6 ms·

Submarine cables are a mystery to a lot of people. I had to show my dad a complete map of the cables once to convince him they exist. He just couldn’t fathom we

Submarine cables are a mystery to a lot of people. I had to show my dad a complete map of the cables once to convince him they exist. He just couldn’t fathom we’re actually able to run thousands of km of cables at the bottom of the ocean.

FearNotDaniel 7y ago
I heartily recommend Andrew Blum's book Tubes: Behind the Scenes at the Internet for any non-technical folks interested in the physical infrastructure that makes all that internet magic happen. It's more in the travel memoir/popular history genres than actual engineering, but a very atmospheric layman's introduction. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23047146-tubes https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23047146-tubes And of course, if you're ever in SW England, the Museum of Submarine Telegraphy near Penzance is an awesome geek-out experience.
- mbreese 7y ago
  My favorite Wired article of all time was the 1996 article written by Neal Stephenson all about undersea cables. I can’t believe I was able to find a link, but I may still have the physical copy someplace. That was an amazing example of long form writing and was my introduction to Stephenson. https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/ https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/
  - vidarh 7y ago
    The moment I saw the subject I thought of the same article. It is one of the all time great articles of 'early modern' era of the net.
  - prepend 7y ago
    I really miss wired. I got into the Internet with their 93 article by William Gibson where they sent him to Singapore. It was a really neat place to have articles by people like Stephenson and Gibson.
    - samstave 7y ago
      Heh do you recall Mondo 2000 It was what wired was inspired by... Also since we are on the topic: 2600 was a great phreaking resource back in the day... 2600 may still be going though...
      - prepend 7y ago
        I didn’t read Mondo 2000 in real time and I think found it on its last issue. 2600 is still going last I checked, along with monthly meetups in my mall.
    - twic 7y ago
      'Disneyland With The Death Penalty': https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/ https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/ Another article which left a mark on me is Bruce Sterling's 'The Future? You don't want to know': https://www.wired.com/1995/11/wired-scenarios-future-dont-want-know/ https://www.wired.com/1995/11/wired-scenarios-future-dont-wa... In the original print edition, this was a tumult of mad typography, as well as an essay, which was a very Wired thing but taken to extremes. Appropriately for a cyberpunk writer, it may not entirely hang together logically, but it delivers a thrilling stream of eyeball kicks. I still remember the conclusion: Real futurism means staring directly into your own grave and accepting the slow but thorough obliteration of everyone and everything you know and love. Does this sound like fun? It can be. Just don't expect it to move a lot of product.
  - ujeezy 7y ago
    Thanks for sharing! I remember enjoying the undersea cable plot in Cryptonomicon. Inspired by another recent HN post about subsea cables, I'm currently reading The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage which walks through the history of the telegraph. It blows my mind that North America and Europe were connected by undersea cable before the start of the Civil War.
  - Tepix 7y ago
    It's also part of his recent collection "Some remarks"
- arbuge 7y ago
  If you want to go back to where it all began, I recommend "A Thread Across the Ocean" by John Steele Gordon: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/410958.A_Thread_Across_the_Ocean https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/410958.A_Thread_Across_t...
- AareyBaba 7y ago
  Andrew Blum's Ted talk https://youtu.be/XE_FPEFpHt4?t=292 https://youtu.be/XE_FPEFpHt4?t=292
madprops 7y ago
Well I still have trouble with that, and a map wouldn't help very much. Imagine convincing governments to make the huge en-devour of placing thousands of kilometers of cables under the sea, and maintaining them, just for some "nerd stuff". If they did, they probably had a very good reason convincing them.
- goodcanadian 7y ago
  Except that is generally not governments doing it; it is private companies. It is pure profit motive. Despite the great cost, the cables are profitable.
avocado4 7y ago
What happens if the cable stops working? What are the troubleshooting steps?
- cperciva 7y ago
  Figure out roughly where the problem is (a number of ways of doing this), then send a boat out with a hook to grab the cable off the bottom of the ocean. Pull it up to the surface, fix it, and lower it back down. Incredibly expensive operation, so you want to avoid this if at all possible...
  - stingraycharles 7y ago
    What measures are taken to avoid this? I read somewhere that these cable are not actually buried into the ground, but rather lay on top of the ground. That sounds very risky to me?
    - wereHamster 7y ago
      They are buried only when close to shores or in other high risk areas. There is no point in burying a cable if the sea bed is 3 miles under the surface. There is still danger, from animals biting into the cable (sharks are known to do this). But the cables are wrapped in steel cables so not even a shark should be able to cut through.
      - thaumasiotes 7y ago
        > There is no point in burying a cable if the sea bed is 3 miles under the surface. There is a point, it's just not something we're able to do. You can get the cable onto the sea bed by lowering it from the surface. We know how to get to the surface. To bury it, you'd need to run a digging operation at the bottom of the ocean.
        emiliobumachar 7y ago
        ...which we're able to do, we do somewhat similar digs for offshore oil all the time, but it's not worth the gargantuan expense. The risk of leaving it exposed is worth it.
secfirstmd 7y ago
If he thinks that's amazing. Tell him about how Five Eyes and Russia managed to tap those cables!

