Low-tech Magazine

Download, print, fold, paste

Downloading cars, houses and aeroplanes is no science fiction.

In the future, a desktop fabricator may be as common as a desktop computer today, 3D-printers might complement inkjet printers. Downloading, sharing and printing of appliances might become as ordinary (and controversial) as it is today with music, movies and texts.

Yet, downloading objects is already possible with a familiar computer configuration. At least, if the objects are made of paper and if you are willing to spend some time cutting and pasting. Paper cut-outs have a long history, but thanks to the internet they are making a comeback.

Faster internet is impossible

Internet users continually need faster connections to surf the web at the same speed.

Because of their low speed, dial-up internet connections are considered hopelessly out of date. Yet switching to a faster broadband connection or even a fibre connection will only yield a speed increase for a short period. Faster connections also threaten the democratisation of the internet.

Email in the 18th century: the optical telegraph

More than 200 years ago it was already possible to send messages throughout Europe and America at the speed of an aeroplane – wireless and without need for electricity.

Email leaves all other communication systems far behind in terms of speed. But the principle of the technology – forwarding coded messages over long distances – is nothing new. It has its origins in the use of plumes of smoke, fire signals and drums, thousands of years before the start of our era. Coded long distance communication also formed the basis of a remarkable but largely forgotten communications network that prepared the arrival of the internet: the optical telegraph.

(Maps and picture : Ecole Centrale de Lyon)