On Tue, Oct 13, 2026 at 8:29 AM David Johnson <xxxxxx@zarthani.net> wrote:
> The first commercial photocopier was launched in 1959, so it was "newfangled" tech at the time Beam was writing. I imagine if we could read
> his mind when he was writing that bit, I'm guessing he envisioned the device they used to be more like a small photocopying machine --
> something like the home copy-printers many of us have collecting dust somewhere now -- rather than a hand-held smartphone. . . .

Right.  Google the term "photoprint" and you'll see it's not something
Piper made up.  It's a term for an analog photography-based printing
technology that was, I guess, newfangled at the time he wrote the
story.

Since there's no faster-than-light "radio" communication in the
Piperverse, the copy of the treaty (the term "photoprint" implies a
copy printed on paper, altho it might be photography paper rather than
typewriter paper) would have to be carried to its destination on a
starship.  Sadly for them, there's no FTL equivalent of a fax
communication.

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—David Sooby