Part 7/8:
In a humorous historical note, the earliest sound recording device predates Thomas Edison's phonograph by about twenty years. Invented in 1857 by Eduard Leon Scotch D’Martinville, this early machine could record sound but lacked the ability to play it back—a curious oversight that would seem obvious today.
Paul jokes about the irony: the inventors had no idea they were capturing voices for posterity, yet they never thought to include a playback function. This oversight underscores how scientific understanding and technological innovation often evolve in unexpected ways, leading to the amazing devices we now consider commonplace.