"In the XIX century there were no televisions, aeroplanes, computers, or spacecraft; neither were there antibiotics, credit cards, microwave ovens, compact discs, or mobile phones. There was, however, an Internet."
-- Tom Standage
Here is a speech I gave at a While42 Singapore event (cool French engineers alumni network)
17. Brunel, one of the crazy guys: his giant ship was
reconverted for cable laying
The “Death Star” of XIXth Century
Watch TED “Tim Brown urges
designers to think big” for more…
21. I. The mother of all networks
II. Hackers and geeks in the XIXth Century
III. Internet revolution, really? 1865 vs 2013
22. There was an elitist hacker/geek culture among the
Telegraph operators community
Your ability was
evaluated based
on your speed
and accuracy to
send messages…
23. Here is the most famous Telegraph hacker
By the way, he is a real
m***** f***** but this
is another story
33. Routers? Trunking?
Telegraph wires to send short "texting" digital data
Pneumatic tubes to send longer messages and small
items (even cats!)
34. During quiet times and after business hours,
operators on-line would break out the IMs and
chatrooms
Online Chat?
35. "Ordinarily an operator can tell a woman the moment
he hears her working the wire […] He tells by her
touch on the key. Women, as a rule, do not touch the
key of their instruments as firmly as men do"
Online Dating?
36. Thomas Edison: “Most of the Tales of the Wires went
unpublished because they were too rude or explicit”
Online Sex?
38. 1,500 telegraph operators remotely attended
the last telegraph ceremony for Samuel Morse
Social Network?
39. Banks could send money via telegraph wire, leading
to the foundation of Western Union
E-Commerce?
40. One of the first MiM attacks: operators of an optical
telegraph were bribed so they altered business
transaction information
Online Fraud?
41. Users developed their own cryptic code of "smileys"
and abbreviated words to solve network limitations
Compression? Encryption?
42. Lincoln used the telegraph to stay connected to the
forces in the field in almost real time
Online President?
43. Last and most advanced telegraphy mechanism
designed (Phelps, 1880)
Multimedia?
44. Telegraph was perceived as a major threat for
newspapers… the number of current newspapers with
“Telegraph” in their title proves the contrary
Threat for newspapers industry?
50. Sources 2/2
• Mother Earth Mother Board
– (looong) but very insightful article about the
cabling industry challenges by the Science-Fiction
author Neal Stephenson
• How the World Was One: Towards the Tele-
Family of Man
– Sir Arthur C. Clarke elaborated similar theories
• Plyojump - Computer History
• Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails