And the nominees are (insert drumroll here):
- Radio
- Television
- The Internet
- Sliced Bread
- Railroads
- Cars
Now let's take a closer look at the candidates.
Radio: From my limited research (you don't expect me to do lengthy research for this do you?), it appears that the first real radio broadcasts occured around the turn of the last Century. Radio provided for the first time the true ability to "mass communicate". People all over the world could hear news and music almost instantaneously. From FDR's "Fireside Chats", to the 1922 World Series, to the panic-inducing "War of the Worlds", to "The Grand Ole Opry", radio made information, sports, entertainment and music available to people on a grand scale, as well as allowing one on one communication across long distances. And what's better than driving at night and picking up an AM station from half way across the country? Nothing beats a late night listening to 650 WSM. Radio sparks the imagination in a way I think few other media forms do. It forces you to draw the mental pictures much like a book. One of my favorite songs is I Watched it All (On My Radio) (Go here to listen. Scroll down past the first song and click on the little music note by "I Watched It All (On My Radio)")by Lionel Cartwright. He talks about all the things he "saw" on his radio. Unfortunately, I think that aspect of radio is dying. The AM dial seems to be dead these days and the FM side is filled with nothing but the Pop Station of the Day.
Pros:
- Mass communication ability.
- Relatively inexpensive equipment, even from the early days.
- Long distance communication.
- Fosters the imagination and mental pictures.
- With the exception of the relatively new Satellite Radio, it's free.
- Doesn't require your full attention while listening. Can be combined with other activities.
Cons:
- No pictures. Let's face it, we're "visual based" beings.
- Limited to no reception is some areas.
- Difficulty transmitting AM long distances during the day.
- Difficulty transmitting FM long distances period.
Television: Television is basically radio with pictures. It allows for the same broad dissemination of information, sports and entertainment except it includes pictures and we all know "a picture's worth a thousand words". With the advances in Satellite TV, it's basically available anywhere (In the Continental United States. Fees and restrictions do apply.)
Pros:
- The same information dissemination as radio, but with pictures. Allowing you to literally see what's happening and pick up body language, etc.
- Available almost anywhere.
Cons:
- A "passive" experience. You sit. You watch.
- Robs the imagination of the opportunity to paint the pictures.
- Cost of equipment and typically some service.
- TV has a much deeper influence than radio. Pictures become burned in your memory. This is good if you're watching something positive. They have positive programming on TV?
Internet: The internet has completely revolutionized our world. No invention has allowed the dissemination of information to a truly global extent like the internet has. It doesn't matter where you are (within limits), you can read viewpoints from all over the world. The best part is, you can also watch porn from all over the world too. OK, so maybe that's not such a good thing. While the internet has expanded the borders of information and freedom, it has also expanded access to pornography and destructive influences of all sorts to unprecedented levels. Anyone can get anything anywhere.
Pros:
- Global dissemination of information and communication.
- User generated content. Even I can have a "blog".
- Most content is free.
Cons:
- Global dissemination of "all kinds of bad stuff".
- Spam...
- Pop-Up ads...
- User generated content. Even I can have a "blog"...
- System costs and access costs
Sliced Bread: I'm not sure where to go with this one. I mean, it's sliced bread... But. It's Sliced Bread, that golden standard to which everything else is held. So I felt compelled to include it. But ask yourself one question. What was the best thing before sliced bread?
Pros:
- Makes handy sandwiches.
Cons:
- Molds
- Goes stale
- Very "crumb-y"
Railroads: Railroads united this country and allowed/expedited the development of half of this continent. Railroads allowed for transportation of goods and people across vast expanses of open space, allowing for people to sell their goods to markets far away, as well as allowing the import of goods from long distances. This reduced the need for specific regions to be "self-sufficient" in providing their needs, allowing regions to specialize in industries they were most suited for (i.e. the Great Plains in food, the industrialized and populated East Coast in equipment and manufacturing).
Pros:
- Allows low(er) cost transportation of goods across long distances.
- Gives some predictability and efficiency to transportation of goods.
- Allows specialization of economies.
Cons:
- High cost of infrastructure.
- Destinations limited to somewhere along the tracks.
Cars: While railroads may have built this country, cars populated it. Distances that once took days to cover on foot or horseback now takes hours. For the first time in history, people weren't restricted to where they wanted to live based on proximity to water, jobs, etc. People could still survive, even when isolated from the necessities of life. People can choose where they live based not on where they work but based on where they want to live. Throw in the trucking industry and you have a significant replacement of the railroads for freight hauling
Pros:
- Flexibility of transportation.
- Allows travel at (relatively) low cost.
- Allows transportation of goods and people to virtually all areas of the country.
Cons:
- Global Warming! Freak out everybody...
- High gas costs (recently anyways).
- Cost of infrastructure for roadways.
- Cars lead to urban sprawl. I'm not sure how bad "urban sprawl" is, but I'll throw it in there...
So there's the candidates. In a later post, we'll pick a winner. Hopefully tomorrow (or sooner), but given my track record, we'll see...
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