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Yale computer science professor David Gelernter has published a great manifesto entitled “Time to Start Taking the Internet Seriously” at The Edge.org. It starts like this:
No moment in technology history has ever been more exciting or dangerous than now. The Internet is like a new computer running a flashy, exciting demo. We have been entranced by this demo for fifteen years. But now it is time to get to work, and make the Internet do what we want it to.
… but from there, it only gets better. Gelernter makes some great observations about the information age that we’re living in, both from a technical and philosophical stand point. It’s an interesting read.
1618
Johannes Kepler formulates the Third Law of Planetary Motion. The third law states that, “The squares of the orbital periods of planets are directly proportional to the cubes of the semi-major axis of the orbits.” In other words, the period of a planet’s orbit around the Sun is determined by its distance from the Sun.
1775
Joseph Priestley, having discovered oxygen, experiments with mice in his home laboratory to determine whether or not it is necessary to support life.
1952
An artificial heart is used for the first time in a 41 year-old man. The heart keeps him alive for eighty minutes.
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No moment in technology history has ever been more exciting or dangerous than now. The Internet is like a new computer running a flashy, exciting demo. We have been entranced by this demo for fifteen years. But now it is time to get to work, and make the Internet do what we want it to.
1876
Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for an “Improvement in Telegraphy,” which will later come to be known as the telephone. (US No. 174,465) The patent application was submitted on February 14, just hours ahead of Elisha Gray. This first telephone has only one transducer for both listening and speaking. Originally envisioned as a way to transmit music to homes from a central location, the phone soon gains popularity as a means of communication. Within a short time after filing the patent, the Bell Company (Bell’s newly formed corporation) is besieged by lawsuits and challenges to the patent. On March 10, Bell will speak the famous words “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you” through a phone to his assistant after spilling some acid in their workshop. The message will be the first transmitted over a phone.
1926
The first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversation takes place between New York and London.
1933
The game Monopoly is created and trademarked by Charles Darrow in Atlantic City. It is preceded by several other real estate games. The first, called “The Landlord’s Game,” was invented by Lizzie Magie of Virginia (patented 1904). In it, players rented properties, paid utilities and avoided “Jail” as they moved around the board. Darrow set about creating his own version, modeled on his favorite resort, Atlantic City. He introduced several innovations in his game, which had a circular, cloth board. He color-coded the properties and deeds for them, and allowed properties to be bought, rather than rented. The playing pieces are modeled on items from around his own house. The game will be mass marketed by Parker Brothers in 1935.
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Nearly all flowing, changing information on the Internet will move through streams. You will be able to gather and blend together all the streams that interest you. Streams of world news or news about your friends, streams that describe prices or auctions or new findings in any field, or traffic, weather, markets — they will all be gathered and blended into one stream. Then your own personal lifestream will be added. The result is your mainstream: different from all others; a fast-moving river of all the digital information you care about.
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