It is not chiefly the special powers of the retina and other optical faculties. Radio antennas can collect an even larger span of frequencies. The difference is mostly behind the receiver. Backing up the eyes is the processing power of some 10 billion neurons and trillions of synapses. Backing up the radio antenna is a lot of fixed- analog hardware.
Eyes are smart and aerobatic while the radio is dumb and blind.
In Baran's vision, the future of wireless is the replacement of current dumb radios by smart digital radios that resemble eyes. Coupling radio technology with computer technology, the antenna can acquire a brain. They can sort out the frequency channels much as eyes sort out arrays of color, and pin down codes and sources of radiation much as the eyes descry different sources, shapes, and patterns of light. For example, a smart radio could process phone calls, videos, teleconferences, geopositioning codes, speed-trap lasers, and emergency SOS's. The result will be a transformation of the nature of the spectrum.