The Toronto Star publishes feature interview with me about A history of the Internet and the digital future

Al Gore was ridiculed during the 2000 U.S. presidential election for supposedly claiming he had created the Internet. But digital technology expert Johnny Ryan says Gore’s comments to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer were misinterpreted. According to transcripts of the interview, says Ryan, Gore was taking credit merely for passing an act in 1991 allowing “conditions” for the Internet’s development. Ryan, a senior researcher at the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin, recalls this anecdote in his new book, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future. An edited version of the Star’s email interview with him: 

Star: You write that the idea of the Internet was born during the Cold War.

Ryan: Both superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States, were facing off with nuclear weapons. The premise of mutual destruction meant the likelihood of either combatant launching a first strike was unlikely.

The command infrastructure that would allow one to take a nuclear hit and then fire a return salvo remained vulnerable.

A researcher at the RAND Corp., Paul Baran, was trying to figure out how to solve this problem. He realized if we can do something to distribute our communications, to put communications across a mesh of many points, then this would be viable, even in the case of nukes. The system he proposed combined two isolated technologies: communications and computers.

Star: And somehow this Cold War problem was solved by a Stanford student sitting on a washroom floor.

Ryan: Paul Baran was worried he wouldn’t be able to find staff who knew computers and communications. No one had figured out how computers should talk to each other. You needed protocols, a set of behaviours that the machines could use to talk to each other. And the task of determining what those protocols were fell to a group of graduate students. They started to publish a series of documents which they called “request for comments.” They picked those words because they didn’t want it to look like they assumed they were a station above in the academic hierarchy. Steve Crocker was one of the graduate students who were given the task of determining how the machines in the network were going to talk to each other.

One night Crocker was staying at a friend’s house and he didn’t want to disturb anybody. So he sat down on the friend’s bathroom floor and he worked on the “request for comments.” What he came up with was the tone of collaboration and discussion that still characterizes Internet use today. Crocker may have initiated the process but it quickly grew: a handful of other graduate students sent requests for comments to each other and as the network progressed, the number of people copied in on these requests grew and grew.

Star: You mention companies that were once important to computing — Univac, Burroughs, Honeywell. They now seem lost to history.

Ryan: They badly missed a trick. An insignificant company called Intel came up with a computer on a chip. That should have rung some alarm bells, but the guys at all these large companies disregarded this. There was also an emerging company of tinkerers, the young guys in the garages, and they were trying to find out what they could do with this Intel chip. One of the first computers that came out of one of those garages was the Macintosh.

Star: What did Lord Byron’s daughter, Ada, have to do with the world’s first computer program? After all, Lord Byron was an 18th century Romantic poet and his daughter lived long before the Internet was even considered.

Ryan: Before digital computers there were manual computers; we’re talking here about cogs. Charles Babbage had created an analytical engine, a hypothetical machine that could perform a whole lot of calculations, and Ada, who was a brilliant mathematician, translated Babbage’s notes from Italian to English, and in the course of this she wrote notes about how to program this hypothetical computer.

Star: A Canadian, Alan Emtage of McGill, created Archie. which allowed web users to more narrowly search for files. What happened to it?

Ryan: Archie was one of a number of very early, smart efforts to put order on the growing amount of information that was on the network. Archie and other systems, like Veronica and Gopher, were stepping stones on the way to Google.

Star: The iTunes store has become the largest music retailer in the U.S. Will we get not only durable goods from the web but also culture?

Ryan: iTunes is the biggest place where you can buy music tracks on the planet. Before that it was Wal-Mart. What’s changed there? Instead of buying the physical item, you can buy the digital item. Yes, we will be buying our culture online but we will be participating more in that culture online. What does that mean? At the same time music began its precipitous decline, another industry went on a rise in hits and sales: The computer game blockbuster earns more than the Hollywood blockbuster. You don’t just buy the game. You pay to play the game online every month. The only way for the music industry to save itself is to try to buy a seat at the computer game table. Remember Guitar Hero, where people had plastic guitars to play?

Star: How did the Internet allow wrestler Jesse Ventura to become governor of Minnesota in 1997?

Ryan: Ventura’s campaign manager, Phil Madsen, realized they needed two things: an email list and a website. People on the email list could network and organize things on behalf of the campaign. When he and Ventura won the election, Madsen was offered various jobs by people in Washington. But he sold his possessions and became a trucker. That’s what the pioneer of online politics now does.

Star: How will the Internet continue to develop?

Ryan: I knew you could only properly understand the Internet by understanding the story from the beginning. I wanted to understand the trends of the past. The emphasis is on a pattern without a centre. There are a few things that could frustrate that. In 2007, Estonia, its banking system and other online functions of the state, including tax forms, were taken offline. It was individuals disrupting these services. As we move more toward using the Internet for commerce, politics and culture, it becomes more like the high seas, affected by pirates. People will always test the boundaries.

