100 Years Ago, No Free Broadband Pneumatic Tubes

TheSync writes "The Division of Labour blog spotlights a report written 100 years ago by a commission appointed by the Postmaster General, that came to the conclusion: 'That it is not feasible and desirable at the present time for the Government to purchase, to install, or to operate pneumatic tubes.' Here is a scan of the original NYTimes article. If only we had gotten the free government Intertubes in 1908!"

Comments

Re:Actually, Ted Stevens wasn't so wrong

[value_added]

In a lot of cases, the people that laugh at his comment are even less informed about the topic than Stevens.

To the extent the "tubes" metaphor has technical validity, the context is typically the defining criteria. Put simply, your defense of Ted Stevens is cherry-picking. From the same article:

Most writers and commentators derisively cited several of Stevens's misunderstandings of Internet technology, arguing that the speech showed that he had formed a strong opinion on a topic which he understood poorly (e.g., referring to an e-mail message as "an Internet" and blaming bandwidth issues for an e-mail problem much more likely to be caused by mail server or routing issues).

I'm sure one could cite excerpts from a speech by George Bush or Sarah Palin that would indicate some degree of intelligence, knowledge, familiarity or even insight on the part of the speaker, but it would be more reasonable to dismiss what's said at face value as the product of a speechwriter before moving on to a more meaningful analysis, an analysis which focuses on the political aspects of what's said.

To paraphrase an old quotation: A non-technical person commenting on technology without sufficient briefing is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.

Ted Stevens is an idiot, and his comments (given his position at the time it was made) deserves the derision it's received. If the joke lives on for another decade, so much the better.