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Ask Slashdot: Past and Present Bandwidth Comparisions?
Jonathan Locke asks:
"this
"Ask Slashdot" question about comparative CPU power
led me to wonder if there isn't some attempt somewhere to
do the same thing for connectivity/communications.
Obviously, we've come a long, long way since the days of
semaphores, smoke signals and telegraphs. But how far
have we come? What does the bandwidth curve look like?
(I assume the Internet would represent a seriously
non-linear change, but maybe not). What are the
theoretical limits on communications (# of nodes and speed
of access)? Does it even make sense to compare such
qualitatively different technologies as semaphores and
OC48 lines?" Good question! I figure average bandwidth
curve over the last 10 years would be an interesting thing
to see.
Although bandwidth has increased steadily over the last hundred years, it has been the decrease in message latency that has really revolutionized communications. For George Washington to send a message to England, he could expect a transit time of about four months. In the days of the pony express, it took a bit over a week to send a message across the country. This slow speed at which messages were propagated had some pretty profound effects. Jamestown settlers couldnt send for more supplies in November and expect them for the winter. The king couldnt send timely orders to his governor, or keep abreast of current news. Moving up the timeline a bit we run into other considerations. What if the president had been shot? People in California couldn't know about it until at least a week later. Fundamental details such as who is in charge of the country are unknown to a substantial portion of the population for a long time. Everything on the other coast is old news, at least from our modern perspective.
When electronic communications became commonplace, these distances were greatly reduced. Messages get blasted across the country at around the speed of light. Newspapers could report current information. Important events of the day were on the evening news. Now our wars are fought halfway around the world on live TV. There is no more delay in getting a message across. Bandwidth will increase, allowing larger messages to get sent faster. Yet bandwidth only changes the content, and will not contribute in a measurable way to the revolution that has already taken place.