2 ms·

Al Gore actually did do a lot for the internet. His role was very similar; he organizes and promotes, but he's obviously not an actual scientist.

Alupis 10y ago
I think that (misleading) meme was started by the television show "South Park". In it they routinely poke fun at Al Gore, having his character go around saying "I invented the internet!" among other things.
- burkaman 10y ago
  No, South Park just picked up an existing joke. He said he "took the initiative in creating the internet" in an interview, Wired picked it up, some Republicans saw it and released some (honestly pretty gentle) press releases making fun of him, and then it went mainstream. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2013/11/04/a-cautionary-tale-for-politicians-al-gore-and-the-invention-of-the-internet/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2013/11/...
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- psyc 10y ago
  It was started by Al Gore: https://youtu.be/BnFJ8cHAlco?t=46s https://youtu.be/BnFJ8cHAlco?t=46s
LeifCarrotson 10y ago
Correct. That infamous statement was taken out of context. Since proponents of the OP's view probably won't believe you or me, but will respond to appeals to authority, here's Vint Cerf with Bob Kahn (the co-authors of TCP/IP [1]): http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0009/msg00311.html http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0009/m... > No one person or even small group of persons exclusively "invented" the Internet. It is the result of many years of ongoing collaboration among people in government and the university community. But as the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore's contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time. [1]: https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall06/cos561/papers/cerf74.pdf https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall06/cos561/p...

Alupis 10y ago

I think that (misleading) meme was started by the television show "South Park". In it they routinely poke fun at Al Gore, having his character go around saying "I invented the internet!" among other things.

burkaman 10y ago
No, South Park just picked up an existing joke. He said he "took the initiative in creating the internet" in an interview, Wired picked it up, some Republicans saw it and released some (honestly pretty gentle) press releases making fun of him, and then it went mainstream. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2013/11/04/a-cautionary-tale-for-politicians-al-gore-and-the-invention-of-the-internet/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2013/11/...
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
psyc 10y ago
It was started by Al Gore: https://youtu.be/BnFJ8cHAlco?t=46s https://youtu.be/BnFJ8cHAlco?t=46s

LeifCarrotson 10y ago

Correct. That infamous statement was taken out of context. Since proponents of the OP's view probably won't believe you or me, but will respond to appeals to authority, here's Vint Cerf with Bob Kahn (the co-authors of TCP/IP [1]): http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0009/msg00311.html http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0009/m... > No one person or even small group of persons exclusively "invented" the Internet. It is the result of many years of ongoing collaboration among people in government and the university community. But as the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore's contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time. [1]: https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall06/cos561/papers/cerf74.pdf https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall06/cos561/p...