It
is conceivable that cables of telephone wires could be laid underground, or
suspended overhead, communicating by branch wires with private dwellings,
country houses, shops, manufactories etc., etc., uniting them through the main
cable with a central office where wires could be connected as desired
establishing direct communication between any two places in the city.
Such a plan as this, though impracticable at the present moment will, I
firmly believe be the outcome of the introduction of the telephone to the
public.
Not only so, but I believe, in the future, wires will unite the head
offices of the Telephone Company in different cities, and a man in one part of
the country may communicate by word of mouth with another in a distant place.
I am aware that such ideas may appear to you Utopian…
Believing, however, as I do that such a scheme will be the ultimate
result of the telephone to the public, I will impress upon you all, the
advisability of keeping this end in view, that all present arrangements
of the telephone may be eventually realised in this grand system.”
Spoken in 1878
by Alexander Graham Bell
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It is my heart warmed and world
embracing Christmas hope and aspiration that all of us, the high, the low, the
rich, the poor, the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated, the civilized,
the savage (every man and brother of us all throughout the whole earth), may
eventually be gathered together in a heaven of everlasting rest and peace and
bliss, except the inventor of the telephone.
Mark Twain, Christmas greeting, 1890
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"This
'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of
communication. The device is inherently
of no value to us."
Western Union internal memo, 1876
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"Well-informed people know it is
impossible to transmit the voice over wires. Even if it were, it would be of no
practical value."
Boston Post, 1865
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"The great advantage the telephone
possesses over every other form of electrical
apparatus consists in the fact that it requires no skill to operate the
instrument."
Alexander Graham Bell, 1878
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“My department is in possession of
knowledge of the details of the
telephone, and the possible use of the telephone is limited.”
Engineer-in-Chief, British Post Office, 1887
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Consider that a conversation by
telephone - when you are simply sitting by and not taking any part in that
conversation is one of the solemnest
curiosities of this modern life.
A Telephonic Conversation, 1880
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“You see, wire telegraph is a kind of
a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in
Los Angeles. Do you
understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here,
they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat”.
Albert Einstein
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