Medieval Technology Used to Spread 21st Century Tech

[Greg Tito]

Medieval Technology Used to Spread 21st Century Tech

Hey rural Vermonters, your broadband internet connection is horse-powered!

One problem with living out in the boondocks is it can be difficult to receive services that we city-folk enjoy without a thought. When electric wires were spreading across the nation in the first half of the 20th century, rural areas were not prioritized because it cost power companies way more than they would earn from the scant population there. Victory and Granby, two towns in the Green Mountains of Vermont, for example, didn't have electricity until 1963.

The same thing is happening with fiber-optic cables bringing internet access that doesn't require a dial-up modem. Gov. Peter Shumlin has promised that every home in the state of Vermont gets broadband internet, but in order to reach the homes in the extremely rough terrain, the utility company FairPoint employs a technology that has been around for centuries. Meet Fred, the 14 year old draft horse that's bringing internet to hard to reach places.

The funny thing is that Fred's owner, 67-year old Claude Desmarais, has been laying cable with a draft horse for three decades. It seems that the only way to bring big heavy spools of 48-fiber optical cable into the muddy foothills of Vermont is with the sure steps of a 1,700 lbs. Belgian draft horse.

"We could maybe get a four-wheeler in here," says one of the linemen on Desmarais's team, but a truck would be impossible and would leave indeliable marks on the terrain and frown on the faces of residents. Even to get internet access, a Vermonter would probably frown on a huge truck plowing through their yard. A visit from Fred is much more palatable.

I love the anachronism of a draft horse using ancient technology to bring perhaps the greatest innovation of the last twenty years to people in hard to reach places. Seems somehow fitting.

When will robotics finally eclipse the horse for tasks like this?

Source: VT Digger [http://vtdigger.org/2011/05/22/draft-horses-the-transportation-method-of-choice-for-high-tech-fiber-optics-in-vermonts-remote-locations/]

(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/7326810@N08/3722914986/sizes/m/in/photostream/])

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[Cowabungaa]

When will robotics finally eclipse the horse for tasks like this?

At least someone came up with a good middle road to answer that question:

Now the Vermontiers can get the best of both worlds.

 

[monstersquad]

I love this!! I've always thought about situations like this, where old world meets new world, and I've always loved it in science fiction literature where space-age technology is used only sparingly alongside other older ways of living.

Modern technology should be used, in conjunction with other, older technology. A bridle may not look like too much now, but at one point in human development, it was an incredible technological marvel.

And robots should NEVER eclipse living beings. Living beings are made from eternally renewable resources, the materials that go into a robot aren't renewable. Not only that, but the processes by which a robot is built and created are inimical to life as it is. There can't be a million years of robots, because they would never be able to support themselves.

 

[Irridium]

Hey rural Vermonters, your broadband internet connection is horse-powered!

...
That actually explains quite a bit. Like how there isn't any broadband connection in my area yet. And why FairPoint can never give me a solid answer when I ask when broadband is coming.

And I love how people are getting a kick out of this. They don't have to wait on a damn horse to bring them a good connection.

Do I sound snippy? Because I'm not trying to be. Well, maybe a little.

 

[Nocta-Aeterna]

Now I want to see cavemen making microchips, using tools made of flint, bone and obsidian.

 

[TripleDaddy]

Victory and Granby dark until 1963, two towns in the Green Mountains of Vermont, for example, didn't have electricity until 1963.

What in the hell is going on in this sentence?

 

[Wicky_42]

I love this - the irony is nice n tasty and the image is beautifully retro Of course, I'm glad that that's not how my internet's being delivered

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I love the anachronism of a draft horse using ancient technology to bring perhaps the greatest innovation of the last twenty years to people in hard to reach places. Seems somehow fitting.

Would you say it behooves them?

Aww Hank, that pun wasn't lame at all. I actually clapped at that. Need more groaners.

 

[baconsarnie]

This is a problem in some parts of the UK as well, which people have got around by using 'dongles', not an ideal solution but better than nothing.

 

[Therumancer]

Well, my basic attitude on this entire thing is actually contrary to my capitalistic tendencies. I've been of the opinion for a while that The Internet has become something of a nessicary service for humanity nowadays. Even people that don't have it, should have it. The issue goes beyond reaching places in rough terrain in countries like the US, but also reaching various places throughout the second and third world.

Right now the "problem" of having to run cables has already been solved though various satellite networks. Things like 3G and 4G connections allow internet services to reach places without cables, and provide the potential to effectively put the entire world online with the people at the end only needing a reception device. The problem is that this service is only controlled by a relatively few companies, who want to charge massive amounts of money for it usually, things like "pay by the minute" plans as opposed to a flat-rate fee that you find in most places for regular cable-fed internet.

As something I increasingly see as a fundemental human right, I think we should start seeing goverments regulate this the way they do things like utilities, and basic foodstuffs like milk and bread (and this is just an opinion). Simply put without this kind of regulation I think technology is going to reach an impasse and stagnate here because the guys running these networks are never going to concede to lowering the prices on their own, and every technology developed hereon is going to remain pretty much the same in the way it's sold without intervention, simply selling updates to the given markets rather than really worrying about the abillity to proliferate the technology for the good of humanity.

Likewise, while some people might laugh at the idea, I also believe it's something first world nations like the US should push for internationally, even to the point of strong arming nations who are concerned about information control and want to put up "national firewalls" for purposes of "cultural preservation" in order to stave off globalization and the formation of a planetary unity (which I believe is nessicary, but I won't go into that rant here). Free information, and a channel for free, protected, anonymous speech is one of those things I actually feel is worth fighting and going to war for if the need arises.

