In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

WIRELESS COMMUNICATION 243
that the sun contains all the elements known to exist on our planet."
Although the possible impact of such technological innovations on
everyday life is unclear, their multiplicity and the speed with which they
develop suggest that the present moment marks a particularly important
transition in history-the moment at which the systematic exploitation
of the human senses and human perception has finally begun: "Our eyes
are delicate receptive instruments that can register data at 4,000 to 8,000
angstroms. "
A similar tone of self-congratulation pervades a report in the July 25
issue of the Vossische Zeitung-"Zwiesprache mit Siidamerika" ("Dialogue
with Latin America" )--concerning a radio-receiving station that
establishes long-wave connections between Germany and Argentina.
This text not only goes into the scientific facts but, even more, emphasizes
the aesthetic side of technology, and it thus becomes an illustration
of concepts such as "the New Sobriety" and "functionalism." While the
buildings of the radio station (the Trans-Radio-Gesellschaft) look surprisingly
shabby from the outside, their interior corresponds to the new
norm of soberly functional beauty: "Amid the flat, limitless meadows of
the Frisian island of Sylt, surrounded by grazing sheep and horses and
completely lost beneath the infinite jubilation of the lark, lies a row of
boarded-up barracks. An apparently ordinary, dark brown, tar-covered
building, topped by loose wires that sway between two tilted weather
vanes . . . But as one enters through the small anteroom . . . , one's
impression immediately changes. A long line of doors extends down a
narrow corridor-room after room, systematically done up in the bright,
clean decor of modern office space." [see Sobriety vs. Exuberance] This
space is permeated by a very specific sound which, even on the telephone,
always precedes long-distance communication: "Throughout the building
wafts a curious noise-a high-pitched sound which always hovers at
the same frequency, broken into short segments, repeatedly stopping and
starting." [see Telephones] Finally, the journalist enters the transmission
room and is overwhelmed by the sublime appearance of this technological
sanctuary: "The eye of even the most unsophisticated layman would
be impressed by these illuminated dials of porcelain and metal, by this
machinery. The same apparatus has been exported to Buenos Aires, and
it has greatly improved the reputation of German technology through its
unheard-of precision and quality."
The future utility of this impressive device is unclear, and no one