ttoinou 2 days ago

It’s also fascinating this didn’t existed 300 years sooner (with more towers because of poorer telescopes). Communication of information across a kingdom is so important

ahazred8ta a day ago

There are many places called Telegraph Hill that used to be semaphore towers.

  • dredmorbius a day ago

    That would include the one in San Francisco, with which some readers may be familiar.

trhway 2 days ago

If i remember correctly the laser optical transmission tech started as a "laser visual telegraph" between 2 PARC buildings rooftops in the Stanford Research Park here.

anthk 2 days ago

Ah, so that's the origin of semáforo in Spanish, which the current meaning is "traffic light". And a semaphore on programming, too.

  • Rygian a day ago

    The word "semáforo" literally means "carrier of meaning" from the Greek σῆμα (sêma) meaning 'signal' and ‒́foro meaning 'carrier'.

    The visual telegraph is just one such instance of a "carrier of meaning".

    • anthk 17 hours ago

      Ah, well, like semantics... right. I didn't know about 'foro/phoro'.

      >meaning

      Could it mean 'symbol' too?