Before the Net

[swanny]

Well ho...

I suppose this is taking the topic in a somewhat different direction but this question does arise out of the current one though.

What is the "purpose" of the Net?

Now I suppose its a odd question of sorts, and I suppose some will say it originated out of the US military for emergency communication services and then to research in the Universities but... my own research reveals that a sphere called the "noosphere" was actually envision in the 1700s or so by a Priest named Pierre Chardin? He also proposed something called the "omega point".

Any way the reason for the said query is to consider whether we are using the web as it was intended to be used or has it just succumb to being a global yellow pages or party line?

sorry don't have any links at the moment but you can google "noosphere" or
"global conscious" and they have a project at Princeton U.

or I suppose for a different angle who decides then on what the purpose of the internet is to be and perhaps how? At the moment it some how seems to have become almost a "global public utility" of sorts.

Anyway...

 

[swanny]

Well in case you're interested in this sort of thing, heres a good brief and link

" A Brief History of the Internet and Related Networks
Introduction

In 1973, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated a research program to investigate techniques and technologies for interlinking packet networks of various kinds. The objective was to develop communication protocols which would allow networked computers to communicate transparently across multiple, linked packet networks. This was called the Internetting project and the system of networks which emerged from the research was known as the "Internet." The system of protocols which was developed over the course of this research effort became known as the TCP/IP Protocol Suite, after the two initial protocols developed: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP). "

Internet Society link = http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/cerf.shtml

Ultimately it becomes apparent that the internet is a "multipurpose" enterprise.

 

[swanny]

Very interesting
The conclusions reached by the ARPA net founders was a major paradigm shift
in the sense that they redefined the meaning of a computer as being not an
"arithmetic machine or device" but a "communication machine or device".

hold on I'll get the quote:

ARPA comment " The result, explained by the Completion Report was a new way of looking at computers as communications devices rather than as arithmetic devices. Yet many computer science department still do not understand this significance today. "

From ARPA history site

Neat

sir

 

[swanny]

Jan 1 1983

Oct 16, 2006
Canada
Monday

Jan. 1, 1983

Although it is difficult to say when we "crossed over", from BN (Before the Net) to AN (After the Net), officially the "records" seem to indicate that it was January 1, 1983. I don't actually recall this "news" though. And it was probably a bit hush hush.
I suppose for those "in the loop" the date was much earlier, and for those out of the loop much much later and perhaps some are still back there.
Anyway the records indicate this is the official date of the adoption of the internet protocal.

From Wikipedia

"
# 1983 - The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.
"

sir

 

[swanny]

Democratic Net

Democratic Net
Oct 16, 2006
Earth
Monday


Alas the forces of change, time, money and human nature are beginning
to tax the net.
go = http://www.savetheinternet.com/



It would, in a perfect world, be nice for the net to remain free but alas
that may not be achieveable but at the very least the web should be or strive to be "democratic" and not overly "corporate".
A.G.J.