I don't know what Lee Penzias is thinking, but the US Government did,
indeed, "invent" the Internet. It was an outgrowth of the need for military
researchers to keep in touch.
Mr. Penzias wants us to believe that whatever private industry does is right
and good and justified (if for no other reason that someone can profit from
it), and whatever the government does is wrong and bad and useless and a
waste of taxpayer's money, which could be better "spent" on reducing the
taxes of the wealthiest American individuals and businesses.
Private enterprise is motivated _only_ by profit. It's fortunate that the
government started the Internet, because otherwise we probably wouldn't have
it yet, and if we did it would cost a lot more.
The Internet is a wonderful example of techno-socialism, even if that was
the furthest thing from the minds of those who set it up. Contrary to what
Mr. Penzias would like to think, the US government pumps billions of dollars
into research every year.
John "log-head" Baird was certainly the first person to put together a
"working" television system. But it was of low quality and not really a
practical system for more than one or two viewers.
Fully-electronic television requires three basic inventions: an image-pickup
device; an image-display device; and a some method of synchronizing the two.
The display device -- the CRT -- existed from the end of the 19th century.
The synchronizing system is not obvious, but neither is it a terribly
complex invention.
The "hard" part of the system is the pickup device. Farnsworth was the first
with a practical one. In that sense, he can be said to be "the" inventor of
electronic television.
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