History of the First Internet 396
U96 writes "Ever since the Gore claim to have "invented" the internet, its history has been the subject of misinformation and ridicule. The Institue of Internet History contains an accurate, in-depth examination of the early industrial origins of the internet. An interesting read..."
Slashdotted Already?-Weaving the Web. (Score:1, Interesting)
Much better than any link, and it's slashdot-proof.
Pong did it (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Al Gore's Internet (Score:1, Interesting)
Which is true, he did play a part -- as a legislator. He tried to get some kudos for not being technically retarded (like most of the ppl he works with, I'd wager) and being one of the first to recognize the value of the internet to society (and doing something about it), but said it in a poorly worded way that made it sound like he was making a crazy claim.
But what he claimed was literally correct, he just never claimed to have invented the internet, which is the malicous smear tactic part of it.
That's the saddest part, he deserves some kudos for the internet, but most people "know" that he tried to steal credit over something he "obviously" didn't do.
Re:Who trusts snopes anymore? (Score:5, Interesting)
At this point, the debate will move to discussing whether or not the countering party is trustworthy or not. Now no matter which way this debate goes, you've won! Your original accusation is now taken for granted, and another if the third party ever tries to correct your accusations again, you can now point to the current "debate" (that you just manufactured) to discredit them (and change the subject) even more quickly the next time.
Granted, that article is correct, but their credibility was killed long ago.
See, it works! No need to discuss facts anymore -- just say that the messenger has no credibility, and the facts are irrelevant!
For The Life of Me... (Score:2, Interesting)
I honestly think this lack of perspective signifies the worst about our culture. Stupid petty squabbling about wording or taking sentences to mean the most implausable things they can is not political discussion. Holding others to standards that we'd easily excuse for ourselves and those we care about is how the feeble minded make their points (this is particularly insidious if you don't know your friends are gay or smoke drugs). No one talks about ideas anymore because we can't read or think, and hence we can't speak or seperate this sort of political bullshit from the issues that matter. While in an ideal world this sort of nonsense would occur equally between both parties, the presence of dogmatic thinking absolutely requires these shallow rebuttals when the world-view encompassing dogma is questioned, lest it be contradicted. Democrats can be and often are petty, but when the significance of a person's religion and life thus far - complete with the promise of eternal happiness - are swept away in practical arguments or considerations, these sorts of rebuttals necessarily crop up. See Rush Limbaugh and his 3 divorces + drug use, then compare it to the inability to marry for gay couples and the 50% of the drug population in jail being African-American, mainly incarcarated for using crack, which is punished at 100X the severity of cocaine (they're the same drug, but cocaine is preferred by whites and not in freebase form). If there's a guide book to the battles in America we're facing right now, it's Bertrand Russel's "Why I Am Not a Christian."* I suggest you all read it.
*For those of you who are Christians, most of the book deals with the dogmatic christianity that was still lingering around the turn of the 20th century. While he does take Christianity to task for the shit smears it has stomped into the tapestry of human history, your modern faith will hardly be examined, unless he points out that the reason you find it so palatable is because of the attacks on the Church made by it's enemies across the centuries.
Re:One internet? That's nothing! (Score:2, Interesting)
Off the top of my head, would SIPRNET [fas.org] be one of the global networks he was referring to?
I can't think of any other networks that might qualify as a global network worth noting these days. Internet2 seems to be mostly an experimental system at this point, and I have no clue what happened to the Mbone or 6bone. I wonder what the other networks are, and who controls them...
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:One internet? That's nothing! (Score:2, Interesting)
We needed swipe cards but internal doors were left open till 9/11. After 9/11 it was technically not allowed to even let a known colleague pass through without swiping (ie you couldnt hold doors open for people)