Paper vs Telegraph

We have two complete sequences of industrial development. Count from paper to moveable type. The count from Telegraph to self learning networks.

Telegraph was the birth of today;'s technology, as was the birth of paper usage in 1,000. It was 400 years after paper but before blacksmiths could forge the small moveable type, the first ascii characters.  We are now 190 years past telegraph. We are only twice as fast by my scale.

Paper also spawned the chemical processing industry, and fed the demand for better adhesives and bleaches and drying agents for some time. And the mechanical type likely led to an industry of micro parts for more sophisticated manufacturing. In the same way, the rotary press likely led to a wider industry for rotating machinery.  In all cases, the information value generated funding initial research, the demand was obvious, the technology just a bit short.  It is inherent bias in the comparison between information and real goods, The high payoff investment is faster and higher bandwidth communications.