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> I tell her that the internet is like an alien intelligence. We don’t know exactly what it is; it has just landed, and only the first ship. We are trying to fi

> I tell her that the internet is like an alien intelligence. We don’t know exactly what it is; it has just landed, and only the first ship. We are trying to figure out how to talk to it Uh, what a way to make things sound needlessly complicated. He could have just said "the Internet is a way for people all over world and in far flung places to talk to each other".

cmur 3y ago
how is that needlessly complicated? it’s just a simile commenting on how communicating on the internet is fundamentally different than anything before it. it sure is much more fun than your suggestion.
ShamelessC 3y ago
I guess the author's complex search query has filtered out people like you, then. ;)
detourdog 3y ago
One big thing the internet did as far as connecting people, that the bell telephone system did not is reduce the cost of communication to almost nothing. I think you're correct that their explanation of the internet was a description. Finally we know exactly how it works and its based on an RFC system. We may not comprehend the the societies built on top of the internet. I do believe a blog is a form of search query.
dewbrite 3y ago
The point isn't that people can communicate over the Internet though. That's easy to explain. What's harder to explain is the emergent behavior that comes from that. I like to think of this as "meta gaming". Generally when people start playing a new game, they don't care much for picking the optimal team/items/tools, they just play to have fun. As they play more, they recognize that some combinations are stronger than others. Some people will theory craft those combinations. Over time, the general population will inherit those combinations, or perhaps build against it. That's kind of like the Internet before and the Internet now, but on a much larger and more complex scale.

cmur 3y ago

how is that needlessly complicated? it’s just a simile commenting on how communicating on the internet is fundamentally different than anything before it. it sure is much more fun than your suggestion.

ShamelessC 3y ago

I guess the author's complex search query has filtered out people like you, then. ;)

detourdog 3y ago

One big thing the internet did as far as connecting people, that the bell telephone system did not is reduce the cost of communication to almost nothing. I think you're correct that their explanation of the internet was a description. Finally we know exactly how it works and its based on an RFC system. We may not comprehend the the societies built on top of the internet. I do believe a blog is a form of search query.

dewbrite 3y ago

The point isn't that people can communicate over the Internet though. That's easy to explain. What's harder to explain is the emergent behavior that comes from that. I like to think of this as "meta gaming". Generally when people start playing a new game, they don't care much for picking the optimal team/items/tools, they just play to have fun. As they play more, they recognize that some combinations are stronger than others. Some people will theory craft those combinations. Over time, the general population will inherit those combinations, or perhaps build against it. That's kind of like the Internet before and the Internet now, but on a much larger and more complex scale.