Why didn't e-mail get called ec ? Electronic correspondence, ec, for short. Would have been shorter and it is all about being brief these days. Watch someone send a text message, that's like e-mail, except sent from a phone. The amount of abbreviations make it indecipherable to the uninformed. I expect you can purchase texting for dummies and get an explanation. Curious though, they call that a text. A text used to be a book. Now it is a message and it is not even written on paper,let alone in a book. If I ask a younger person today if they bought a text, they will give you a curious look. I know, I've tried it. The usual response is, I have a plan. Plan used to mean to plan on doing something, but now plan means prepaid. You could plan on getting a new plan. Then there is WiFi. Do you know what it stands for ? I didn't and had to look it up. It stands for Wireless Fidelity. Fidelity means being faithful, usually to your wife or significant other. Wireless ? I guess that means no strings attached. LOL An interesting choice of words for a new technology though. Very clever. WiFi is a dedicated service faithful to one unit. The way people are attached to their cell phones and mobile devices it is an apt description. You can cheat though by hijacking another's WiFi if they don't have it properly secured. I'm still happy with High Fidelity. My old stereo sounds great.
There so many new terms we banter about that, that not long ago would have meant little to the common man. A router, for instance. A carpenter or cabinet maker would have been familiar with that. I can see why that was chosen because it does route the signal.( a little play on words from the techies). A homonym. In the old days we would have used a bus. A bus runs a route. In electronics multiple devices can be connected to a bus. I do wonder why bus was not used. Too slow I guess.
Another term thrown around these days is digital. How many of us know what that is ? Again, I had to do some reading to understand that. Digital, based upon using our fingers (digits) to count uses a discrete signal compared to analog which does not. Mostly used in electronics and photography these days. It's digital. You can count on your fingers mostly in the binary system. Remember that from high school ? I didn't understand why I would need to know that back then, but now it is perfectly clear. Digital.
The American Indians used digital signals to communicate. We call it smoke signals. By modulating the analog signal (smoke) using a blanket a digital signal was produced. One of two states existed. Smoke, no smoke. Like turning a lamp on and off, another digital signal. They probably learned that from the aliens. That is pure speculation however.
And so, what is old is new again. A continuous cycle of life and rebirth, discovery and realizing the potential of that discovery. A redefining of values. It is only in the definition of those values that real knowledge exists. It has been there all the time.
There so many new terms we banter about that, that not long ago would have meant little to the common man. A router, for instance. A carpenter or cabinet maker would have been familiar with that. I can see why that was chosen because it does route the signal.( a little play on words from the techies). A homonym. In the old days we would have used a bus. A bus runs a route. In electronics multiple devices can be connected to a bus. I do wonder why bus was not used. Too slow I guess.
Another term thrown around these days is digital. How many of us know what that is ? Again, I had to do some reading to understand that. Digital, based upon using our fingers (digits) to count uses a discrete signal compared to analog which does not. Mostly used in electronics and photography these days. It's digital. You can count on your fingers mostly in the binary system. Remember that from high school ? I didn't understand why I would need to know that back then, but now it is perfectly clear. Digital.
The American Indians used digital signals to communicate. We call it smoke signals. By modulating the analog signal (smoke) using a blanket a digital signal was produced. One of two states existed. Smoke, no smoke. Like turning a lamp on and off, another digital signal. They probably learned that from the aliens. That is pure speculation however.
And so, what is old is new again. A continuous cycle of life and rebirth, discovery and realizing the potential of that discovery. A redefining of values. It is only in the definition of those values that real knowledge exists. It has been there all the time.
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