Now that high school students are spending their spare time
cruising the Internet, it's probably time the rest of us found out
how the whole thing started. Newsweek contributing editor Hafner
(coauthor of Cyberpunk, 1991) and husband Lyon, who is assistant to
the president of the University of Texas, begin their story back in
the '50s, when President Eisenhower decided that basic scientific
research was the quickest way to improve the nation's defense. The
key instrument was the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA),
nominally part of the Pentagon. ARPA quickly acquired several
advanced computers; when several scientists (notably J.C.R.
Licklider and Robert G. Taylor) began to wonder why none of the
computers could "talk" to the others, the seeds of the Internet
were sown. Believing that advanced computing capacity was vital to
the national defense, ARPA proposed connecting a number of
computers through the phone system. A small Massachusetts company,
Bolt Beranek and Newman, managed to win the bid; within a year,
inventing almost everything from the ground up, they had managed to
connect several college campuses on the West coast. Gradually, the
ARPANET became the focus of an intensive development effort among
computer scientists; but their goals were far different from the
defense projects its creators had envisioned. Far-reaching
decisions were made by the first person who happened to tackle the
problem at hand. E-mail quickly took center stage, followed by
newsgroups in which scientists with a common interest could
exchange information and views. By the time the Defense Department
decided to try to regain control, it was obvious that they had
inadvertently created an entity no single authority could control.
Within 25 years, the Internet had grown from an impossible dream to
an indispensable scientific tool. A clear and comprehensive, though
often flat, account of an important bit of scientific history.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Twenty five years ago, it didn't exist. Today, twenty million people worldwide are surfing the Net. Where Wizards Stay Up Late is the exciting story of the pioneers responsible for creating the most talked about, most influential, and most far-reaching communications breakthrough since the invention of the telephone.
In the 1960's, when computers where regarded as mere giant calculators, J.C.R. Licklider at MIT saw them as the ultimate communications devices. With Defense Department funds, he and a band of visionary computer whizzes began work on a nationwide, interlocking network of computers. Taking readers behind the scenes, Where Wizards Stay Up Late captures the hard work, genius, and happy accidents of their daring, stunningly successful venture.
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