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Hello Xerxes,
None are fanciful, actually.
I explain why.
The Rearden Metal, and the 10 years of
researches undertaken by Henry Rearden might take place today in the frame
of a new science known as nanotechnology, which allows the making of
new material by molecular building at an atomic scale. It didn't
exist during the 50's, but it does today and led to the discovery of
new experimental materials whose characteristics supersede those of
steel, indeed.
The motor of John Galt is an idea Ayn
Rand found in the works of Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), one of the greatest inventors
ever who truly undertook some experiments around this possibility
during the late XIXth century. Nikola Tesla was said to be
extraordinarily gifted, as John Galt is, and you will be struck by
the following (excerpts I took on Wikipedia):
“In 1899, Tesla decided to move and
began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have
room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his
arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy
experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris.
Tesla also investigated atmospheric
electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers.
Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an
unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical
resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and
regeneration techniques). Tesla stated that he observed stationary
waves during this time.”
The nature of the works of Nikola Tesla
also suggests that it problably inspired Ayn Rand about the field of
researches of Docteur Robert Stadler (formerly John Galt professor of
physics at the College Patrick Henry), as well as the the special
radio transmitter John Galt uses to air his speech while
simultaneously jamming all other radio and television stations.
Remember when she is discovering the
remnants of the motor in the laboratory of the Twentieth Century
Motor Company, Dagny remembers something similar and previously
undertaken long ago, but not finished for wants of a solution and
then abandoned, that she had read in some books while she studied in college. Ayn Rand does not
name Nikolas Tesla, in this paragraph, but it is suggested thus way.
About the device that disintegrates
everything, Ayn Rand's description of the secret laboratory of John
Galt in New York suggests a giant microwave. For, you'll notice that
Ayn Rand wrote at some point that the walls and ceiling of this
laboratory are full covered with plate of a sort of soft metal, whose
raison-d'être might be to reflect microwaves inside. About this, I
wouldn't be surprised if someone told me some day that Ayn Rand heard about
Alfred Loomis who built a secret laboratory in his house of Tuxedo
Park (near New York City) during WWII, where he led many experiments around
microwaves that led, between other things, to the making of efficient
radars.
Now, about the “mirage” that hide
the Galt Gulch, I guess that it is not difficult to find the
similarity and effects of this device with the making of holographic
pictures. Ayn Rand descriptions strongly suggest a giant holographic
projector (whose original picture used as false bottom is a view of
an authentic scenery located near the Galt Gulch, as John Galt explains
it to Dagny at some point.)
I will ad to your list the Project X
(aka Xylophone, aka Thompson harmonizer) whose description suggest,
once more, the experiments of Nikola Tesla, but for the fact that Ayn
Rand is talking about "sonic waves", although the effects on the target
(the farm) rather suggest a beam of microwaves.
So, as a conclusion, let's say that all
futuristic inventions introduced in Atlas Shrugged never come from
free imagination, and are, on the contrary, inspired by authentic
researches that really took place. This fits a pattern as all other facts pertaining to
other field such as economy and psychology introduced in Atlas Shrugged
are true (All aspects of the mind of James Taggart fit perfectly, and
without any discrepancies, the exacts symptoms and psychological
patterns of Narcistic Personnality Disorder, as example).
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