Difference between revisions of "325--Week 8 Questions/Comments"
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== Ronell on Thomas Watson == | == Ronell on Thomas Watson == | ||
When I first read this essay, I kind of laughed at the idea of the telephone belonging to the "spirit world." But after thinking about it a bit, I can understand why this assumption could be made about the telephone when it was first created. This was an invention that allowed people to communicate vocally instantaneously. It was almost like magic, or as Ronell said, like male witchcraft. It's hard to think of these inventions as something so new and mystifying because we're a population that can't imagine life without the telephone. But I guess for people who never experienced something like this before it had to be amazing and almost miraculous. Ronell may have seemed crazy in his little tirade, but I'm sure he wasn't alone in his thinking. -Kelly W. | When I first read this essay, I kind of laughed at the idea of the telephone belonging to the "spirit world." But after thinking about it a bit, I can understand why this assumption could be made about the telephone when it was first created. This was an invention that allowed people to communicate vocally instantaneously. It was almost like magic, or as Ronell said, like male witchcraft. It's hard to think of these inventions as something so new and mystifying because we're a population that can't imagine life without the telephone. But I guess for people who never experienced something like this before it had to be amazing and almost miraculous. Ronell may have seemed crazy in his little tirade, but I'm sure he wasn't alone in his thinking. -Kelly W. | ||
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| + | Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke is famous for having said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." And I think this is largely true for the observers of technology. The strange thing about Ronell's account is that one of the main people working on the technology could see it is otherworldly. At the time, it seems perfectly possible for even someone involved in the sciences to be active in the occult. But Watson knew, for the most part, the processes involved in the function of the telephone. It seems strange that he would even think of attributing its machinations to angels or demons. But there is a way in which this could have seemed like magic. Though he was an electrician, Watson may not have fully understood the atomic level of his craft. He was simply directing forces of nature, such as lighting, in really interesting ways. Put that together with a man trying to send voices and draw pictures over long distances and tinkering with human ears, and it starts to sound like a wizard's workshop. -Sean B. | ||
== Venus Green, Personal Service in the Bell System == | == Venus Green, Personal Service in the Bell System == | ||
