Blog 2: Digital Enlightenment

Up to this point the talk about the wires that carry our internet signals were always underground or underwater - talking about how the internet physically exists in the international sense. With Chapters 3 and 4 we now got to see how the internet is tangible on a more national scale. More importantly, the machines that host the internet were covered.

Admittedly I was unsure on what I was expecting when it came to the servers themselves, at best I thought they all would be big hulking machines constantly active as they managed people’s connections, but surprisingly enough that wasn’t always the case. The “core” in Chapter 4, from Andrew’s description, seems to not be all that impressive in stature - stating how it “...looked a lot like all the Internet’s other machines.” (Page 143) I took this to mean that it was most likely similar in appearance to a desktop computer case (like the image above) and even I can’t help but be surprised. I know that as technology gets more advanced it tends to also shrink in size, but the idea of something of that stature being capable of transferring so much data is nothing short of incredible! I also found how Mr. Blum reacted to the sight of the machine enjoyable. His knowledge on other works really does a good job of emphasizing how extraordinary such a sight was for him.

I think his reactions to this, as well as seeing the other internet locations, mimic my reactions when I first saw how hand-drawn animation works. Finally coming to grasp on how extraordinary something seemingly straightforward is, finally understanding how much work and heart is needed to accomplish the end goal - seeing firsthand how said goal can evolve to be something more than what was initially anticipated - it really can feel like you’ve been enlightened to the new age.

Questions

• What kind of struggles would we have to overcome (socially, economically,  globally, etc.) if the physical side of the internet was severely damaged?
• It’s mentioned how Andrew is constantly amazed learning more about the literal internet, while his daughter doesn’t think of it as much since she hasn’t seen a world without internet. What other kinds of aspects in our lives do you think this could apply to? In those aspects are you like Andrew or his daughter?

Image from: https://res.cloudinary.com/mediocre/image/upload/c_pad,f_auto,h_600,q_80,w_600/eof6vc8z11qkryfchdug.png