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No, I don't think the telephone has ever been as important as access to the internet. In my estimation, it's not even close.
by sjwright 11y ago
No, I don't think the telephone has ever been as important as access to the internet. In my estimation, it's not even close.
- Retric 11y agoJust 911 on it's own is more important for most people than the internet.
- Joof 11y ago911 is synonymous with any fast communication system. Had the internet developed before voice communication; 911 would still exist (in a different form).
- tyingq 11y ago> I don't think the telephone has ever been as important as access to the internet Maybe you're thinking from some perspective I'm not seeing, but this sounds odd to me. Prior to the telephone, geographically separated people were days, weeks, or months apart when communicating with letters. The change from that to being to call people on a whim must have been life changing.
- eru 11y agoYou are forgetting about the telegraph! And before that, semaphores.
- tyingq 11y agoI don't think the telegraph was ever really accessible to most people. Businesses, wealthy people, perhaps for rare or remarkable news for regular people.
- sjwright 11y agoLong distance communication with known people is important. It pales in comparison to the communications and empowerment consequences of the likes of Google and Wikipedia.
- tyingq 11y agoIt's difficult to find any research in this area. What I could find generally says that the advances made in earlier years are more significant than anything recent. http://www.cepr.org/sites/default/files/policy_insights/PolicyInsight63.pdf http://www.cepr.org/sites/default/files/policy_insights/Poli...
- sjwright 11y agoThat may be true in terms of relative orders of magnitude, but not in terms of absolute change.