SGU Episode 481
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| SGU Episode 481 |
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| September 27th 2014 |
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| (brief caption for the episode icon) |
| Skeptical Rogues |
| S: Steven Novella |
B: Bob Novella |
R: Rebecca Watson |
J: Jay Novella |
E: Evan Bernstein |
| Quote of the Week |
'If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?' 'Oh jeez. Probably.' 'What!? Why!?' 'Because all my friends did. Think about it — which scenario is more likely: every single person I know, many of them levelheaded and afraid of heights, abruptly went crazy at exactly the same time… …or the bridge is on fire?' |
Randall Munroe (xkcd) |
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| Download Podcast |
| Show Notes |
| Forum Discussion |
Introduction
You're listening to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.
S: Hello and welcome to the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. Today is Wednesday, September 24, 2014 and this is your host, Steven Novella. Joining me this week are Bob Novella...
B: Hey, everybody.
S: Rebecca Watson...
R: Hello, everyone.
S: Jay Novella...
J: Hey, guys.
S: And Evan Bernstein...
E: Hi folks, how are you all tonight?
B: Doing good, Evan.
J: All right, yeah.
This Day in Skepticism (0:29)
R: Happy birthday to the answering machine, which was invented on September 27, 1950! Now, for the bulk of our audience, I will now describe what an answering machine is.
(laughter)
R: An answering machine was a little box that you used to plug your phone in to, and when you weren't there at home, because you couldn't take your phone with you back then, the answering machine would pick up and people would leave messages, and it was very exciting. We would leave prank messages sometimes, we would have prank recordings on our answering machines.
J: Yeah, you mean the outgoing message was the prank too.
R: Yeah. Yeah, it was a time of pranks.
E: Oh, I hated that one where someone would say "Hello?" and then wait a few seconds (you're speaking to the answering machine) and then you say something and it says "Oh yes, hi, how you doing?" and then another pause and you think you're speaking to someone but it's a damn answering machine. Hated it.
J: (laughs)
B: And don't forget, this wasn't saved to a hard drive or a solid state drive, this was like a cassette tape that all of this action is happening on. (laughs)
E: I bet you in the 50's it was some reel-to-reel device that took up three rooms like UNIVAC or something.
R: I found on a website that the answering machine was invented on this day in 1950, but I've also found elsewhere that the first commercial answering machine went on the market in 1949 (laughs), uh, and that was called the Tel-Magnet. And the problem is that I'm in the midst of moving house, and I could not suss all this stuff out before we'd started this recording. So I'll mention that and I'll also mention--and I think this came up in a previous Science or Fiction years and years ago or something[link needed]--but, really, the first answering machine was invented in 1898 by a man named Valdemar Poulsen and this was basically a recorder that was used for recording conversations on the telephone. And it was the basis for what eventually became the mass-produced answering machine. So...
S: Right.
R: ...a dubious day in history, but, you know, I'm going with it.
E: (laughs)
S: But the first, from what I'm reading, the first commercially successful answering machine was the Ansafone in 1960 in the United States. Yeah, the Tel-Magnet, 1949, was recorded a message on a magnetic wire...
B: Whoa.
S: ...that sold for $200...
E: That's worth it.
S: ...but was not, not a commercial success.
R: You know, I remember when there was a short period where cell phone companies would charge you just for voicemail, for like a dollar a month...
S: Mm hm.
R: ...and I just found that ridiculous (laughs). I can't even imagine a $200 answering machine.
S: The telephone is definitely one of those things that has changed consistently over the years and you could, like, tell, like you can date a movie by the phones.
R: Oh yeah, absolutely.
S: Yeah, pretty well. Even, as well as you can, say, with computers, you know.
R: I've done that several times where I'm watching a film and, you know, sometimes a film will be set in a certain period but they don't come out and tell you right away...
E: Mm hm.
R: ...like a lot of indie films will do that, and I'm really just always looking for telephones so I can figure out exactly when it's supposed to be.
E: Within a few years accuracy, yeah.
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Daniel Dennett ()
Science or Fiction ()
Item #1: There is more water in the Earth’s atmosphere than in all the world’s fresh water lakes. Item #2: All the water on Jupiter’s moon Europa is 2-3 times all the water on or near the surface of the Earth. Item #3: Scientists have discovered that water rain falls on large parts of Saturn’s upper atmosphere, originating from water in the rings.
Skeptical Quote of the Week ()
'If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?' 'Oh jeez. Probably.' 'What!? Why!?' 'Because all my friends did. Think about it — which scenario is more likely: every single person I know, many of them levelheaded and afraid of heights, abruptly went crazy at exactly the same time… …or the bridge is on fire?' - Randall Munroe (xkcd)
S: The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is produced by SGU Productions, dedicated to promoting science and critical thinking. For more information on this and other episodes, please visit our website at theskepticsguide.org, where you will find the show notes as well as links to our blogs, videos, online forum, and other content. You can send us feedback or questions to info@theskepticsguide.org. Also, please consider supporting the SGU by visiting the store page on our website, where you will find merchandise, premium content, and subscription information. Our listeners are what make SGU possible.
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