FearNotDaniel 7y ago

I heartily recommend Andrew Blum's book Tubes: Behind the Scenes at the Internet for any non-technical folks interested in the physical infrastructure that makes all that internet magic happen. It's more in the travel memoir/popular history genres than actual engineering, but a very atmospheric layman's introduction. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23047146-tubes https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23047146-tubes And of course, if you're ever in SW England, the Museum of Submarine Telegraphy near Penzance is an awesome geek-out experience.

mbreese 7y ago
My favorite Wired article of all time was the 1996 article written by Neal Stephenson all about undersea cables. I can’t believe I was able to find a link, but I may still have the physical copy someplace. That was an amazing example of long form writing and was my introduction to Stephenson. https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/ https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/
- vidarh 7y ago
  The moment I saw the subject I thought of the same article. It is one of the all time great articles of 'early modern' era of the net.
- prepend 7y ago
  I really miss wired. I got into the Internet with their 93 article by William Gibson where they sent him to Singapore. It was a really neat place to have articles by people like Stephenson and Gibson.
  - samstave 7y ago
    Heh do you recall Mondo 2000 It was what wired was inspired by... Also since we are on the topic: 2600 was a great phreaking resource back in the day... 2600 may still be going though...
    - prepend 7y ago
      I didn’t read Mondo 2000 in real time and I think found it on its last issue. 2600 is still going last I checked, along with monthly meetups in my mall.
  - twic 7y ago
    'Disneyland With The Death Penalty': https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/ https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/ Another article which left a mark on me is Bruce Sterling's 'The Future? You don't want to know': https://www.wired.com/1995/11/wired-scenarios-future-dont-want-know/ https://www.wired.com/1995/11/wired-scenarios-future-dont-wa... In the original print edition, this was a tumult of mad typography, as well as an essay, which was a very Wired thing but taken to extremes. Appropriately for a cyberpunk writer, it may not entirely hang together logically, but it delivers a thrilling stream of eyeball kicks. I still remember the conclusion: Real futurism means staring directly into your own grave and accepting the slow but thorough obliteration of everyone and everything you know and love. Does this sound like fun? It can be. Just don't expect it to move a lot of product.
- ujeezy 7y ago
  Thanks for sharing! I remember enjoying the undersea cable plot in Cryptonomicon. Inspired by another recent HN post about subsea cables, I'm currently reading The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage which walks through the history of the telegraph. It blows my mind that North America and Europe were connected by undersea cable before the start of the Civil War.
- Tepix 7y ago
  It's also part of his recent collection "Some remarks"
arbuge 7y ago
If you want to go back to where it all began, I recommend "A Thread Across the Ocean" by John Steele Gordon: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/410958.A_Thread_Across_the_Ocean https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/410958.A_Thread_Across_t...
AareyBaba 7y ago
Andrew Blum's Ted talk https://youtu.be/XE_FPEFpHt4?t=292 https://youtu.be/XE_FPEFpHt4?t=292

madprops 7y ago

Well I still have trouble with that, and a map wouldn't help very much. Imagine convincing governments to make the huge en-devour of placing thousands of kilometers of cables under the sea, and maintaining them, just for some "nerd stuff". If they did, they probably had a very good reason convincing them.

goodcanadian 7y ago
Except that is generally not governments doing it; it is private companies. It is pure profit motive. Despite the great cost, the cables are profitable.

avocado4 7y ago

What happens if the cable stops working? What are the troubleshooting steps?

cperciva 7y ago
Figure out roughly where the problem is (a number of ways of doing this), then send a boat out with a hook to grab the cable off the bottom of the ocean. Pull it up to the surface, fix it, and lower it back down. Incredibly expensive operation, so you want to avoid this if at all possible...
- stingraycharles 7y ago
  What measures are taken to avoid this? I read somewhere that these cable are not actually buried into the ground, but rather lay on top of the ground. That sounds very risky to me?
  - wereHamster 7y ago
    They are buried only when close to shores or in other high risk areas. There is no point in burying a cable if the sea bed is 3 miles under the surface. There is still danger, from animals biting into the cable (sharks are known to do this). But the cables are wrapped in steel cables so not even a shark should be able to cut through.
    - thaumasiotes 7y ago
      > There is no point in burying a cable if the sea bed is 3 miles under the surface. There is a point, it's just not something we're able to do. You can get the cable onto the sea bed by lowering it from the surface. We know how to get to the surface. To bury it, you'd need to run a digging operation at the bottom of the ocean.
      - emiliobumachar 7y ago
        ...which we're able to do, we do somewhat similar digs for offshore oil all the time, but it's not worth the gargantuan expense. The risk of leaving it exposed is worth it.

secfirstmd 7y ago

If he thinks that's amazing. Tell him about how Five Eyes and Russia managed to tap those cables!