Telephone Otlet

Internet really invented in 1934...sort of. Here, (L-R) sketch of internet; portrait of Paul Otlet (Union of International Association)

Internet really invented in 1934...sort of

The concept of a global network may have come from a little-known Belgian information expert. Ahead of his time



... In 1934, [Belgian information expert] Paul Otlet realized that the wires and radio waves connecting the world could be used for more than chatter and entertainment, but also to bring the world's knowledge into any home.

In his Radiated Library vision, people would place a telephone call requesting information to a great library. It wasn't as easy as typing a question into Google, but Otlet was making the most of the technology he had.

Librarians would pull the information and send the pages as TV signals for what Otlet called the Televised Book. He also suggested dividing the screen into sections to display several books — what we know as opening multiple windows or browser tabs.

Otlet went as far as suggesting that this phone-and-screen combination would replace traditional books. In other words, he foresaw the Kindle and the iPad.

And his central idea of using the telephone and TV hasn't changed at all. You're getting your Internet service from either the phone company or a cable or satellite TV provider...

Scott
Scott  •  9 days ago
I remember reading about something like that in Highlights magazine around 1970, and laughing, at which point my goody-goody brother Gallant did a paper on it, got an A, and used the technology he helped develop after his MIT scholarship to put me behind bars after I spent one night too many flat on my back in the alleys behind bars.
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