Cause/Effect

The "History of the Internet" video we watched in class was interesting to me for a number of reasons, most of which my classmates have already talked about.  The one bit that stuck out to me the most, though, was the part about ARPANET.

At one point, I believe someone in the video stated that the basic idea behind ARPANET was to create a communications network that would survive a bombing attack, as traditional telephone communication would be easily disrupted, leaving the US unable to retaliate.

With most of the early work taking place in the 1960's during the Cold War, obviously the government was concerned about a bombing attack instigated by the Soviets and their allies--a nuclear attack.

The MAD doctrine (Mutually Assured Destruction), as you know, is the idea that no country would instigate a nuclear attack because their target could and should be expected to retaliate in kind, leading to both parties' total destruction.  It's the principle that, some would say, kept the US and the Soviet Union from engaging in all-out nuclear war.

So basically, ARPANET was created to put the "assured" in "mutually assured destruction."  After all, if our communications network was destroyed as the result of an attack, how could we hope to retaliate?

If you wanted to break things down simply, you could say that the internet is a by-product of the Cold War.

Or you could say that I've probably just been reading too much Cold War stuff lately.  Still, it's kind of funny that something created for a task as grim as carrying news of a nuclear attack is now used to tell strangers what you thought of the latest episode of Jersey Shore or to watch videos of people buttering their bathroom floor so their roommate trips when they get out of the shower.  As seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx7CRlYiR2A