Page 26 - Communications Satellites Global Change Agents

C H A P T E R O N E

Satellites as Worldwide Change Agents

Joseph N. Pelton
The George Washington University and Arthur C. Clarke Institute

The medium is the message means . . . that a totally new environment has
been created.
We have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace,
abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned.
—Marshall McLuhan (1966, pp. ix, 19)

Communications satellites have redefined our world. Satellites and other modern
telecommunications networks, together with TV, have now altered the patterns
and even many of the goals of modern society. Satellites, for better or worse, have
made our world global, interconnected, and interdependent. Worldwide access to
rapid telecommunications networks via satellites and cables now creates wide-
spread Internet links, enables instantaneous news coverage, facilitates global cul-
ture and conflict, and stimulates the formation of true planetary markets. Satellites
change our world and affect our lives. This book is an exploration of how satel-
lites are a global agent of change in an incredible range of ways. These include the
spanning and spread of new technology, news, culture, sports, entertainment, eco-
nomic markets, global politics, and much more.
The editors' prior introduction is intended to be a roadmap guide to our ef-
forts to explain the many sides of the satellite world—past, present, and future.
This chapter seeks to introduce in a general way the wide dimensions of that
world and how it impacts our planetary society in a myriad of ways. Some of
these are now so familiar that they are almost hidden from public view. For in-
stance, most people know that direct broadcast TV comes from satellites, but are
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