Replying to Avatar mike

Paper is scanned via a digital copier, converted into a series of black and white dots. These dots are converted into a black space optimised compression algorithm.

This compressed data is sent down a phone line via a modem which works by modulating and demodulating electrical impulses (1's and 0's) through the phone line.

At the other end the process is reversed and a remote photocopy is produced by thermal printing on heat sensitive paper.
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nobody 2y ago

I can Google as well:)

Now explain how it’s done from a plane flying 300mph over Japan, while sending the perfect image of the Mona Lisa to a small office in the outskirts of New Mexico (instantly). Magic. Air. Vibrations. Poof. Clouds. Wires. Electricity. Compression. Sound waves. Dots.

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mike 2y ago

I didn’t Google, I’m an electronics and computer engineer by training, and I used them in the 1980’s.

Never from a plane though and I had a large office, so I have no concept of small offices.

Also my private Jet doesn’t fly that slow, so I can’t empathise with that kind of plane.

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nobody 2y ago

Holy shit. I had no idea. Those credentials. Oh my. I’ve got to check you out for reals now. What shitcoin should I buy - ETH fax? I’m in.

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mike 2y ago

Some cool facts about the fax:

It was invented in Japan.

The west had Telex machines, which allowed us to send messages around the world almost instantly, but the Japanese hadn't invented a practical Kanji keyboard at this point, so had no way to "type" their character set, so they invented the fax (or faxsimile - facsimile) which allowed them to handwrite Kanji characters as well as do drawings to communicate.

It turned out it was a lot easier to use and more useful than a Telex, so it quickly caught on in the west and shortly overtook the Telex machine as the prime method of written communication.

Feel free to Google a telex.

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nobody 2y ago

In all seriousness, thanks for playing. Appreciate the engagement.

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mike 2y ago

Thanks for getting me to remember 40 year old technology 😃

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nobody 2y ago

Mike, I’m a born in the 70’s guy so no spring chicken. Been in software my whole career, the big boys like Oracle early on & mostly startups since 2012. I hate the cloud, I hate Kunernetes, I hate the centralization push at most companies. AI scares the crap out of me etc etc.

I truly do come back to how a phone & fax actually work as just pure magic. VMWare tech blew me away in its early days too. We lived through some of the most exciting tech times & hard to replicate that. Cloud ain’t it. DevSecOps ain’t it. It’s why I fell deep into BTC. Layers on top of BTC IS the future and will amaze IMO. Have a great day.

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mike 2y ago

I don't hate the cloud, but it is moving to become decentralised through platforms like Nextcloud and DeFi Crypto protocols such a Filecoin.

Have patience!