The fax machine actually had a massive impact on society and is much older than you think (newer than the telegram, older than the telephone, and in use during Abraham Lincolns life time).

Just because it’s usefulness had declined in the prior 10 years to him making that statement, doesn’t mean it didn’t affect the economy.

In the year 2100 or 2200 the internet as we know it may have been superceded by methodologies we can’t even comprehend right now.

I don’t know enough about fax machines to comment on that

I wonder if they made him give his nobel prize back after a couple years.