The development of the Internet reminds Ami Ben Best of events from the 19th century
Ami Ben Best
The long sessions of Spectrum in front of the computer screen do not remain without
A reaction in his social environment, and sentences such as: "You have become a chair", are
quite common. In the answer, Spectrum usually quotes a wise man like the writer Albert
Camus who once said that progress is indeed a disease, but a disease that has manna in it
the convenience. The fact that Internet technology is addictive is not surprising
Remember that this is a technology that gives instant spook to human passions,
Like curiosity and voyeurism, and also provides quite successful solutions to needs
Our parquets, starting with quick collection of information and data transfer, and ending
in having effective social communication.
As with any mass innovative technology of this type, here too they accompanied the
The introduction of the Internet, many voices of naysayers and doomsday prophets
of different types that warned, and continue to warn, against the side effects
The differences that accompanied technology. But there is nothing new in this either. A good example
This is due to a revolutionary communication system that entered the world in the years
- 40 of the last century and was received at the time with great enthusiasm.
This technology that connected the continents of the world online for the first time
There was the telegraph machine. The Telegraph's appearance was accompanied by reactions at the time
and in phenomena that were almost completely identical to those occurring in the Internet world
of today. At least this is what Tom Sandage (Standage), the scientific writer of
The "Economist" who recently wrote a book in which he calls the telegraph:
The Victorian Internet.
The simple telegraph consisted of several components: a source of electric current, a switch (key)
that disconnected or connected the current, a long cable, and a device that knew how to produce light from the current,
sound or movement. In 1837, Samuel Morse proposed the so-called script
Named after him, who translated the letters of the thousand syllables into series of lines and dots.
Morse turned the telegraph into an extremely effective means of communication. With the key of
The device (today's keyboard) was able to type whole words and sentences,
and transmit information wherever the cable just arrived. In 1858, the preparation of
The first transatlantic line that connected Europe and the USA and the enthusiasm
In the world of skyrocketing. In ceremonies held in various places, flags were raised
Above public buildings, cannons fired salutes and bells rang
in the church towers. Queen Victoria exchanged greetings with the President
The American Buchanan ((Buchanan who presented this as one of his victories
the greats of man. The remains of the Atlantic cable purchased by the jewelry company
The New York Tiffany's were chopped into small pieces and sold
as souvenirs in the chain's parking lots.
The appearance of the telegraph in the 19th century was, as mentioned, a real revolution.
In one of his lectures, Albert Einstein compared the telegraph to a long cat
long. "You pull your tail in New York," he explained, "and your head in San Francisco
Meowing! Just like today, in the age of the Internet, get up to telegraph
Many critics who raised various claims against him, starting with the danger of addiction and ending
in strange claims such as that claim that telegraph lines might cause
changes in the weather. The biggest beneficiaries of the new technology were
First of all the businessmen who could now close international transactions beyond
to the ocean at a much faster pace. There were also many other gainers.
The news agencies, the various information consumers and the small citizen. Operators
Many telegraphers became addicted to the device and would have long conversations with each other,
which also included chess games, gossip and exchanging jokes. It also developed here
A special sign language is characteristic of the telegraph people, and here too they developed
Hot romances between women and men. In 1879 a novel was even published
called wired love. Telegraph technology, similarly
to the Internet, developed and perfected at an enormous speed. The appearance of the telephone
And the radio, later, would accelerate the electronic communication revolution
and sense the process of the world becoming a small global village. There is no new under
The sun, reminds a spectrum. Although technology changes, sometimes rapidly,
Human nature does not.
Ami Ben Best "Globes" November 1998
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