also came from your lab. What will our first true thinking machines look like?

Primitive? I prefer the word fundamental. My plan was to construct an automaton which would have its "own mind," and by this I mean it would be able, independent of any operator, in response to external influences affecting its sensitive organs, to perform a great variety of acts and operations as if it had intelligence. It will be able to obey orders given far in advance, it will be capable of distinguishing between what it ought and ought not to do and of recording impressions which will definitely affect its subsequent actions. Further I do not believe that intelligence is artificial, but rather a property of matter.

Matter is alive?

Even matter called inorganic, believed to be dead, responds to irritants and gives unmistakable evidence of a living principle within. Everything that exists, organic or inorganic, animated or inert, is susceptible to stimulus from the outside.

Tell us more about your work on telautomatons - in other words, robots.

I conceived the idea of constructing such a machine, which would mechanically represent me and which would respond as I do myself, but of course in a much more primitive manner, to external influences. Whether the automaton be of flesh and bone, or wood and steel, it mattered little, provided it could undertake all the duties required of it like an intelligent being. With machines to do the work, man will be that much more free to increase his knowledge and productivity and thereby advance the planet.

Let's talk about longevity. At the tender age of 77, back in 1933, you told The New York Times you expected to live past your 140th birthday.

Really, you know, even now, I'm still a youngster. I've never felt better in my life. In my prime I did not possess the energy I have today. And what is more, in solving problems I use but a small part of the energy I possess for I have learned how to conserve it.

But isn't part of longevity genes, not genius?

I have descended from a people who came from the mountains of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, some who lived past 110, we even had one relative who made it to 129. I began from the start with the plan to outlive each of them. The secret of my own strength and vitality today is that in my youth I led a virtuous life. I have never dissipated this energy. I controlled my passions and appetites to make my dream come true - disciplining myself for a worthwhile life. Since I love my work above all things, it is only natural that I should continue it until I die. I want no vacation. Many are saddened and depressed by the brevity of life, and yet they do so many things to pave the way to an early grave.