“In the twenty-first century, the robot will take the place which slave labor occupied in ancient civilization. There is no reason at all why most of this should not come to pass in less than a century, freeing mankind to pursue its higher aspirations.”
In 1898, at the Electrical Exhibition in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Nikola Tesla unveiled what he called a “teleautomaton,” a small, wireless, radio-controlled boat. Before an audience of more than 15,000 spectators, he demonstrated how he could start it, stop it, steer it, and change its direction simply by transmitting signals through the air. The vessel contained one of the earliest practical radio receivers, electromagnetic relays, and a coded logic-based control system. The device was effectively the precursor of modern robotics, autonomous vehicles, drones, and remote automation.
In his 1935 article, A Machine to End War, published in Liberty magazine, Tesla predicted a future when robots and “thinking machines” are employed.
“Innumerable activities still performed by human hands today will be performed by automatons. At this very moment, scientists working in the laboratories of American universities are attempting to create what has been described as a ‘thinking machine.’ I anticipated this development.
I actually constructed ‘robots.’ Today the robot is an accepted fact, but the principle has not been pushed far enough. In the twenty-first century, the robot will take the place which slave labor occupied in ancient civilization. There is no reason at all why most of this should not come to pass in less than a century, freeing mankind to pursue its higher aspirations.”
Tesla’s view on using robots in place of humans for laborious work echoes that of Deltavash, a Pleiadian spiritual guide for James Carwin, the author of Pleiadian Prophecy 2020: The New Golden Age.
“From our perspective, as The Pleiadian Alliance has observed and recorded the histories of over 100 thousand civilizations throughout the universe, we have noticed a pattern with regards to the use of robots. Generally speaking, positive societies tend to employ robots for jobs that require monotonous, strenuous work. It is considered inhumane to relegate sentient beings to the tiring pains and stresses of hard labor. Therefore, positive societies prefer to use non-sentient artificial intelligence, or robots, to perform these tasks. Negative societies, on the other hand, do not employ robots for stressful work. They instead prefer the use of fully sentient, living beings. Condemning sentient beings to lifetimes of hard labor is considered a way of enforcing hierarchy and sadistic dominance over others. This is why we are excited about sharing this prediction with you because as your world becomes more positive, you will find yourselves gradually freeing yourselves from the stresses of menial, degrading tasks that can be easily done by computerized robots instead.”
Back in 1994, our Most Benevolent Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) already expressed a similar view on this subject during a gathering with our Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association members (all vegans).
“Actually I heard that some of the outer-planet people have offered a way to civilize more, more civilize our planet. And then we don’t have to do much, you know, electricity, water, everything is free of charge or very cheap. Then you don’t have to worry much about the things you eat and the necessities of life to take care of the body. Then we can devote our time and talent, for example for improving our spiritual knowledge.”
Tesla’s prediction about the 21st century as an age of robotics is being fulfilled by recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics.
“Alright, so, coming into the year, all the hype, right? 2025, the year of the humanoid robot. Now, of course, they’re not on every street corner yet, but they are here. In fact, I want you to meet KOID. That’s right. KOID is a Unitree G1 Ultimate robot. Say ‘hallo.’”
“This morning, concerns that Amazon, the second largest private employer in the country, is planning one of the biggest workplace transformations in modern history. In a fulfillment center, the Cardinal robot will pack packages into carts. The New York Times, citing leaked documents, reports Amazon expects sales to double by 2033. Growth that would normally require 600,000 more workers.”
“You said recently ‘tens of billions of robots,’ but that’s decades away. (At least one decade away.) It’s got to be more than that. (It’s going to grow very fast.) Why do you think that? (I think humanoid robots will be the biggest product ever. The demand will be insatiable.) You’ve said that… (Everyone’s going to want one. It’s like, basically, who wouldn’t want their own personal C-3PO? R2-D2? No. Everyone.)
Right. You’ve said that, and you know, your goal, you’ve also said, is to produce a million robots, I think by 2030, that’s what I had you on the record as saying. (Yeah, I think that’s a reasonable target.)”
Elon Musk projects that as AI and robotics continue to develop over the next 10 to 20 years, “Working will be optional,” “People will have any goods and services that they want,” and “Currency becomes irrelevant.” He envisions “a future of abundance, a future where there is no poverty, where people, you can have whatever you want, in terms of products and services. It really is a fundamental transformation of civilization as we know it.”
“November 20. 2025 - Elon Musk: People often talk about sort of eliminating poverty and that kind of thing... There’s lots of talk, you know, there’s lots of NGOs sort of trying to do these things but really not succeeding. And, you know, the evidence speaks for itself. But AI and humanoid robots will actually eliminate poverty.
