Author: Sam Lindsey
Assignment: Post #3, Davis Chapters 1&2
Ways of communication seem especially important to Davis and so likewise, I've been keeping that it the back of my mind while reading. In the first chapter I was really interested in learning a little more about the Phoenician alphabet so that's what I did a little digging on and found some interesting facts...
The Phoenician Alphabet
I'd never thought about the roots of our alphabet. Like many, I knew that it came from the Phoenicians and Greeks, but not much else. The Phoenicians alphabet was not actually an alphabet, but rather it was an "abjad" a system of writing with no vowels. Complicated? Maybe we may think so, but much of what was written in this script was meant to be spoken aloud not read for fun or for keeping dedicated notes. This was later modified and changed when the Greeks inherited the abjad and turned it into something of their own, making it much easier to read and write.
It seems as if the Phoenicians didn't really know what they were getting into when they invented this way of communication, this technology. They didn't know that they would trickle into society (slowly yes) and shape much of the way we communicate today. Is what I'm doing now, typing into my computer, it's own form of writing? It feels very different than holding a pencil and sheet of paper in my lap, but why?
Morse Code
I was interested in learning why Morse chose this message to be the first he sent. Why not, "Hello! How are you doing?" or "Nice weather we're having isn't it?". Instead, Morse chose this bible verse, "What hath God wrought?"
Looking at the video above I think we can surely say that Morse knew that whatever he wrote would be historic. A change for mankind. So he probably took some time to gather his thoughts and really think about what was to be said before it was broadcast. I think we can make that clear by the way in which he carefully timed, dated, and signed this original message.
To tie things together here, I believe that Davis pushes us to look at the ways in which technology evolves in the first chapter (the merging of gods and writing) and then similarly, how "electricity" has evolved in the second. By taking into account just how much these early forms of communication actually have shaped our society (the ability to write things down not having to remember them and the ability to sends messages anywhere instantaneously) we can begin to see why studying them, even though they have changed, is so important. We wouldn't be where we are today without them.
To tie things together here, I believe that Davis pushes us to look at the ways in which technology evolves in the first chapter (the merging of gods and writing) and then similarly, how "electricity" has evolved in the second. By taking into account just how much these early forms of communication actually have shaped our society (the ability to write things down not having to remember them and the ability to sends messages anywhere instantaneously) we can begin to see why studying them, even though they have changed, is so important. We wouldn't be where we are today without them.
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