The Sacrifices Involved in the Creation of Digital Systems

The process of digitization, as with any change, comes with its pro and cons, gives and takes. For instance as we discussed in a n earlier post about the Jacquard Loom, the invention itself was a catalyst in the textile industry, paving a new path forward that perfectly joined efficiency, intricacy, and repeatability. Its invention while incredible, displaced long standing jobs of weavers by automating the process. This give and take is the cost of innovation. 

Digitization in a more modern sense – through the transmission of radio, electric, or wireless signals – also came with a give and take. While it did create and displace jobs throughout the century with the onset of the next  best technology, the creation of the technology itself demanded incredible amounts of trial and error. Most notably, the joining of analog and digital systems to create the first national communication network: the land line. How was it that someone in New York could hear their relative over the phone from all the way in Boston? What was involved in creating the technology that made it possible to hear them so well – at least by the standards of the day? 

The answer, a combination of digital and analog technologies. Your voice as you spoke into your receiver would take the sound waves created by your voice and produce an identical version in electrons that it sent down the telephone wire at lightning speed. During its route, the electrons interacting with the wire created friction, which created heat, which dampened the signal. This is where the analog system comes into play. An analog amplifier would take the weak signal and boost it back to a strong signal. This is why telephone lines have those big boxes on them, those are the amplifiers (as well as other technology). Together, they help take your voice and keep that signal alive and clear by the time it reaches the speaker in the phone on the other end of the line.