I love the capabilities of wireless technology, mostly because they are infinite. If a certain device is still constrained by wires today, then it is only a matter of time until it is freed and allowed to function wirelessly. Once the telegraph was created, naturally given enough time someone was going to wonder if they could perform this task with out being bounded by wires. With us today we know that if something is wired then it will only take time until it becomes wireless, but back then, “wireless” was almost impossible to even contimplate. While I was reading Wireless World, I was a little shocked when Stephen Kern began to speak of the Titanic’s disaster as this glorious achievement. I understand that it was a huge publicity step for the usefulness of wireless communication but the way he describes it makes it sound as if he thinks the sinking of the Titanic was a valuable sacrafice.
After the wireless telegraph became popular the technology improved once more and the telephone came in use. “Jules Verne envisioned ‘telephonic journalism’ in a sciece fiction story of 1888. Five years later it became a reality…” this was a little amusing to me because even today our technology is getting closer and closer to the science fiction books that were written not too long ago and were considered a little “out there” in their time. It seemed that when the telephone came out, they were using it the same way we use a radio. They were broadcasting news, concerts, opera, stock markets and other information that they found useful. This was obviously going to lead to the future invention of the radio. It’s very interesting to see how one technological invetion seemlessly leads into another with a very useful productive outcome.
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The amazing thing about technology is that it is limitless. There are no boundaries to where it has to stop. There will always be someone who wants to make it better or more efficient. That's just how we are. And of course there will always be those who want to test it out and want more from it.
All these discussions always tend to revolve around the same idea that ubiqitous computing is here to stay. It is pretty cool that we get to get to experience being a part of the wireless world and hopefully get to see how far it goes.
I did not see the kern discussion of the titanic discovery through wireless communication to be glorifying the disaster rather i think he glorified the ability to save the thrown overboard passergers because of the emergent wireless capabilities. It was quite an achievement and while many were lost because of unfortunate happenings the technology did allow for the stranded survivors of the wreck to be brought to shore safely.
I agree, science fiction often is just a critical analysis of the present and future of technology so not to exceed democratic possibilities and fear. For example, the film "Gattica" clearly addresses issues of eugenics and the possibilities of already present genetic manipulation technology. The science fiction depiction of a near future controlled by genetics is a dismal view andd possible future of our world if we completely embraced genetics as the gold standard of human potention.
Valuable Sacrifice, eh? I think it's more of a justification rather than a marketing ploy.
Wireless has definitely become a node in our technological world. It allows the ultimate goal of what I think we've been trying to get at for ages...mobilized information. With portable devices hooked up to the vast network, we can stay in contact while not holding on to the other end of a wire. Who wants to stay home while they can talk to grandma on the way to the store. Who wants to find Ethernet jacks in McDonald's or Starbucks? It started with the cell phone...now lets do it for TV, Internet and the Radio. Well, the Internet and Radio may be wireless already, but 3 out of 4 isn't necessarily bad...
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