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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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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