January 11, 2019 (Friday)
On this date in 1838 the first public demonstration of a telegraph message was sent using dots & dashes at Speedwell Ironworks, Morristown, New Jersey by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail That was a long time ago. Andrew Jackson would hand over the presidency to Martin Van Buren in about seven weeks, and the world was experiencing inovations of many kinds. See below, Morse and the key he used that day.
One might say that the invention of the telegraph opened the door to methods of communication that would in due time produce radio, television, and the internet, which has literally changed the world in which we live.
Not very many years ago I was reading predictions of a world based on information. I laid aside the magazine and said to myself, “I’m not sure I believe that.” I understand a little bit about an economy based on retrieving natural resources and manufacturing items that people will buy and use, but a world based on information? How could that be possible?
Well, my questions were soon answered, and we are living in that world today.
We have had methods of sharing information through the ages. At first, news was shared by word of mouth. Then as commerce developed and transportation along with it, the news easily was passed from one port to the next, from one city to the next one up the road. We have, however, never experienced anything in the past that compares with the information explosion we are experiencing today. Every day we read of new inovations that change our lives in ways undreamed of, not so long ago.
In 1838, the telegraph was introduced. It was the camel’s nose. Now the whole critter has taken over our tent along with all the critters he brought with him.
When Jesus told His followers to go into all the world and spread the gospel, they did just that. Without the marvelous technologies utilized in today’s communications, the message of Jesus Christ had reached most of the known world. God is still speaking. Are we listening?