Invisible signals, mobile devices, satellites – to anyone outside the modern era would seem like magic, is there some kind of timeline to events or list of how we got to this point?
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1876: Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone, which allows for the transmission of voice over a distance.
1930s: Television is invented, enabling the transmission of video and audio signals over a distance.
1960s: Video conferencing systems are developed, using specialized hardware and dedicated telephone lines to transmit video and audio signals between two or more locations.
1970s: The first commercial videoconferencing systems become available, allowing businesses to hold meetings and communicate with remote workers.
1990s: The internet becomes widely available, enabling the transmission of video and audio signals over the internet. This leads to the development of software-based videoconferencing systems that can be used on personal computers.
2000s: High-quality video conferencing becomes more accessible and affordable, thanks to advances in hardware and software technology.
2010s: The widespread adoption of smartphones and tablets with front-facing cameras enables the development of mobile videoconferencing apps, making it possible to hold videoconferences from anywhere with an internet connection.
2020s: The COVID-19 pandemic leads to a surge in demand for videoconferencing as a way to connect with colleagues and attend meetings remotely.
In lots of small steps…
We didn’t suddenly make the leap to modern smartphones and internet based video calling, but did it is lots of much small, understandable steps.
So you add together lot of small discoveries and inventions – that a cone/trumpet shape will amplify sounds and vibrations, which we experimented with and figured out rudimentary recording via wax cylinders.
Separately we were also figuring out things like electricity – such as finding out that if you move magnets next to coils of wire you got an electrical signal. Experiment with that and you end up with microphones, speakers and the basis of the phone system.
From there we found that if you had a strong enough electrical signal in one wire, it could be detected in another wire. Experiment further with that and you end up with the basis of radio transmission.
And from there you just keep on going. Each step on its own is a fairly small and reasonable one – the sort of things you can observe while working on other developments, or by experimenting in lots of different ways and seeing what works. Each new development gives us new avenues to investigate, which leads on to more new developments and more new avenues and so technology is continually upgraded and improved as we go.
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