Innovation & Wealth › The information age
The internet
ARPANET 1969; TCP/IP network of networks 1983· Innovation· Innovations & industries
Well documentedSolid records, texts or physical evidence.
A network of computer networks, begun as a US military-funded research project in 1969, that grew into the system linking most of humanity.
See it on the Innovation & Wealth map →What happened
The Pentagon's research agency ARPA funded ARPANET, whose first message went from UCLA to Stanford Research Institute on October 29, 1969. Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn designed TCP/IP so different networks could connect; ARPANET switched to it on January 1, 1983. The National Science Foundation ran a university backbone, eased its ban on commercial use in the early 1990s and handed it to private firms in 1995. More than 5.5 billion people now use it, by UN estimates.
Impact on society and the economy
Public research money built the plumbing; private companies built fortunes on top. It cut the cost of sending information close to zero, remaking retail, media and finance.
How we know
ARPA contracts and logs (the 1969 log page survives at UCLA), Cerf and Kahn's 1974 paper, and the network's technical documents, called RFCs.
Still debated
The idea it was built to survive nuclear war is overstated; builders say sharing scarce computers was the aim, though Paul Baran's survivable-network research fed in.
Inside this (7)
Connections (4)
▸Gutenberg's printing press is often compared with The internetMostly agreed
The connection
Both slashed the cost of copying and spreading information. The press made books cheap and carried Luther's pamphlets across Europe within weeks; the internet made publishing nearly free for anyone. Each bypassed old gatekeepers, spread both knowledge and misinformation, and created new fortunes. The comparison is an analogy, not a direct cause.
When and how
Mainz around 1450 and Europe after; the US and the world after 1969, especially the 1990s. Writers such as Clay Shirky drew the parallel.
How sure are we?
Data on early print output (estimates of about 20 million books by 1500) and on internet use support the parallel in scale; it is a comparison, not causation.
Debates
Whether the internet's effects will mirror print's, which included a century of religious wars after Luther, is unknowable yet; historians warn against neat parallels.
▸The internet was made easy to use by Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide WebWell documented
The connection
The internet reliably moved data between computers, but using it took expertise. Berners-Lee's web added clickable links, simple addresses and browsers on top of the internet's protocols, so ordinary people could find information with a mouse. Web traffic grew from almost nothing in 1993 to the internet's main use within a few years.
When and how
CERN, Geneva, 1989–91, building on the existing internet; the Mosaic browser came from the University of Illinois in 1993.
How we know
Berners-Lee's own writings and network traffic data show the web running on TCP/IP and overtaking other uses by the mid-1990s.
Debates
Whether a rival system, such as Gopher or a closed service like AOL, would have dominated without Berners-Lee's open design is a common what-if.
▸The internet made possible the online store of Jeff Bezos and AmazonWell documented
The connection
Bezos said he read in 1994 that web use was growing about 2,300% a year and decided to start an online store. The internet's opening to commercial traffic in the early 1990s, and secure web payments from 1994–95, let Amazon take orders from anywhere and offer a catalog no physical store could hold.
When and how
Bellevue, near Seattle, July 1994, in a rented house's garage; Amazon.com opened for business in July 1995.
How we know
Bezos's own accounts and Amazon's founding records; the timing closely tracks the commercial opening of the internet.
Debates
Bezos's founding story has been polished over the years; details like the source of the '2,300%' figure are hard to verify.
▸Microchips and the personal computer put on desks the computers linked by The internetWell documented
The connection
The internet's early nodes were costly university and military computers. Cheap microprocessors brought personal computers into offices and homes in the 1980s and 1990s, giving the network millions of potential users. Chips also power the routers and modems that carry internet traffic.
When and how
Silicon Valley and worldwide, from the Intel 4004 in 1971 to the 1990s, when dial-up modems connected home PCs to the internet.
How we know
PC sales and internet host counts rose together; hosts grew from about 1,000 in 1984 to about 1 million in 1992.
Debates
Whether the internet would have spread as fast through other devices, such as France's Minitel terminals, without cheap PCs is a common what-if.