Summary
This chapter discusses the age of revolutions in transportation and communication: the application of new machines and energy sources to transportation, and the liberation of communication from the need to transport objects. By the eighteenth century, the quickening of business and political affairs in Western European nations was reflected in improvements in transportation and communication. In North America, the Post Office Act of 1792 inaugurated a new era in communication. The falling cost of shipping freight by sea, air, and train and the lowering of tariffs and other trade barriers since World War II have fueled the increase in world trade, a major aspect of globalization. The evolution of motorcars illustrates the divergence between communication and transportation. As all kinds of information can now be digitized and transmitted through the same computers, cables, and microwaves, the result is a convergence of media and a proliferation of new devices and organizations.
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