image creditMore than 200 years ago it was already possible to send messages throughout Europe and America at the speed of an aeroplane - wireless and without need for electricity. Email leaves all other communication systems far behind in terms of speed. But the principle of the technology - forwarding coded messages over long distances - is nothing new.
It has its origins in the use of plumes of smoke, fire signals and drums, thousands of years ago. Coded long distance communication also formed the basis of a remarkable but largely forgotten communications network that prepared the arrival of the internet: the optical telegraph.
(thanks Stanley)The Presurfer
