Technology and Ideology by John W. Carey Chapter 8 of the novel Communication as Culture 1988

In John W. Carey’s epic chapter Technology and Ideology: The Case of the Telegraph from the novel Communication as Culture he pleads his case about how the telegraph is one of the greatest inventions of all time, changing the landscape of the world. He speaks about how the telegraph was the first monopoly and allowed for the creation of capitalism. Next he goes on to speak about how the was the first of the science and engineering-based industries. His next two points discuss how the telegraph changed the nature of language and how it was a watershed of communication. Part two discusses the religious actions of the telegraph, with part two discussing the changes in the market. Part four speaks about how the telegraph changed time in the United States.

The bulk of Carey’s writing details how the telegraph split communication and transportation. It rearranged the market place in the late 1800’s after it began being used as a widespread tool for communication. People no longer needed to see what they were purchasing. Good could cross state lines after being ordered via telegraph. Arbitrage, buying goods for cheap in one state and selling it where it is in demand in a different state for a higher price, began to deteriorate due to the telegraph. All states for the first time were on an equal playing field. They could instantly communicate with one another and figure out prices in other states. It uniformly standardized goods. People also began to test out the futures market, which projected future costs of goods in order to make money. Speculation trading is still very big today when playing the stock market.

While it was a very informative 30 pages the mere fact that it was speaking of a technology that I have never come in contact with deters from it. I could not relate to what the telegraph brought to the country for the simple fact that I was not alive to ever use it. Carey obviously regards it as a life changing invention though. The most interesting part of the article is that our time zones were created due to both the railroad system and the telegraph. It’s amazing to think prior to that time zones changed every few hundred miles depending on the state. Its interesting to see in a hundred years what authors will be writing about that defined our generation technologically due to the massive improvements. Will it be the cell phone? The computer? The Internet? All of these inventions changed the market place in their own right, I guess only time will tell which was the most influential.