It seems there is strife and discontent everywhere you turn in the world today. In many countries the situation seems to approach the brink of revolution. A bomb explodes in a South African shopping center; another is detonated at the airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In the Philippines, the opposition, shored up by crowds of demonstrators surging through the streets of Manila, succeeds in ousting the once-invincible Marcos regime. In South Korea, violence explodes in the streets as opposition leaders push for an end to the rule of President Chun Doo Hawn. In India, the political pressures between religious groups hover around the boiling point, as trouble breaks out, yet again, at the Sikhs' Golden Temple in Amritsar. Then there are Afghanistan, Lebanon, Libya, and the conflict between Iran and Iraq.
The list goes on, but while political scientists and semanticists may debate whether the term 'revolution' applies or not, there is an undeniably profound, worldwide revolution affecting us as close to home as our own living rooms: the revolution in the communications industry.
After all, it is the satellite that is bringing all of the other turmoil to our attention.
From the days of the cavemen until as recently as the Vietnam War, despite all of the technological advances made over the millennia, two types of barriers have stood in the way of understanding between the nations of the world. The first was geographical. Mountains, oceans, and swollen rainy-season rivers kept people apart. That was good news and bad news, since these obstacles kept different groups from throwing stones at one another, as well as inhibiting their potential cooperation.
These also led to the development of the second timeless barrier: languages. When people ventured across the mountains, sailed the seas, or trekked across the dry-season riverbeds, they discovered that not only did they not particularly like their neighbors, but they could not understand a single word they said!
Now, in the blink of an eye, comparatively speaking, both of these barriers are disappearing. Oh, the mountains and the oceans are still there, as are the various languages on this planet; but their existential meaning has changed. The ready availability of linguistic translation and the growth of English as an international language has had a strong impact over the years, but what's effecting change more than anything else is the satellite. Now the United States carries out an air raid on Libya, and minutes later we get voice reports from Tripoli in our living rooms. Trouble brews in the Philippines after a controversial election, and our favorite anchorman kicks off the evening news from Manila.
The technological story here and its implications are as interesting and important as the actual story being covered.
Brave new world
The worldwide effects of satellite communication are almost impossible to measure; the changes are simply taking place too rapidly. Across the United States, satellite dishes have sprung up in yards, next to motels, and on top of buildings so quickly that it was only after the fact that city officials raised doubts about the aesthetics of the
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