By Jennifer Hunter Columnist Ads by Google Chinese Girls For Love Sincere China Girl Seek True Love and Marriage. Join to Find Her! http://www.ChnLove.asia Al Gore was ridiculed during the 2000 U.S. presidential election for supposedly claiming he had created the Internet. But digital technology expert Johnny Ryan says Gore’s comments to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer were misinterpreted. According to transcripts of the interview, says Ryan, Gore was taking credit merely for passing an act in 1991 allowing “conditions” for the Internet’s development. Ryan, a senior researcher at the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin, recalls this anecdote in his new book, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future. An edited version of the Star’s email interview with him: Star: You write that the idea of the Internet was born during the Cold War. Ryan: Both superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States, were facing off with nuclear weapons. The premise of mutual destruction meant the likelihood of either combatant launching a first strike was unlikely. The command infrastructure that would allow one to take a nuclear hit and then fire a return salvo remained vulnerable. A researcher at the RAND Corp., Paul Baran, was trying to figure out how to solve this problem. He realized if we can do something to distribute our communications, to put communications across a mesh of many points, then this would be viable, even in the case of nukes. The system he proposed combined two isolated technologies: communications and computers. Star: And somehow this Cold War problem was solved by a Stanford student sitting on a washroom floor. Ryan: Paul Baran was worried he wouldn’t be able to find staff who knew computers and communications. No one had figured out how computers should talk to each other. You needed protocols, a set of behaviours that the machines could use to talk to each other. And the task of determining what those protocols were fell to a group of graduate students. They started to publish a series of documents which they called “request for comments.” They picked those words because they didn’t want it to look like they assumed they were a station above in the academic hierarchy. Steve Crocker was one of the graduate students who were given the task of determining how the machines in the network were going to talk to each other. One night Crocker was staying at a friend’s house and he didn’t want to disturb anybody. So he sat down on the friend’s bathroom floor and he worked on the “request for comments.” What he came up with was the tone of collaboration and discussion that still characterizes Internet use today. Crocker may have initiated the process but it quickly grew: a handful of other graduate students sent requests for comments to each other and as the network progressed, the number of people copied in on these requests grew and grew. Star: You mention companies that were once important to computing — Univac, Burroughs, Honeywell. They now seem lost to history. Ryan: They badly missed a trick. An insignificant company called Intel came up with a computer on a chip. That should have rung some alarm bells, but the guys at all these large companies disregarded this. There was also an emerging company of tinkerers, the young guys in the garages, and they were trying to find out what they could do with this Intel chip. One of the first computers that came out of one of those garages was the Macintosh. Star: What did Lord Byron’s daughter, Ada, have to do with the world’s first computer program? After all, Lord Byron was an 18th century Romantic poet and his daughter lived long before the Internet was even considered. Ryan: Before digital computers there were manual computers; we’re talking here about cogs. Charles Babbage had created an analytical engine, a hypothetical machine that could perform a whole lot of calculations, and Ada, who was a brilliant mathematician, translated Babbage’s notes from Italian to English, and in the course of this she wrote notes about how to program this hypothetical computer. Star: A Canadian, Alan Emtage of McGill, created Archie. which allowed web users to more narrowly search for files. What happened to it? Ryan: Archie was one of a number of very early, smart efforts to put order on the growing amount of information that was on the network. Archie and other systems, like Veronica and Gopher, were stepping stones on the way to Google. Star: The iTunes store has become the largest music retailer in the U.S. Will we get not only durable goods from the web but also culture? Ryan: iTunes is the biggest place where you can buy music tracks on the planet. Before that it was Wal-Mart. What’s changed there? Instead of buying the physical item, you can buy the digital item. Yes, we will be buying our culture online but we will be participating more in that culture online. What does that mean? At the same time music began its precipitous decline, another industry went on a rise in hits and sales: The computer game blockbuster earns more than the Hollywood blockbuster. You don’t just buy the game. You pay to play the game online every month. The only way for the music industry to save itself is to try to buy a seat at the computer game table. Remember Guitar Hero, where people had plastic guitars to play? Star: How did the Internet allow wrestler Jesse Ventura to become governor of Minnesota in 1997? Ryan: Ventura’s campaign manager, Phil Madsen, realized they needed two things: an email list and a website. People on the email list could network and organize things on behalf of the campaign. When he and Ventura won the election, Madsen was offered various jobs by people in Washington. But he sold his possessions and became a trucker. That’s what the pioneer of online politics now does. Star: How will the Internet continue to develop? Ryan: I knew you could only properly understand the Internet by understanding the story from the beginning. I wanted to understand the trends of the past. The emphasis is on a pattern without a centre. There are a few things that could frustrate that. In 2007, Estonia, its banking system and other online functions of the state, including tax forms, were taken offline. It was individuals disrupting these services. As we move more toward using the Internet for commerce, politics and culture, it becomes more like the high seas, affected by pirates. People will always test the boundaries.