TDM.
While this acronym is a homophone for Te Deum and tedium, it really it is for Time Division Multiplexing. It's the straightforward way of dividing up bandwidth by quickly switching from one signal to another - straightforward enough to be a common science museum display, anyway. The guy presenting today brought it up in reference to online voice systems and asked if anyone knew what decade in which it was invented. He followed up by asking what century...
The 19th, it turns out. Invented in the 1870s by Émile Baudot, and used in telegraph systems, it began wider use for telephones in the 1950s and 1960s.
For those following along, of course, those are interesting dates, especially together. Both are post-war periods, at least in the United States. (The Franco-Prussian War, which Baudot was involved in before this invention, seems similarly like a Crisis period, at least on initial inspection.) Is there a reason this technology entered widespread use during First Turnings? Consider that it was previously-proven technology when phone systems were being implemented - why wasn't it used right from the start? Is it possibly related to the fact that the telephone - and the telephone company - were invented at almost the same time?
That is a deep enough question that it wouldn't be possible to answer it in a single post. There are limited instances to compare it with, other reasons it might have happened this way, reasonable explanations that depend only on the normal diffusion of technology and associated technical build-outs.
It's at least an interesting coincidence, though. What will be the equivalent implementation in 20 years, after the current Crisis ends?
The 19th, it turns out. Invented in the 1870s by Émile Baudot, and used in telegraph systems, it began wider use for telephones in the 1950s and 1960s.
For those following along, of course, those are interesting dates, especially together. Both are post-war periods, at least in the United States. (The Franco-Prussian War, which Baudot was involved in before this invention, seems similarly like a Crisis period, at least on initial inspection.) Is there a reason this technology entered widespread use during First Turnings? Consider that it was previously-proven technology when phone systems were being implemented - why wasn't it used right from the start? Is it possibly related to the fact that the telephone - and the telephone company - were invented at almost the same time?
That is a deep enough question that it wouldn't be possible to answer it in a single post. There are limited instances to compare it with, other reasons it might have happened this way, reasonable explanations that depend only on the normal diffusion of technology and associated technical build-outs.
It's at least an interesting coincidence, though. What will be the equivalent implementation in 20 years, after the current Crisis ends?
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