¶ Teleology (1)
Index Entry
Teleology:
"The words ‘telegraph’ and ‘telephone’ have quite naturally been derived from teleology. The process they represent mechanically abstracts the original, with the minds of operators interpolating at abstract stages to produce an ultimately sensorial result. (‘Telefacture’ may well supplant ‘manufacture.’)
"To illustrate the process in ‘telegraph,’ let us suppose an original phenomenon such as death of Uncle John.
“A telegram is sent to a florist by someone, the message being transmitted as a dot-and-dash interruption on an electrical circuit. The dot-and-dash symbols are converted at the receiving end of the wire into ink symbols, codified with the dot-and-dash system, on a piece of yellow paper. This piece of paper is transmitted to a florist who sends flowers to 37 Bond Street–flowers but that morning growing in a field only to be suddenly severed from their roots, covered with waxed paper, packed in a receptacle of water standing next to a black box in which in which has been deposited a discarded human machine. The telegram sender, rueful of”
¶ Citations
- NINE CHAINS TO THE MOON; p.46, 1938
