sive use, symbolic codes, and symbol processing (whether as text or teleg-

raphy) are largely invariant with respect to the physics of their embodiment.
The challenge of modernity was to develop a concept of information that
was essentially beyond materiality and energy, even though the concrete
transmission of signals still remained irreducibly dependent on material and
energy-powered vehicles. Paul Nipow’s patent application from 1884 defined
the technical purpose of the “electric telescope” as follows: “to make an
object situated at location A visible at any other location B.” 7 It is a matter not
of material transport, but rather of converting current into information—an
immaterial visualization. The medium of this event is signal transmission,
which is initially electric but later based on vacuum tubes that enable elec-
tronic amplification. That which is electrically transmitted can also be elec-
trically stored—possibly even in the same channel, such as the line or wire.
In 1898, Poulsen’s patented telegraphone for the magnetic recording of
electroacoustic vibrations was still primarily based on piano wire, which
could thus be both the subject and object of sound. In 1900, Otto von Bronk
also proposed using selenium cells to convert light into electric voltage, so
that “images could be transmitted or reproduced at any time.” 8 Immediate
audiovisual perception was thus replaced by electro-temporal latency.
The shocking experience of transcending space through disembodied
telecommunication led to the inverse hallucination of transcending time
through communication with the dead, which was illustrated in ghost sto-
ries of telegraphy. When Rud