Of course in a more practical sense this amounts to something akin to a South Park joke, with aid workers say bringing Internet into starving third world villages as opposed to food and medicine, but in reality I think it's something of a similar priority since I feel this kind of information sharing can very much contribute to those people getting better access to what they need.

At any rate, I'm getting well off topic. The basic point is that I don't think this thing with the horses is "cool" so much as "sad" given that it seems like we have people going through all of this trouble simply because we can't take advantage of the technologies that would make it more or less irrelevent. The people in those remote areas probably have an issue to begin with because they can't afford to use a satellite network for regular Internet access, meaning they need that cable or can only afford to get online sporadically at best.

When we're pretty much dealing with a world where the technology exists for some guy to pretty much bring his iPhone or iPad into the African Savannah and check sports scores, while sending out banal twitter messages, we shouldn't have people laying internet cable off of a bloody horse.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Simple, low-tech solutions are often best, but we tend to rely on technology too much. Faced with the same problem, most of us probably wouldn't even think to use horsepower.

 

[ryo02]

When will robotics finally eclipse the horse for tasks like this?

When robots become as widespread and cheap as horses while being just, if not more powerful.

A long time from now.

have you heard of a robot called big dog? its been around for awhile now not good enough but were are working on it.

 

[iblis666]

Well, my basic attitude on this entire thing is actually contrary to my capitalistic tendencies. I've been of the opinion for a while that The Internet has become something of a nessicary service for humanity nowadays. Even people that don't have it, should have it. The issue goes beyond reaching places in rough terrain in countries like the US, but also reaching various places throughout the second and third world.

Right now the "problem" of having to run cables has already been solved though various satellite networks. Things like 3G and 4G connections allow internet services to reach places without cables, and provide the potential to effectively put the entire world online with the people at the end only needing a reception device. The problem is that this service is only controlled by a relatively few companies, who want to charge massive amounts of money for it usually, things like "pay by the minute" plans as opposed to a flat-rate fee that you find in most places for regular cable-fed internet.

As something I increasingly see as a fundemental human right, I think we should start seeing goverments regulate this the way they do things like utilities, and basic foodstuffs like milk and bread (and this is just an opinion). Simply put without this kind of regulation I think technology is going to reach an impasse and stagnate here because the guys running these networks are never going to concede to lowering the prices on their own, and every technology developed hereon is going to remain pretty much the same in the way it's sold without intervention, simply selling updates to the given markets rather than really worrying about the abillity to proliferate the technology for the good of humanity.

Likewise, while some people might laugh at the idea, I also believe it's something first world nations like the US should push for internationally, even to the point of strong arming nations who are concerned about information control and want to put up "national firewalls" for purposes of "cultural preservation" in order to stave off globalization and the formation of a planetary unity (which I believe is nessicary, but I won't go into that rant here). Free information, and a channel for free, protected, anonymous speech is one of those things I actually feel is worth fighting and going to war for if the need arises.

Of course in a more practical sense this amounts to something akin to a South Park joke, with aid workers say bringing Internet into starving third world villages as opposed to food and medicine, but in reality I think it's something of a similar priority since I feel this kind of information sharing can very much contribute to those people getting better access to what they need.

At any rate, I'm getting well off topic. The basic point is that I don't think this thing with the horses is "cool" so much as "sad" given that it seems like we have people going through all of this trouble simply because we can't take advantage of the technologies that would make it more or less irrelevent. The people in those remote areas probably have an issue to begin with because they can't afford to use a satellite network for regular Internet access, meaning they need that cable or can only afford to get online sporadically at best.

When we're pretty much dealing with a world where the technology exists for some guy to pretty much bring his iPhone or iPad into the African Savannah and check sports scores, while sending out banal twitter messages, we shouldn't have people laying internet cable off of a bloody horse.

its not really about capitalist or socialist tendencies but about what works and if that means giving a company a local monopoly in return for services to everyone in an area and not just a chosen few than thats what is called a utility. Now capitalists fight against this and socialists fight for this sort of thing but in the end if are happy with the utilities they have like running water, electricity, and garbage.

 

[GodofCider]

I live in a rural area of Vermont.

>_>

I read this article and can't help but to say....just...no.

This is ridiculous. On par with the horse and bucket method of maple sugaring. No one seriously does that anymore, it's a tourist attraction.

Yes, I suppose this method works...but, why are you trying to lay cables directly after snow melt off near the mountains? Fall would be a great time, when dirt roads are dry and the predatory insects are at their thinnest.

 

[Giest4life]

I love the anachronism of a draft horse using ancient technology to bring perhaps the greatest innovation of the last twenty years to people in hard to reach places. Seems somehow fitting.

Would you say it behooves them?

Hey rural Vermonters, your broadband internet connection is horse-powered!

...
That actually explains quite a bit. Like how there isn't any broadband connection in my area yet. And why FairPoint can never give me a solid answer when I ask when broadband is coming.

And I love how people are getting a kick out of this. They don't have to wait on a damn horse to bring them a good connection.

Do I sound snippy? Because I'm not trying to be. Well, maybe a little.

Odd, I thought complaining was your mane thing.

If I had an aegis that grants immortality, I would gladly lay it at your feet.

 

[Irridium]

Odd, I thought complaining was your mane thing.

Oh, Hank...

 

[fierydemise]

I was really hoping this would be like RFC 1149-A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers. [http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149]

 

[Odd Water]

If this is Fred the Draft Horse, who is the other horse besides him in the picture mostly hidden?