A quote from A. C. Clarke's book about telecommunications, "How the
World Was One," p. 229:
. . . W. E. Ayrton, was lecturing at London's Imperial Institute about
the most modern of communications devices, the submarine telegraph
cable. He ended with what must, to all his listeners, have seemed the
wildest fantasy:
"There is no doubt that the day will come, maybe when you and I are
forgotten, when copper wires, gutta-percha coverings, and iron
sheathings will be relegated to the Museum of Antiquities. Then, when a
person wants to telegraph to a friend, he knows not where, he will call
an electromagnetic voice, which will be heard loud by him who has the
electromagnetic ear, but will be silent to everyone else. He will call
'Where are you?' and the reply will come, 'I am at the bottom of the
coal-mine' or 'Crossing the Andes' or 'In the middle of the Pacific'; or
perhaps no reply will come at all, and he may then conclude that his
friend is dead."
. . . or that his friend is in the bathroom -- I would add, from a
modern perspective. Buy yes, we get the message; this is more or less
the way things are.
This goes to show that some people can accurately predict the future of
technology.
I am thinking of writing a companion volume to Cold Fusion and the
Future on this subject, with all the stuff I left on the cutting room
floor and stuff I have gathered over the years. "Cold Fusion and the
Future" is popular. It has been downloaded approximately 29,500 times.
- Jed
