How GPS shaped our world

[instrumental music] Hey, it's Ira, and you're listening to Science Friday.

In early 1990, I was given a tour of the San Andreas fault line by US Geological Survey scientist, the late, great Al Lindh.

I was riding in his red pickup truck, and between us in the front seat was this little wooden box with little red numbers that jumped around as we drove.

So I asked Al, "Hey, what is this box all about?" And he turns the steering wheel in different directions, and he says, "Look at the numbers." And I did, and these little red nixie tube numbers danced all around as he drove.

And I said, "Hey, Al, what's going on here?" And he said, "Believe it or not, there's this satellite overhead that is transmitting our exact location to us, our exact coordinates to this box, and the numbers change as I drive back and forth over the road." Now, I couldn't believe it until about a year later when the Gulf War broke out and the world's global positioning system emerged from obscurity.

No one could imagine how GPS would become such an essential part of our lives.

A whole generation of people today never knew a world without it.

But GPS, like many tech advancements of the 20th century, was originally created by the US military.

So how did it become a routine part of civilian life, and how vulnerable is it to manipulation? My guest, Katherine Dunn, has written all about this and more in her book, Little Blue Dot: How GPS Shaped the Modern World.

Welcome to Science Friday.

[instrumental music] Hey, it's Ira, and you're listening to Science Friday.

In early 1990, I was given a tour of the San Andreas fault line by US Geological Survey scientist, the late, great Al Lindh.

I was riding in his red pickup truck, and between us in the front seat was this little wooden box with little red numbers that jumped around as we drove.

So I asked Al, "Hey, what is this box all about?" And he turns the steering wheel in different directions, and he says, "Look at the numbers." And I did, and these little red nixie tube numbers danced all around as he drove.

And I said, "Hey, Al, what's going on here?" And he said, "Believe it or not, there's this satellite overhead that is transmitting our exact location to us, our exact coordinates to this box, and the numbers change as I drive back and forth over the road." Now, I couldn't believe it until about a year later when the Gulf War broke out and the world's global positioning system emerged from obscurity.

No one could imagine how GPS would become such an essential part of our lives.

A whole generation of people today never knew a world without it.

But GPS, like many tech advancements of the 20th century, was originally created by the US military.

So how did it become a routine part of civilian life, and how vulnerable is it to manipulation? My guest, Katherine Dunn, has written all about this and more in her book, Little Blue Dot: How GPS Shaped the Modern World.

Welcome to Science Friday.