Will Storr’s point about the shift in status, so that the prestige of discovery was able to break through the blocks of propriety-through-conformity, seems to apply.
I wonder if demand might play a role, though. The obvious rival to these systems is indeed the horse and rider. In many cases isn’t that a winner in terms of cost per bit of information? The exception seems to be times in war where speed is of the essence, but perhaps that is rare?
Thanks David. I have my doubts on this, as I suspect that a trained person with a heliograph would be much cheaper per bit than a horse and rider, but then there is also the fact that a rider can carry lots of letters. It would be good to see some calculations of this. That said, the electric telegraph also had the same problem, and that managed to take off too, with letters continuing alongside it.
I think you're right that war is the major use-case, but really I'd say that makes it all the stranger. If it were just a matter of slightly improving commerce or finance, then I could see why the investment may still have been difficult by private actors. But for states to pass up such a major potential advantage for their militaries is peculiar - they had the most resources at their disposal and also the most incentive. They essentially spent on nothing other than war and defence!
The British and American commanders who used the heliograph in the late 19thC absolutely raved about its usefulness, even when they had bad weather. Do check out the references I used for those points. They were especially keen on its importance during sieges, as being far more reliable and less deadly than trying to sneak a spy out with a message.
Excellent post Anton! I've toyed with the same question before but assumed cost was the primary barrier to mass deployment. Now you've got me reconsidering. I'm curious how a pre-industrial economy would be effected by such a technology. Would we expect greater market integration between cities for example?
It would make for some fun counterfactual historical fiction. One book I read that was somewhat on this theme was Going Postal by Terry Pratchett - the macguffin is signalling towers disrupting the postal service. But it doesn't go much beyond just introducing the idea.
This was a question that always bothered me, especially because of homing pigeons. Their ability to return home with a message was well known since Antiquity and unlike riders they could fly from ships at sea, from armies, scouts or spies in enemy territory and from besieged cities. Still we don't see a regular, large scale use of pigeon post until the nineteenth century, use which continued surprisingly all the way to WW2. Why?
Great question - I was thinking similarly about pigeons. Although there was the risk of interception by falconers, that doesn't fully explain it away. I will have to look into it at some stage.
Will Storr’s point about the shift in status, so that the prestige of discovery was able to break through the blocks of propriety-through-conformity, seems to apply.
https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780008354633/the-status-game/
I wonder if demand might play a role, though. The obvious rival to these systems is indeed the horse and rider. In many cases isn’t that a winner in terms of cost per bit of information? The exception seems to be times in war where speed is of the essence, but perhaps that is rare?
Thanks David. I have my doubts on this, as I suspect that a trained person with a heliograph would be much cheaper per bit than a horse and rider, but then there is also the fact that a rider can carry lots of letters. It would be good to see some calculations of this. That said, the electric telegraph also had the same problem, and that managed to take off too, with letters continuing alongside it.
I think you're right that war is the major use-case, but really I'd say that makes it all the stranger. If it were just a matter of slightly improving commerce or finance, then I could see why the investment may still have been difficult by private actors. But for states to pass up such a major potential advantage for their militaries is peculiar - they had the most resources at their disposal and also the most incentive. They essentially spent on nothing other than war and defence!
The British and American commanders who used the heliograph in the late 19thC absolutely raved about its usefulness, even when they had bad weather. Do check out the references I used for those points. They were especially keen on its importance during sieges, as being far more reliable and less deadly than trying to sneak a spy out with a message.
Excellent post Anton! I've toyed with the same question before but assumed cost was the primary barrier to mass deployment. Now you've got me reconsidering. I'm curious how a pre-industrial economy would be effected by such a technology. Would we expect greater market integration between cities for example?
It would make for some fun counterfactual historical fiction. One book I read that was somewhat on this theme was Going Postal by Terry Pratchett - the macguffin is signalling towers disrupting the postal service. But it doesn't go much beyond just introducing the idea.
Yes, Going Postal came to mind to me too
This was a question that always bothered me, especially because of homing pigeons. Their ability to return home with a message was well known since Antiquity and unlike riders they could fly from ships at sea, from armies, scouts or spies in enemy territory and from besieged cities. Still we don't see a regular, large scale use of pigeon post until the nineteenth century, use which continued surprisingly all the way to WW2. Why?
Great question - I was thinking similarly about pigeons. Although there was the risk of interception by falconers, that doesn't fully explain it away. I will have to look into it at some stage.
Maybe it was too vulnerable?
Isolated towers relaying vital signals are easy targets of sabotage, banditry and vandalism.