The olden times had simple ways of navigation —through celestial bodies that they observed, landmarks that they mapped, and the gradual progression in cartography. In a time of survival of the fittest, knowing how to chart new lands and discover new sights was vital, as whoever first discovered the land owned it. But as civilization grew, so did their ways of living. With new times came progressive techniques and methods that improved the quality of life and made things convenient.
David A. Carter’s Our Mysterious Lives studies the progression of several inventions and discoveries that had a significant effect on the way that people live life in order to get a better understanding of the true reason for our existence. One noteworthy occasion was the invention of the Global Positioning System, otherwise known as GPS.
GPS has been one of the life-altering inventions because of how it completely changed the way people navigate through spaces, whether in water, air, or on land, whether for official or commercial use. But before GPS, people used to depend on graphic or hand-drawn maps, which only pointed out the routes and were often outdated since they had to be manually kept up-to-date. But with GPS, things changed. With new technology implemented in cartography and navigation systems, GPS could easily keep up with the current time of a location, telling a person about the shortest possible routes, traffic conditions, construction works, accidents, etc. to avoid getting stuck in a place for longer than necessary.
David A. Carter discusses the history, origins, and progression of the navigation systems in his book and how the military used to navigate through longwave radio transmitters and receivers, two of which were LORAN and DECCA, both developed and first used in World War II.
While DECCA was developed in the UK, it was a hyperbolic radio system that used static radio waves to locate and pin other ships and aircraft using a combination of two low frequencies. LORAN, standing for Long Range Navigation, in comparison was developed in the United States of America and used a complex combination of electronic components at the time. LORANs were much more expensive than DECCA or any other navigation system used by the military at the time, as the individual components needed to make a LORAN device cost a lot.
Both systems developed over time as newer and better replacements for the components were invented, but with the invention of satellites and modified technology, they eventually were completely replaced by GPS for both military and common use. GPS has also become more user-friendly over time, using the latitudes and longitudes to pin point a location.
David A. Carter’s Our Mysterious Lives not only talks about the navigation systems but also the Renaissance and other significant events that not only occurred on Earth but also in space and had a significant effect on our lives and what we know about our universe, altering our understanding of the universe and arising new and more questions that remain unanswered.
Our Mysterious Lives is now available online on the official website and on Amazon, so get a copy of the book today and join David A. Carter on his journey to unravel the enigma that is our existence.