The Talking Machine

12 The Talking Machine Today making a phone call is as common as having a glass of water. But when telephones were invented more than 130 years ago, people believed that they were dangerous. In 1876, when the first telephone was demonstrated to the public, electricity was still new and little understood. Many people had died working with electricity in the early days. That's why most people did not easily accept that it was safe to hear a human voice through the phone. Many honestly feared the phone would kill them. But on the morning of March 10, 1876, Alexander Bell, and his assistant Thomas Watson, had no such fears. Bell and Watson had been struggling to make their new invention, the telephone, work. Bell sent his assistant to a room in the basement. In a room upstairs, the telephone inventor spoke seven little words into his invention. These simple words changed the world forever. “ Mr. Watson, come here. I want you. "

It's hard to imagine the excitement in the laboratory that day. Mr. Watson did, in fact, hear these words on his receiving machine in the basement. He quickly ran upstairs to announce the good news to his boss. The telephone was born in March 1876, but it took a few more years for it to gain respect. Bell had to overcome the fears about electricity before people took his invention seriously. He also had to convince people there was a need for such a machine. We can laugh at this now, but in 1876, people seriously asked, “ But what use could it possibly have?" Today, we take telephones for granted. But on that day in March 1876, there were only two telephones in the whole world. As we walk along a busy street talking with friends on our cellphones, it is hard to believe that not so long ago, telephones were thought to be dangerous and useless. Our world sure has changed, don't you think so?