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The Victorian Internet. Tome Standage, New York: Walker and Company

 The Victorian Internet vividly depicts the days the telegraph emerged in history. The book deals not only with the progress of the technology of the telegraph and its inventors, but also the society in those days. To understand the specific era, we have to imagine, or more precisely, we have to assimilate the mentality of the people in the 1800’s. The Victorian Internet offers clues as to how the people thought about telecommunication. Standage chronicles the dawn of the telegraph with vivid anecdotes. For instance, some religious leaders considered it as a kind of black magic. An amateur scientist was assigned to supervise the laying of the trans Atlantic cable rather than an expert.. Some of these examples are hard to understand from today’s values. In The Victorian Internet, Standage [depicted] related how hard it was to sell the telegraph to the government. Actually the government even made a vain effort to regulate the telegraph. It took five years for the telegraph to be accepted by society enthusiastically.  Even the military that understood
the importance of accurate, current information, did not quickly see the usefulness of the telegraph. It is interesting that one of the most popular usages of telegraph in its early days was playing chess games through the telegraph.  Few people noticed the potential of the practical uses of the telegraph. The fact that the telegraph helped criminals be identified and arrested gradually made people realize its enormous possibilities.

It is interesting to compare how the telegraph was accepted by the society with that of the Internet. Opposite from the telegraph, when the Internet was introduced to society, most people quickly grasped its huge potential and applauded it enthusiastically. Many people predicted the thriving of E
commerce, Internet TVs, VOIP, most of the internet uses that exist today. What is the difference between the telegraph and the Internet’s acceptance, in terms of the way it was recognized by society?

When people encounter a totally new concept, whether it is a technology or philosophy, they tend to ignore it. Looking back through history, we wonder why people involved in the stock market or news papers, did not foresee the dramatic change this innovation would bring. But that thinking only proves that we are just judging the era with today’s context. Hindsight is 20/20. In the nineteen century, no one had a concept of telecommunication being able to use for business, or military missions.  How could people envision practical uses of the telecommunication, when they can not comprehend the new concept?  People could not imagine the real meaning of the telegraph
until they saw it demonstrated  such as the remote chess game. The creativity or imagination of the average human being is a lot less than we think.it would be.
With the basic assumption of the concept and the benefit of the telecommunication, the society today could accept the Internet.  And we can see the roots of the telecommunication concept, in Victorian era, when Jean-Antoine Nollet first demonstrated an experience of electric transmission. Thus, I think Victorian Internet is proper title for this book.