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A short story I read long ago about the phone system 'waking up'



I am looking for a short story I read long ago about the phone system 'waking up'. It talks about how the phone system had just reached the number of connections as the number in the human brain. They lead you somehow to wonder (maybe characters speculating?) and it ends with a 'baby cry' of all the phones in the world ringing. I think I read it at least 20 years ago, maybe as many as 30. I think it was after 1978 because I think it was after I went to work at Bell Labs - so the phone connection resonated:-). It was definitely pre-internet.


What was the title? Who was the author? Any more on the plot since my memory is very hazy? I remember really liking the story and this site has got me thinking about my ATF's.



Answer



"Dial F for Frankenstein" by Arthur C. Clarke (1965)? The telephones all ring at the beginning of the story, not the end, though.


First lines



At 0150 Greenwich Mean Time on December 1, 1975, every telephone in the world started to ring. A quarter of a billion people picked up their receivers to listen for a few seconds with annoyance or perplexity.



Last lines




"But he knew already that it was far, far too late. For Homo Sapiens, the telephone bell had tolled."



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