commonplace of vacation peace , love and understanding ? So was an editor at the Los Angeles Times , who in the days leading up to Christmas 1924 , ran an article that asked “ What Will befall When ‘ Science ’ Perfectsthe Art of War ? ”
Grandma ’s crank may have been lethal in its own limited means , but it paled in equivalence to the horrors of the “ Battle of the Centuries ” to come :
Death swifter than light , silent and stealthy as the shadow of a thought , will cod on the wings of radio to destroy nations in the space of a exclusive breath . . . Imagine a fleet of fight planes circling , maneuvering , attacking or harbour fire at the counseling of minds hundreds , even thousands of miles aside ! Imagine the human centre indue with a major power of vision capable of spanning these thousands of miles to witness the lightning - same seep of this squadron . . . pull up stakes in its backwash a burnt and blackened desert , devoid of all life !
Among the weapons of the futurity predicted were :
reverse lightning of water charged with electricity to kill all animal life with which they derive in middleman .
Wireless telephone , wireless visual modality , wireless warmth , wireless power and wireless written material . . . .
Wireless ardour to devastate enemy district . . . .
radiocommunication “ eyes ” and “ ears ” for the ferreting out of hush-hush war plans through thousands of sea mile of space . . . .
Electrically controlled skyrocket operate on wires for wrecking airplane . . . .
The possible perfection of genial telepathy to the period where it may be used over large aloofness to verify wireless speech . . .
These were not the “ prophecy of a romanticistic fictionist , ” noted the Times , but the “ drab conclusions ” of Professor Archibald Montgomery Low , today count a pioneer of radio - counsel systems .
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the futurity , delivered to your present tense .
Please choose your trust newssheet and submit your email to promote your inbox .
