1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:11,160 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren vogelbam Here. In eight seventy eight, Alexander 3 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 1: Graham Bell filed a patent for a history altering device 4 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:18,239 Speaker 1: called the electronic telephone. But what you may not know 5 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:21,599 Speaker 1: is that the patent for another amazing communication tool, the 6 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: facts similar machine or fax machine, was filed by a 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:30,320 Speaker 1: Scottish clockmaker named Alexander Bain three decades earlier. That's right, 8 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: fax machines predate even rudimentary telephones, and with a cockroach 9 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:38,240 Speaker 1: like survivability that makes very little sense from an evolutionary standpoint. 10 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: The fax machine lives on beeping and wheezing up sheets 11 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,240 Speaker 1: of paper the world over. For example, faxing is big 12 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: in Japan. Even today, about half of Japanese families use 13 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 1: fax machine in their homes. The question is why. To 14 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: understand it helps to know a bit about the fact 15 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: similar machines place in history. Although the technology had been 16 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: around for decades, it wasn't until the nineteen thirty nine 17 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: New York World's Fair that fax machines first seized mainstream 18 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:11,399 Speaker 1: recognition in the United States. There, attendees stood slack jawed 19 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:14,399 Speaker 1: in amazement as they viewed images and text arriving from 20 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: around the world. At eighteen sheets per minute, the machines 21 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: were simply too expensive for everyday use, though even by 22 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,759 Speaker 1: two one standalone fax machines sold for a whopping twenty 23 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: thousand dollars, far too pricey even for most businesses, much 24 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:33,839 Speaker 1: less individual consumers. It wasn't until later in the nineteen 25 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: eighties that the cost of the machines dropped to a 26 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: point that businesses and home offices found them useful, notably 27 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: for documents that required legal signatures. Copied signatures, as you 28 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: can probably guess, were a source of controversy for years, 29 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 1: as legal professionals argued about the validity of documents that 30 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: arrived via phone lines. However, as court after court confirmed 31 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: the validity of faxed signatures, doctors, lawyers, financial gurus, and 32 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: other professionals begin to rely on faxes to transmit paperwork 33 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: all over the place, thus entrenched in the workflow and 34 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,799 Speaker 1: minds of countless millions of people. The late nineteen eighties 35 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: saw a dramatic rise in the number of fax machines. 36 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: America had only around three hundred thousand of the contraptions 37 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: in the middle of the eighties. By nine there were 38 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: more than four million the fax machines. Heyday was at hand. 39 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: They even featured prominently in pop culture. The nine sci 40 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: fi comedy Back to the Future Part two explores a 41 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: future where the McFly family had a fax machine in 42 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: every room. So the faxing process is one that billions 43 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 1: of people have ingrained into their consciousness. A place assigned 44 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,080 Speaker 1: document in the machine, punch in the destination phone number, 45 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: hit the green button, and minutes later your paperwork is 46 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: in the hands of a colleague on the other side 47 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: of town or on the other side of the world. 48 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: Assuming that the fax machine has paper, the cartridge is 49 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:54,640 Speaker 1: not out of ink, and nothing has gotten stuck in 50 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:59,360 Speaker 1: the transmission process. But in the mid nineteen nineties, another 51 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:04,239 Speaker 1: history anging technology exploded in use the Internet, which provided 52 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: people with ways to instantly send text, pictures, and documents 53 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: without the use of paper. With the coming of widespread email, 54 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: it seemed that fax machines were doomed. Only they weren't. 55 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: In a study from market intelligence firm I d C 56 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: showed that the four major industries that are still using 57 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: faxes UH those industries being manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and government, 58 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: all predicted increased use of faxing over the next two years, 59 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: averaging a increase. So why is that faxing is a 60 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: familiar technology that people trust. The Complexities of the Internet 61 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: and its many offshoot technologies, along with endless headlines about 62 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: hackerspyware viruses, and data breaches, create in many people's minds 63 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: a sense that the Web just isn't secure. In addition, 64 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: government policies still encourage faxes, and legal processes like discovery 65 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: of evidence lean heavily on paper documents, and doctors facs 66 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: prescriptions and privacy documents and patient records. Fax machines are 67 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: a habit, and it's a habit that dies hard because 68 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: it's a simple, low tech, interoperable system that anyone can 69 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: use with just a few minutes of training. Also, fax machines, 70 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 1: like the aforementioned roaches, are evolving with the times. The 71 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:21,679 Speaker 1: people surveyed by I d C said that the biggest 72 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: reason for the increase in faxing was that faxing was 73 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,839 Speaker 1: now integrated with email as digital faxing, and so was 74 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: easier to use. We spoke via email. Todd Johnson, a 75 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:36,359 Speaker 1: doctor at Access Family Medicine in Lincoln, Nebraska. He said, 76 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: I fax office notes, prescriptions, lab data orders and consultation requests, 77 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: all facts, anything else that's requested. I would email just 78 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: as easily, but I don't have a general email account 79 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: to send the requested information to. Typically, usually I'm only 80 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,320 Speaker 1: provided with a fax number to return the requested information. 81 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:57,720 Speaker 1: Johnson says that the newest generation of digital faxing makes 82 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:01,040 Speaker 1: his workflow fairly easy. A quote. I don't use a 83 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: feed and fax paper machine. I can facts from any 84 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:07,039 Speaker 1: of my computers, tablet, or smartphone. I use them because 85 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: I'm requested to use them by other facilities. They're easy 86 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:12,680 Speaker 1: to use, and now electronically configured into my phone system. 87 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: I just drag and drop a PDF into the fax 88 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 1: portal and away it goes. If that sounds too good 89 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 1: to be true, Never fear there's still one old school 90 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:28,280 Speaker 1: faxing bugaboo at hand busy signals, Johnson said, Sometimes, but rarely, 91 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: there is a busy signal. However, my system will re 92 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 1: send a failed facts or if it encounters a busy signal. 93 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: In spite of the intermittent hiccups and faxing, the machines 94 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:42,359 Speaker 1: are likely to live on for decades. They're comfortable, cheap, convenient, 95 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,480 Speaker 1: and generally reliable. They're accepted around the world in ways 96 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:50,160 Speaker 1: that digital signatures sometimes aren't. So until digital alternatives find 97 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:52,840 Speaker 1: the same kind of universal recognition, you can expect that 98 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,159 Speaker 1: fax machines will still be here, beeping and worrying long 99 00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:05,280 Speaker 1: after our individual messaging processes have ceased. Today's episode was 100 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:08,120 Speaker 1: written by Nathan Chandler and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain 101 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of I Heeart Radios How Stuff Works. 102 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: For more in this and lots of other topics, visit 103 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: our home planet, how stuff Works dot com and for 104 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 105 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.