Invention of the Telephone

Abstract

The ultimate cause of much historical, social and cultural change is the gradual accumulation of knowledge of the environment. Human beings use the materials in their environment to meet their needs and increased human knowledge of the environment enables human needs to be met in a more efficient manner. Humans have a need to communicate and the invention of the telephone enabled them to communicate in a more efficient manner. It is clear that the telephone could only be invented due to the existence of certain materials in the environment such as carbon granules, electrons, and conducting and insulating materials. If these materials did not exist, then the telephone could not have been invented. It is equally clear the telephone could only have been invented, when it was invented, as before that time humans did not know enough about the materials used in the invention of the telephone, to allow them to invent the telephone. Prior discoveries concerning these materials were necessary before the telephone could be invented. The social and cultural consequences of the invention of the telephone could obviously only take place after the invention of the telephone.