Henry Dreyfuss once wrote:

[HobieSport]

"Of all the magic of modern civilization, the telephone seems to me the most wondrous achievement."

[McHeath]

Someone I read once talked about how any sufficiently advanced technology would appear as magic to the less advanced.  We could probably give a cave man friend a heart attack just hanging out in our house.  Light switches, water on tap, TV, etc, not to mention the wonders of cars and lawnmowers and telephones.

The ability to communicate instantly across vast distances may well be the greatest of all achievements.  Think of the old days when little things like the end of the War of 1812 took months to reach battlefields, and when fast communication was measured by how many weeks it took to get the news.  I was doing research once on the Battle of Gettysburg and reading the London Times to see when they got the news, it was October of 1863, three months later, when their reports came out in print.  Now with the ability to have instant worldwide communication of any event, human life is forever changed.  It all started with the telegraph, then the telephone carried that torch for a long time, then regular old broadcast TV, but now it's moved to all sorts of telecommunication methods that allow us to talk to, see, and interact with anyone anyplace at anytime. 

[Dan]

The telephone is the single GREATEST invention of the past century, IMO

[rp2813]

I've also read that  Mr. Dreyfuss' WE 500 design is quite possibly the greatest industrial design of the 20th century.  Hard to disagree with that!

[mienaichizu]

that's a really nice quote, telephones bring distant people closer to each other

[HobieSport]

Even with the incredible invention of the Telephone people still bomb each other.

I am so disappointed.  I thought the 500 was the telephone to end all of that.

But No.

[Bill Cahill]

Someone I read once talked about how any sufficiently advanced technology would appear as magic to the less advanced.  We could probably give a cave man friend a heart attack just hanging out in our house.  Light switches, water on tap, TV, etc, not to mention the wonders of cars and lawnmowers and telephones.

The ability to communicate instantly across vast distances may well be the greatest of all achievements.  Think of the old days when little things like the end of the War of 1812 took months to reach battlefields, and when fast communication was measured by how many weeks it took to get the news.  I was doing research once on the Battle of Gettysburg and reading the London Times to see when they got the news, it was October of 1863, three months later, when their reports came out in print.  Now with the ability to have instant worldwide communication of any event, human life is forever changed.  It all started with the telegraph, then the telephone carried that torch for a long time, then regular old broadcast TV, but now it's moved to all sorts of telecommunication methods that allow us to talk to, see, and interact with anyone anyplace at anytime. 

You are leaving out the phonograph, radio, light bulb, automobile, and, airplane.
Bill Cahill

[HobieSport]

Sorry Bill.

I meant to mention the Phonograph, Radio, TV, light bulb, car and airplane.

[McHeath]

phonograph, radio, light bulb, automobile, and, airplane

Well let's take those in order:

Phonograph: the ability to play back music and sound is great.  But I would argue that instant communication between any two or more persons located anyplace is a bigger advancement.

Radio: very useful and valuable tool.  In it's two way form it is like the phone, but in it's most common use, one way transmission, it is good but I don't think it had the ability to change life forever.

Light Bulb:  Helped life in that we could stay up late and not need to keep buying candles or wax or oil.  But really it's just a fancy candle at heart. 

Automobile:  This is a biggie to me, the ability to easily travel vast distances is also as revolutionary as the phone enabling communication at any distance.  Problem is that a lot more user cost is involved, the phone is a cheaper way to travel, so to speak.

Airplane:  Also a biggie, but really just a variation of the auto only it flies and is thus faster.

All cool things and I'd not give them up for love ner' money.  Yet I still hold that the ability to communicate at any distance instantly is probably the biggest modern advancement. 

Others mileage may vary. 

[Konrad]

All of the above were made better and more reliable by the technology that came from Bel labs and therefore was paid for and made possible by the telephone.

[HobieSport]

Thank you Konrad.  Well said.

And thank you McHeath.  Well thought.