Circumstances make the man

The intention of raising the topic of Tesla"s actions and works, was to illustrate the fact that it is possible to live within a society and yet be detached to it. The culture of the community that Tesla lived in, was to innovate technology, and create patents out of the innovation and following the chain of causality, to profit out of the patents, usually in the form of material benefits, for example status and money. Most innovators during that time period had fallen within this stereotype which isn"t far from the truth, like Marconi and more prominently Edison, who incidentally both heavily profited from Tesla"s work. But despite this intrinsic convention of innovation and discovery for profit, Tesla was solely interested in the actual progression of his work, instead of the profit he may later gain from it. The culture and circumstance of the situation did not influence his interests and beliefs. "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" - Isaac Newton. This could be especially applied to the case of Tesla, who had the misfortune of living in a world with a relatively weak foundation of the understanding of electrical mechanics. Although, it should be pointed out that it is these circumstances of the lack of understanding that provided the circumstances which allowed Tesla to reveal himself. Perhaps if he stood on the shoulders on taller giants, (e.i. lived in an era with a more significantly progressed theoretical framework of electrical mechanics) he would still have made large contributions towards mankind"s technological competency. This should not be mistaken as him being a different man, as to what he was, but merely understood as the fact that he is able to reveal the man he is, under different, more advanced circumstances. Should Tesla have gotten brain damage from the external environment, it would be reasonable to speculate that his character would, in fact change, though this would be similar to stating that had Tesla been shot and killed, that would have also changed the man he was. It is difficult to avoid the argument of semantics, though it would be unsound to assume that the principles of scientific determinism on one"s consciousness would be considered a "circumstance". If it were, the following would also have to be taken into account: -The arrangement of molecules in your brain -The following chemical reactions within your brain that affect behavior -Constants which are embedded into reality that express the physical and quantum world in this exact form, which allow the molecules and chemical elements to exist the way they do Agreed, that free will cannot change the circumstances of our lives, but it has a large and significant amount of impact on how we react to the circumstances brought upon us. Circumstances do not define the individual, but allows us to shape who we are, based on how we choose to act upon the given circumstances. An American who had his/her loved one killed in 9/11 could either choose to despise the entire Islam demographic for the rest of his/her life, or acknowledge that it is merely the actions of an extreme few and does not define the entire population. Even though about half the American population share the latter sentiment, it is more noteworthy that the other half does not. No matter what the circumstance, the universality of logic is able to overcome the circumstance of the indoctrination via the external environment. A man is measured by his actions, and his actions alone. Circumstance can change lives, but the other, more important and significant part are the actions which respond to those circumstances. Circumstances can only make the man if the man allows it to. Pro is pro. The floor is yours, Pro.