What has the telephone done to us or for us in the hundred years of its existence? A few effects suggest themselves at once. It has saved lives by getting rapid word of illness, injury, or fire from distant places. By joining with the lift to make possible the multi-story building or office building, it has made possible-for better or worse-the modem city. By bringing about a great leap in the speed and ease with which information moves from place to place, it has greatly sped up the rate of scientific and technological changes and growth in industry. Beyond doubt it has seriously weakened, if not killed, the ancient art of letter writing It has made living alone possible for persons with normal desires; by so doing, it has played a mile in one of the greatest social changes of this century, the breakup of the multi generational house-hold. It has made the war more efficient than before. Perhaps though not provably (可证实), it has prevented wars that might have arisen out of international misunderstanding caused by written communication. Or perhaps-again not probably-by magnifying and extending irrational (非理性的) personal disagreement based on voice contact, it has caused wars. Certainly it has extended the scope (范围) of human conflicts, since it fairly spreads the useful knowledge of scientists and the nonsense of the ignorant (无知者), the affection of the affectionate and the malice (恶意) of the malicious. |