[Air-l] Internet history/stages

Gochenouer, John Gochenouer at southwest.msus.edu
Tue Nov 26 09:54:17 PST 2002


I was happy to see how yesterday's discussion progressed.  Yes there was an
I1 and I2, and yes there was an Arpanet and we should consider the more
expansive view that includes all communications technology diffusion
(thanks, Frank).  Since this thread is headed toward a more expansive look,
let's take it into the realm of biology.  Human reality is no different from
the biological process of increasing complexity through layers of simplicity
and the Internet is a small part of that.  We are destined to network and
increase our connectivity.  Trillions of poorly organized cells in the fetus
become the dynamic network of billions of neurons that form the human brain.
But, remember the individual cells in the mature brain are the survivors of
a much larger group of undifferentiated fetal neurons and they survived
because they became connected, part of the network.  They are part of a
greater life that they are not even aware of.

It is easy to extrapolate this concept out to humanity and our frantic
efforts to build communication infrastructures --- some that are reabsorbed
and some that become part of us.  This is a popular science fiction theme as
witnessed by the Star Trek's Borg and the ancient concept of the Gaea (or
Gaia).  I1 and I2 represent a humble step in understanding where this is all
headed.  I covered all of this in a lecture in Jamaica back in 1995.  It was
hard for the students to follow, back then, but maybe now they can see a
glimmer of the networked future. It would be interesting to have a doctoral
student study the biological parallels in the evolution of the Web.

John Gochenouer
Southwest State University
1501 State St.
Marshall, MN 56258

Email:  Gochenouer at southwest.msus.edu




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