The Beep: ‘An Ingenious Creation’

Virginia Heffernan: “Like the railroad toot but unlike an old telephone ring, beeps have both a distinct start and finish … and an elastic center that can generously expand and contract like an accordion: beeeeeeeep. … Plants don’t beep, nor weather, nor animals. … If you hear a beep, you know that a person, or more likely his artifact, is signaling.”