Event horizons in history — The Daily PPILL #198

When we look back at history, we rarely think about inventions outside of the context of how they changed things after they appeared and got adopted. A different and interesting way of thinking about it is in reverse. How were things BEFORE their invention?

If you have ever read a book or seen a documentary on black holes, you have probably heard the concept of the “event horizon”, which refers to the point in space the boundary within which the black hole’s escape velocity is greater than the speed of light. We cannot see anything beyond this point.

Some inventions create similar points in time. For example, photography. I was watching “The Empress” recently, which was particularly appealing for my Hungarian heritage, since it is about Sisi, or Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of Hungary and wife of Franz Joseph I of Austria. I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to find on the Internet actual photographs of these people. Photography was invented in 1826, a mere 30 years before her coronation. But for example, Napoleon, died in 1821, which means that there are no photographs of him, only paintings. The invention of photography marks a point in time beyond which we have no objective depictions of people, objects, or events in time; only interpretations of an artist of them.

In the same way, x-rays, audio recordings, video capture, satellite photography, 3D scans, and now, the blockchain (yes, the blockchain can be used to set the record straight!), work the same way. Many of today’s emerging technologies will create similar horizons and we will look back in time longing for a past gone.

As published on The Channelmeister