Where will things end up? Long term—I don’t know what long term is, maybe it’s 10, 20 years, something like that. For me, that’s long term. My prediction is that work will be optional.
I mean, it’ll be like playing sports or a video game or something like that. If you want to work, you know, in the same way like you can go to the store and just buy some vegetables, or you could grow vegetables in your backyard. It’s much harder to grow vegetables in your backyard, but some people still do it because they like growing vegetables. That will be what work is like: optional.
My guess is, if you go out long enough, assuming there’s a continued improvement in AI and robotics, which seems likely, money will stop being relevant at some point in the future.”
The development of Elon Musk’s Tesla Optimus and other robots such as Boston Dynamics’ Atlas, Unitree Robotics’ G1, and Agility Robotics’ Digit is taking us one step closer to realizing Nikola Tesla’s dream – “freeing mankind to pursue its higher aspirations.”
One of Nikola Tesla’s theories that scientists have yet to explore further is his concept of “luminiferous ether.” He even designed experiments at Wardenclyffe Tower to use the ether for wireless power transmission. In an article titled Man’s Greatest Achievement, published in the San Antonio Sunday Light, 1930, Nikola Tesla discussed humankind’s ultimate destiny and what can be considered its crowning achievement as a species.
“What has the future in store for this strange [human] being, born of a breath, of perishable tissue, yet immortal, with his powers fearful and Divine? What magic will be wrought by him in the end? What is to be his greatest deed, his crowning achievement?”
“Long ago, he recognized that all perceptible matter comes from a primary substance, of a tenuity beyond conception and filling all space–the Akasa or luminiferous ether– which is acted upon by the life-giving Prana or creative force, calling into existence, in never-ending cycles, all things and phenomena.”
“The primary substance, thrown into infinitesimal whirls of prodigious velocity, becomes gross matter; the force subsiding, the motion ceases and matter disappears, reverting to the primary substance.” […]
“To create and to annihilate material substance, cause it to aggregate in forms according to his desire, would be the supreme manifestation of the power of Man’s mind, his most complete triumph over the physical world, his crowning achievement which would place him beside his Creator and fulfill his ultimate destiny.”
Tesla famously made the following statements that touch on the subjects of energy, the “emptiness,” or the core, from which all things come.
“If you want to find the secrets of the Universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”
“I am trying to awaken the energy contained in the air. These are the main sources of energy. What is considered as empty space is just a manifestation of matter that is not awakened.”
“My brain is only a receiver – in the Universe there is a Core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this Core, but I know that it exists.”
“What one man calls God, another calls the laws of physics.” - Nikola Tesla
Regarding Nikola Tesla’s “luminiferous ether” and his understanding of the true nature of our existence, our Most Wise Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) shared Her illuminating insights with our Association members at the 1994 New Year gathering in Thailand.
“There is a great scientist of the West. His name is Tesla. You remember? Tesla. T-E-S-L-A. Yes, yes. You don’t remember? A great American. […]
You see, what he has proved in science is just like we meditate. We find out the real emptiness, or people call it different names. They call it God. They call it Kingdom of God. They call it Buddha Nature. They call it Energy. They call it Quantum Theory, everything, but that is a real thing!
When we meditate, we empty ourselves of everything, and then we enter into this real emptiness, you know. The real substance of all things. And from then, we have substance. It will flow into ourselves and make us become better and better and then more intelligent.
Because that is what Tesla aimed at also. The real emptiness from inside. That’s where all things come from. That’s where you come from, I came from. But since we already solidify ourselves into this kind of form, we might just as well enjoy it. Tesla also has proved like many of other scientists have proved that all things are really not solid as we think. Yeah, that’s why.
So the Buddha has proved also that really our body is illusionary. Yeah, He said like that. It is nothing mysterious. It is very scientific. When we look inside, we find nothing - no body, no substance, nothing, just a real existence, a real energy. That’s where we came from. If we don’t look at us as a body, then that’s where we come from. That’s the real energy from which everything comes.
That’s what Tesla said: if we can get in touch and isolate that real emptiness, you know, that real substance, then we can make every use of them and make everything out of it. So we can run cars, run airplanes, everything free of charge. No need petroleum, no need to abuse the world, the world resources. […]
Anyhow, maybe in the future we’ll have more scientists. Scientists will prove that meditation is real. They’d use scientific way to get the substance, the real substance out of the emptiness. And we’d use our own mechanical body and intelligent brain to take it out for meditation, and then to realize we come from there and we go back there. And we’re originally not physical. That’s where you came from.
So we have to use a kind of scientific explanation to satisfy our mysterious practice also. And it’s nothing mysterious really.”
In the next episode, we’ll explore the mysterious signals Nikola Tesla (vegetarian) received from outer space.
