The power of the telegraph to make peace seems to be over qualified by the population early in its service. As we can see today, being able to talk to everyone in the world is pretty overrated, and many conflicts arise because of this fact specifically. It is hard to imagine information taking so long to move, especially growing up in the Internet age. I also thought it was interesting how the news used to operate back then. Can you imagine if the New York Times decided to hold out a very crucial piece of information just because they were worried about if there would be enough news the next day? That seems insane now a days, as the news is only as good as its promptness. The prase no news is good news must have come about after the days of the telegraph, because before that no news meant that your newspaper was in bad shape for that.
The relationships that developed over the wire was also something that sparked my interest. The more that I think about it, it is not that much of a stretch (with all the Internet dating that occurs now a days). It still seems that developing a relationship with someone that you have never even seen or wrote would be frowned upon by the families of both parties. Also, the marriage by telegraph does not seem like it would be legally binding, as I do not figure you could get married over the Internet and it be considered very legit.
2 comments:
I too thought it a bit silly when The Victorian Internet stated that when The Atlantic Telegraph was finally completed and working someone said that there can now be peace and unity because they will be able to communicate amongst countries. If that were the least bit true then here in this present day of unlimited networking and communication around the world, we should have Universal peace. But like Ross stated “being able to talk to everyone in the world is pretty overrated, and many conflicts arise because of this fact specifically.” Now I’m not saying that having world communication is not useful because there are many conflicts that are actually resolved because of this. However, there are still those conflicts which arise only because we have this ability to communicate with the world. Every new invention has its pros and cons and the telegraph, just like the internet, had more pros than cons. What would make for a better “pro” than to be able to play a colleague a relaxing game of chess hundreds of miles away or even across the country through a telegraph?
I think the expectations they describe are not too overly hopeful. When Ross said, "being able to talk to everyone in the world is pretty overrated..." he is exemplifying the fact that we are in our age and time, just as the Victorians were. There are breakthroughs we think will be spectacular and amazing, that 200 years from now people will mock our expectations. Every generation does it. A breakthrough for them that could break their most difficult obstacles (fast communication) should hold the expectation of something as grand as world peace. Such as curing Aids and Cancer for us...we will believe it to be the answer to man's mortality or something...
Although internet dating is not exactly the most popular way to meet someone, it's growing. I don't see any reason why in some time, marriage by internet would not be possible. We have to consider that certain aspects of the internet (or the internet at all) is still rather new for us. In 100 years when the internet is as common as having a pencil and paper, I doubt marriage or relationship building through the internet will be frowned upon or unpopular. I can't even fathom what the internet will be like...people can meet now, with our primitive means of communication?
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