Internet
When you clicked on this blog, your computer sent a message to a computer at google that might be states or countries, or continents away. It didn’t know how to get the message there, but it sent it anyway. The message probably arrived after about half a second and told Google’s computers to Search for a file with a set of ones and zeros practically indistinguishable from the billions all around it and to send that file back to you. Google’s computers then sent the file back to your computer piece by piece, where those ones and zeros were interpreted as the start of this blog. And the ones and zeros are still streaming in, even while you’re reading this blog. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it. And if you’re curious how we ended up in a world where billions of computers are all interconnected through this strange structure that we call the Internet, then you’re in the right place. Because this blog is all about the history of the Internet, from some of the first att...