What's a desirable electromagnetic signal?
What's an unwanted noise?
The answers depend on the situation--and on your perspective.
Back to regulations after World War II. In 1969, under President Nixon, Congress formed the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA. One division studied the effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation.
In 1971, the President's Office of Telecommunications Policy reported that "The consequences of undervaluing or misjudging the biological effects of long-term, low-level exposure (to electromagnetic radiation emanating from radar, television, communications systems, microwave ovens, industrial heat-treatment systems and many other sources) could become a critical problem for the public health, especially if genetic effects are involved."
By 1988, the EPA had 36 full-time employees dedicated to studying the effects of EMR exposure on the public health and our environment. Under President Reagan, Congress began to cut this division's funding. While the EPA is still authorized to research EMR's effects on our health and environment, since 1995, Congress has allotted it zero funding to do so.
In the late 1970s, Roy Olhoeft bought a VHS player to watch movies on his television set. The number 12 o'clock flashed on it perpetually--because this mechanic could not figure out how to set a digital clock.
In the 1980s, I taught writing at South Boston High, the school that became famous around court-ordered desegregation of the Boston Public Schools. My students had the lowest literacy rate in Massachussetts--and the best stories I'd ever heard. One day, I made an appointment with a student who wanted to write her story. But Lillian never showed up.
The next day, I asked where she'd been at a quarter to three. Lillian shrugged. "I don't know that time," she said. "I only know digital."
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