The Internet is a support system that merged with society a few decades ago. Its original stage was not exposed to anyone outside of the military until the sixties. The device, labeled RAND, disguised itself as a set of nodes during the Cold War. This coaxed enemies into attacking decoys with hopes of destroying battle strategies. This valuable source of data had noble purposes, but it soon spiraled into what is now known as the Internet. A Short History of the Internet and science fiction author Bruce Sterling described the nodes’ journey as “fungal” and “bread-mold”. It spread so rapidly that it surpassed its parent network ARPANET. Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web, took advantage of the large quantity of information that anyone, anywhere could reach. He probed the functions of the brain and discussed his findings in Weaving the Web. Aware of people’s contribution to the Internet, he made the Web coincide with the way people ticked (p. 4). Berners-Lee literally developed a web of data, creating hyperlinks. Both authors expressed their and others’ dependency on the somewhat new invention; however, dependency is not necessarily positive. The Internet’s anticipated purpose, to control chaos and improve the scientific world, was long forgotten after it was left in the hands of the people.
The Internet’s usage spread like a virus throughout the world. It simplified tasks and was used by the masses, but it was not vital to existence. When RAND evolved into ARPANET it was used by scientists for work and, eventually, for play. SF-LOVERS, short for Science Fiction Lovers, was a mailing list used back when the Internet’s features was severely limited. It soon led to “mail, discussion groups, long-distance computing, and file transfers” (Bruce Sterling, p. 4) which is not all that today’s Internet has at its disposal but was a start. This triggered the contribution of Berners-Lee. Formerly titled Enquire Within upon Everything, it was not stumbled upon by mistake. Instead it was something he mulled over, starting with his father’s speech. Its subject, which was “how to make a computer… complete connections as the brain did,” (Berners-Lee, p. 3) sparked the idea. What if not just all computers but the information they provided was linked? With a plan in mind, Enquire was born. Like several others envisioned, it was never meant as the perfect problem solver, but to make addresses more easily reachable. This led to computers being a source of information, commerce, entertainment, and everyday pastimes. As Sterling foretold, the straight-and-narrow plan for the Internet in the nineties shifted to the unpredictable will of the people. The little structure it had staggered once computers became more available. They were originally purchased by individuals who wished for either an easier alternative for data-sharing or a faster source of news and gossip. Soon computers became mass-produced, appearing in universities and households throughout the planet. Berners-Lee’s creation only encouraged people’s desire to tinker with the cool new toy. Creating websites, blogging, video uploading, and other pastimes came to be thanks to something that was meant to protect the United States from another ambush.
Sterling and Berners-Lee are without a doubt fascinated by the Internet, albeit for different reasons. Despite their support of the Internet and its development, the prediction of it spiraling out of control came true to some degree. It became impossible to accurately define the Internet once it became public. Anything goes and it is free, save for smaller companies using it for profit. Those who shared such a prominent invention without a healthy sum in return claim that they do not regret their decision. Regardless of the inventors living luxuriously, there may have been truth in their words. The Internet’s rise to fame may not have occurred if fees were involved. A recent form of Web usage, the smartphone, did not exist until the 2000s, but it can be found in the hands of many, young or old. Nowadays it is difficult to even engage in an argument without using search engines to bring it to a screeching halt. People, particularly those born in recent generations, cannot last a day without consulting the all-powerful Internet. This could be viewed as constructive since computers are far from impractical, but they tend to be used for trivial activities daily. Progress is inevitable, but it sacrifices older methods like the card catalog system, books, television, and sometimes our own brains. As Sterling stated in a Knowledge Ecology Studies interview, “access to data [doesn’t] equate to ‘knowledge’”.
Cites:
Berners-Lee, Tim and Fischetti, Mark. “Enquire Within upon Everything.” Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by Its Inventor. Harper Collins Publishers, 2000. Web. 27 Aug 2013.
Sterling, Bruce. “Life, The Internet, and Everything.” KEStudies Vol. 2. 2008. Web. 5 Sept 2013.
Sterling, Bruce. “A Short History of the Internet.” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. F&SF Science Column #5 “Internet”, Web. 22 Aug 2013.
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