I just found out about Tom Wheeler's books From Gutenberg to Google and Mr. Lincoln's T-mails. Wheeler is a former chair of the Federal Communications Commission. I haven't looked at the Gutenberg book but I have begun the T-mails book.
I can see that if I were to start my life over, I might head for some aspect of communications. Speech or writing or interpretive dance, there are ways for humans to get ideas, feelings and messages to each other. There seem to be more ways for human to do so than there are for any other animal. As an older person, I am surprised at the effects of conversation, written messages and other ways of contacting.
Wheeler says in the beginning of his Lincoln book that the effect of the telegraph was greater and more surprising than our current set-up of text messages and Instagram pictures. I know other authors and thinkers that stated the same thing: the telegraph was totally astounding in its day. Wheeler say three inventions helped the North in the Civil War: rifled gun barrels (for greater accuracy over a greater distance), the railroad (for moving troops and equipment from a greater range to a needed site) and the telegraph. He says the most powerful of these was the telegraph. The book "What Hath God Wrought" by the historian Howe also says that the effect of much speedier travel for much greater loads of goods was astounding for the entire US. He also says that the effect of speedier information transfer was pivotal in making the new nation.
