The first network effect was a phone call (ft. James Gleick)

About this episode

James Gleick — acclaimed science writer and bestselling author of Chaos: Making a New Science as well as biographies on polymaths Isaac Newton and Richard Feynman — joins Sonal Chokshi and Robert Hackett to discuss his new book, The Telephone: A New History. It is a story of a device — who really invented it, how? — of a network, of a lab, and of how innovation happens. The telephone was dismissed as a toy or a frivolity — at best, something people could use to listen to concerts or sermons from home. Even with a working invention, everyone was still trying to figure out what a telephone was for, using the framework of what they already knew. Then its users started finding their own answers. Farmers built their own decentralized networks using barbed-wire fences — the “devil’s rope” — and, over time, research at a company built around phone calls helped lay the foundations of modern computing. This conversation explores the nuances of building at the frontier: competing inventors, the experiments, the “scenius of genius.” Why did established businesses underestimate it? Did the telephone network have to become a monopoly? What made Bell Labs so productive? And how a single invention could set off a technology revolution In this episode: 00:00 Intro: James Gleick and this new book 02:07 The messy invention of the telephone 03:53 When a “toy” becomes indispensable 08:15 How network effects changed the telephone 14:29 How farmers built a decentralized phone network from barbed wire 17:20 What Mark Twain missed while eavesdropping on his wife’s phone calls 20:12 To play monopoly or not? 31:22 Open vs. closed systems 37:17 What made Bell Labs (and Xerox PARC) more than one-hit wonders? 41:20 Scientists, tinkerers, and the conditions for invention 47:22 Debating whether AI is a fourth industrial revolution 52:11 How technology changes the way we think 54:18 James Gleick on solo writing vs. social conversation 58:25 The world brain 59:55 From “ahoy” to “hello, world” References and readings: read The Telephone: A New History: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374618940/thetelephone/ subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTHq3W46BiAYjKUYZq2qm-Q subscribe to our Substack: https://a16zfrontier.substack.com/ visit our website: https://a16zfrontier.com/ follow us on X: https://twitter.com/a16zfrontier — reference links & readings: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1880/06/a-telephonic-conversation/306078/ https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=639 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dial_up_modem_noises.ogg https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-claude-shannons-information-theory-invented-the-future-20201222/ . image credits (listed alphabetically by topic): Alexander Graham Bell patent drawing [ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alexander_Graham_Bell%27s_Telephone_Patent_Drawing_and_Oath_-_NARA_-_302052_(page_2).jpg] barbed wire, Texas (Library of Congress) Bell Labs campus, 2008 [ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bell_Labs_Holmdel.jpg] Bell System advertisement, 1912 [ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bell_System_advertisement_in_Western_Electric_v1no1_News_March_1912_promoting_universal_service.jpg] Centennial Exhibition, 1876 [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Exposition#/media/File:Centennial_Exhibition,_Opening_Day.jpg] Edison & phonograph, 1877 [ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Phonograph#/media/File:Edison_and_phonograph_edit2.jpg Library of Congress] Edison’s phonograph, 2004 [ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Phonograph#/media/File:Fonograf_01_ubt.jpeg] ENIAC patent, 1954 [ https://www.historyofinformation.com/image.php?id=5454 , Jeremy Norman Collection of Images (Creative Commons)] Hello World, 1978 [ https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Hello_World_Brian_Kernighan_1978.jpg/500px-Hello_World_Brian_Kernighan_1978.jpg] Mathematical Theory of Communication, 1949 [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mathematical_Theory_of_Communication#/media/File:The_Mathematical_Theory_Of_Communication_title_page.jpg] + Claude Shannon’s diagram of communication (Bell Technical Journal) Reis telephone, 1863 [ https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co33781/reis-telephone-1863 (Creative Commons)] telegraph lines, 1871 [ https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:7h149w171 via Wikimedia Commons] telegraphing Morse code, 1918 [ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ada_Jones_sending_morse_code_in_1918.jpg] telephone operators, 1928 [ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016853369/] transistor evolution 1941-1997, Bell System Memorial [ https://memorial.bellsystem.com/images/tube-trans_history.jpg] “We Learn about the Telephone”, 1965 [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2eTOqLpT6Q via Maria Popova (Creative Commons)] book covers, various reference links & readings: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1880/06/a-telephonic-conversation/306078/ https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=639 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dial_up_modem_noises.ogg https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-claude-shannons-information-theory-invented-the-future-20201222/ — This content is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. 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