LOL In The Age Of The Telegraph

Electricity was seen as a game changer back in the days.

When people first discovered it, they would only see sparks of it.

Overtime, they would see it carry out in a continuous pattern.

Eventually, humans wondered if electricity could carry information?

The answer was yes.

It could.

This was a game changer because it gave the world a peak into global communications.

Can this cable really serve as a link between continents?

Only one way to find out.

The first few times the US tried to lay the cable overseas, it snapped.

The next few times, the cable made it, but the long distances corroded the signals.

But the effort continued.

After a large period of time, the cable had been successfully laid between different parts of the world.

The telegraph turned the world into a global village.

The era of the telegraph was seen as the Victorian Internet.

A place where information was exchanged at rapid rates.

And ideas were spread.

Image source

The cabled telegraph laid the foundations for the wireless telegraph.

The wireless telegraph gave rise to the radio.

The radio gave rise to the TV.

And the interconnection of all those communications gave rise to the internet.

In many ways, the telegraph is the reason you can read this email today.

It laid down the frameworks for information technology in the 21st century.

I sometimes wonder how big the internet will get.

Will it get too big for our own good?

Is big data making artificial intelligence sooner than later?

And how much of the world will get digitized...

In the 21st century, becoming fluent in technology is going to play a huge role in terms of communication.

Many saw the telegraph as some sort of 'fad' in their era.

But it was the opposite.

Each new piece of technology has the potential to become communications technology.

And communications technology impacts sociology.

I use my engineering background to view the technical elements of communication skills.

From the human aspect to the machine aspect.

Each side intertwines with each new generation.

My recommendation from this article is to observe old school technology to see how far we have come.

See if you can find a Walkman from your childhood or analyze the last time you used one.

When you see how far we have come, you'll start staying more aware for the future.

Changes in the world of technology comes in tsunamis, not waves.

And the impacts will always spill over to the world of humans.

Till tomorrow

Trilston 💲