September 17, 2004

Transoceanic cables. Once proclaimed the eighth wonder of the world but now largely forgotten, transoceanic cables did more to shrink the world than anything else. Read about the Herculean efforts that went into the first Atlantic cable. Then check out the great links, maps, and more. Listen to the Ocean Telegraph March and other inspired tunes. Even nowadays, transcontinental cables are high-tech, with fiber-optic lines piping the Internet through the oceanic abyss.
posted by rolypolyman 20 years ago
  • PS - A related MoFi thread on global fiber optics.
  • This cool. Thanks, RPM.
  • Absolutely beautiful post, rolypolyman. hurdy gurdy, hurdy gurdy, hurdy gurdy he sang...
  • Great post rolypolyman. I'm reading Kratatoa by Simon Winchester at the moment (highly recommended by the way) and the underwater cable plays a big part. If I may quote a little: This eruption was so enormous an event, and had so many worldwide implications and effects, that for humankind to be able to learn and know about it, in detail, within days or even hours of its very happening entirely changed the world's view of itself. It would not be stretching a point to suggest that 'the Global Village' - the phrase is modern, and was coined by Marshall McLuhan in 1960, referring to the world shrinking effects of television, even pre-satellite - was essentially born with the worldwide apprehension of, and fascination with, the events in Java that began in the summer of 1883. And Agent Schuit's first telegram to London was one small indication of that revolution's beginnings.
  • Tangentially related, if you enjoyed the sites in this post you owe it to yourself to take a couple hours and read Mother Earth Mother Board, by Neal Stephenson. It's about laying wires across the earth. Fascinating fascinating stuff.
  • Oh, thanks a lot, rolypolyman -- now I'll have the Ocean Telegraph March stuck in my head all day! But the rest of the post is splendiferous.
  • I recall reading that Mother Earth MoBo article in Wired, way back when Wired was wired. One beneficial legacy of the dotcom boom is the huge amount of fiber optic capacity that was installed. Not so good for the telcoms at the moment but certainly good for the intarweb. India's Tata is currently laying a high bandwidth cable from Chennai to Singapore to better serve all of those outsourced help desks and code sweatshops (but that's another topic entirely).
  • Why, rolypolyman, almost the first words to fall from my childish lips were Cyrus Eaton.