The Evolution of The Machine

The first pages of “The internet of history” give a general overview of how the internet was born and how it changed over the years. The article begins by explaining that the internet was born to fulfill military needs. Being independent, decentralized, and strong are all features that were meant to protect the net from the US enemies, for example. After its military origins, it has been influenced by cultural ideas and values, becoming a place where communities could thrive, communicate and play with each other. In the 90s were born also the first form of role games and virtual lives where people could imagine and build a better life in a safe and fake environment. One of the biggest concepts that gave positivity to the idea of the internet was the concept that democracy occurs when people have access to information. The article goes on explaining that the internet was seen as positive for almost its first 30 years since it was a public good usable by any user, and it could connect people. In its latest period, however, it became a place where the market took over the net with the creations of online ads, spam, pop-ups, et cetera, beginning the era of digital capitalism.

I think that the internet is a mysterious place that exists without existing. A sort of Peter Pan’s Neverland: we use it, we know it’s there, but when we think about it, we think of it abstractly. We do not think about the giant servers located around the world collecting all of our data. The positive wave is always present. For example, when we think about Alexa, the new Amazon’s AI, we think about a device that can help us innovate our lifestyle with a bit of a hi-tech; we surely don’t think about the fact that Alexa could record us 24/7 and sell all the information it collects to bigger institutions. My main takeaway from this article is that, when we are talking about the internet, we are constantly living in an “I know it’s bad, but in reality, I believe everything is ok” conception. Now, especially in 2019, we all know that social media, websites, and numerous devices take our information and sell them to big organizations, but probably, and I’m talking from my personal POV, we don’t mind. Continuing leaving in our comfortable hi-tech world is too fantastic.