Chapter 6 of 10All chapters
Chapter 6 of 10
Communication
Distance stops mattering.
From telegraph to telephone
The telegraph separated message from messenger for the first time, cutting delivery from weeks to minutes. The telephone then carried voice, and radio removed the wire.
- Bell and Gray filed telephone claims on the same day.
- Undersea cables still carry almost all intercontinental traffic.
The internet
Packet switching, open protocols and the web turned separate networks into one. Its openness was a design choice, and much of its later trouble traces to that same choice.