3 ms·

I don't know, I alternate between thinking that's remarkable and not so much. I could run that connection via the power grid too, or the water supply (if we wer

I don't know, I alternate between thinking that's remarkable and not so much. I could run that connection via the power grid too, or the water supply (if we were in the same city). Edit: I concede it's actually pretty remarkable. It is like the nervous system of the planet. Sure there's not a purely electrical continuity, but neuron synapses don't have an electrical nature either.

silviot 3y ago
Are you sure? As far as I'm aware a single city might have its electricity network split in a few macro areas, and not really connected to each other. The Internet, on the other hand, needs all nodes to be connected somehow (and I bet the vast majority of connections are physical).
- bigdict 3y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_grid_of_Continental_Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_grid_of_Continenta... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_power_transmission_grid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_power_transmiss...
- ElevenLathe 3y ago
  This is true but on a much larger scale than the city. For example, the United States has only three electrical grids (East, West, and Texas). Within those areas, not only are all electricity users in some sense connected, they are all /synchronous/, meaning that the 60hz coming out of your wall peaks and troughs at the same exact time as the 60hz at your cousin's house two states away. The grids also have interconnections with one another, but they happen via DC to avoid needing to synchronize the whole continent. In a literal sense, modernity is about using energy to coordinate human activity across vast distances at minute time scales. We normally think about this in terms of transportation, telegraphy, telephony, print, broadcasting, and the internet but it's also true of the motors in our washing machines and factories.

3 ms·

I don't know, I alternate between thinking that's remarkable and not so much. I could run that connection via the power grid too, or the water supply (if we wer

by bigdict 3y ago

silviot 3y ago
Are you sure? As far as I'm aware a single city might have its electricity network split in a few macro areas, and not really connected to each other. The Internet, on the other hand, needs all nodes to be connected somehow (and I bet the vast majority of connections are physical).
- bigdict 3y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_grid_of_Continental_Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_grid_of_Continenta... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_power_transmission_grid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_power_transmiss...
- ElevenLathe 3y ago
  This is true but on a much larger scale than the city. For example, the United States has only three electrical grids (East, West, and Texas). Within those areas, not only are all electricity users in some sense connected, they are all /synchronous/, meaning that the 60hz coming out of your wall peaks and troughs at the same exact time as the 60hz at your cousin's house two states away. The grids also have interconnections with one another, but they happen via DC to avoid needing to synchronize the whole continent. In a literal sense, modernity is about using energy to coordinate human activity across vast distances at minute time scales. We normally think about this in terms of transportation, telegraphy, telephony, print, broadcasting, and the internet but it's also true of the motors in our washing machines and factories.