Chapter One
Maxwell's Rainbow
"Nothing is too wonderful to be true."
— James Clerk Maxwell, discoverer of electromagnetism
"Too much of a good thing can be wonderful."
— Mae West
The supreme abundance of the telecosm is the electromagnetic spectrum, embracing
all the universe of vibrating electrical and magnetic fields, from power line
pulses through light beams to cosmic rays. The scarcity that unlocks this
abundance is the supreme scarcity in physical science: the absolute minimum time
it takes to form an electromagnetic wave of a particular length. Set by the
permeability of free space, this minimal span determines the speed of light.
The discovery of electromagnetism, and its taming in a mathematical system, was
the paramount achievement of the nineteenth century and the first step into the
telecosm. The man who did it was the great Scottish physicist James Clerk
Maxwell. In his honor, we will call the spectrum Maxwell's rainbow. Today most
of world business in one way or another is pursui ... read full excerpt from Telecosm: How Infinite Bandwith Will Revolutionize Our World ebook
