The evolution of media
In the beginning there were people, and it was good. But eventually, the people got bored and started looking to each other for entertainment. There was gossip, teachings, theories, and jokes. All of these were orally transmitted, as there were no such things as televisions or electricity or even paper for that matter at that time.
Later in life, some people evolved into monks and spent entire lives in silence writing large thick books with fancy letters. These books would be read by the rich who could afford such an honor as well as the skills to be able to read.
Suddenly, a guy got the idea to chisel some wood plates, dip them in ink, and press a paper against them. What an ingeniouse idea. The speed compared to those monks was phanominal. The monks raised a brow, but then realized they could write five copies of a book by time a wood block was ready.
Another person got the idea to arrange a lot of tiny wooden blocks with letters on them so that they could be reused. The monks would have been furiouse with silence except that as an effort of good faith, the first book that was mass produced was a bible. People loved it. Anyone who didn’t have a friend to hear the latest gossip could simply buy a paper and read it.
News papers and books had evolved little over time until some chap invented electricity. With electricity came a wide range of new inventions. One was called the telegraph. The telegraph would send electronic signals accross the country where they would be written down and then added to the stories to be written in the Sunday paper.
Eventually there was a guy who had nothing else to do but play with gizmos and gadgets. He even had a friend to help him out. The two of them accidentally figured out how to do what it was that they were trying to do. Besides that, they also invented a device in which they could hear what the other was saying without being in the same room. Out of this little invention, the telephone could then be invented. Reporters would call up people on the other side of the country and tell them what to print in the Sunday paper.
Later there was radio. Radio made it possible to turn electric signals into air waves and then convert them back into the original signals with a receiver. Combining this technology with the electronic signals produced with the telephone and you would get audio broadcasts from places now known as radio stations. Rather then read the paper every Sunday, people could just turn a radio receiver on and listen in to what someone has to say in a one-way conversation. This benefited many people who were illeterate, or aspired to become illeterate.
After radio came the television. Television was much like radio except that along side audio signals, there was also a signal for video. People no longer needed to watch the pictures in there head when it was setting rite in front of them. This changed many things and opened up oppertunities for the deaf.
Next came the computer. The computer was much like an interactive television without the television stations. In fact, it still doesn’t have them today. Today though, your computer is most likely connected to the internet in some way. The internet is like a donut (make up your own analogy as to why). But because it is like a donut, we can connect to many sources of media. It can be overwealming at fist, and continue to be overwealming until the day we have been predetermined to expire.
Well, I was going to make this into a post about how I really wanted to get an HDTV this year but my wife said no. I forgot that I already blogged about it anyway. Some how I got off track when I tried to be funny about it and ended up writting something that was entirely off the subject.
Tags: HDTV, Evolution, Darwin, Media, TV, Cable, Computer, Internet, Radio, Gossip, Monk, Book, Funny
May 17th, 2005 at 5:27 am
He he he! This post sounds like a summary of my Mass Media Comm. course last semester!