Who really invented the internet?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 23rd Jul 2012 20:17 UTC
Internet & Networking "It's an urban legend that the government launched the Internet. The myth is that the Pentagon created the Internet to keep its communications lines up even in a nuclear strike. The truth is a more interesting story about how innovation happens - and about how hard it is to build successful technology companies even once the government gets out of the way."
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RE: This is how it works, stupid
by Doc Pain on Wed 25th Jul 2012 05:23 UTC in reply to "This is how it works, stupid"
Doc Pain
Member since:
2006-10-08

Everything big is done by the governments. The computer, nuclear power, the internet and the web would not exist without government funding and coordinating.


Governments do not invent. They support.

Inventions are made by individuals, and their inventions get combined and extended, but it's an individual defining the first point of that kind of development.

As soon as resources are required to accelerate the creation of something (e. g. the Internet), the government comes into play. Seeing future chances and use is important when transfering money into the bodies that finally execute the growth, typically bigger companies who have a "good connection" to governmental installations providing money and other kind of support. Of course, the government itself (I'm refering to their direct "components") can also build things, sure, but from a financial point of view, it's often cheaper to contract a company than to hire own employees to do stuff.

Now imagine why "everything big" can only be done: They have their interconnections with banks and companies that finally carry out the "real work", coordinated by governmental organisations. It's hard to imagine that "pure individuals" could create massive things like the Internet: infrastructure, protocol, cabling, satelites, all the many things involved. But if you look precisely, each of thouse millions of little steps is done by... a simple person (and millions of them).

Just like the initial invention itself.

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