Difficulty Level: C1

Source URL: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20241028-the-failure-that-started-the-internet

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'We were just trying to get it to work': The failure that started the internet

'We were just trying to get it to work': The failure that started the internet

On 29 October 1969, two scientists establishedustanowili a connection between computers some 350 miles away and started typing a message. Halfway throughw połowie, it crashed. They sat downusiąść with the BBC 55 years later.

B1

It was the first test of a technologypierwszy test technologii that would change almost every facetaspekt of human life. But before it could work, you had to log inzalogować się.

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Kline sat at his keyboard between the lime-green walls of UCLA's Boelter Hall Room 3420, preparedprzygotowany to connect with Duvall, who was working a computer halfway across the statew połowie drogi przez stan of California. But Kline didn't even make itosiągnąć sukces all the way through the word "L-O-G-I-N" before Duvall told him over the phone that his system crashedzawiesił się. Thanks to that error, the first "message" that Kline sent Duvall on that autumn day in 1969 was simply the letters "L-O".

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They got their connection up and runningdziałający about an hour later after some tweaks, and that initial crashpoczątkowy błąd was just a blip in an otherwise monumentalmonumentalny achievementdrobny problem w innym przypadku monumentalnym osiągnięciu. But neither man realised the significanceznaczenie of the moment. "I certainly didn't at that time," Kline says. "We were just trying to get it to worksprawić, żeby to działało."

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The BBC spoke to Kline and Duvall for the 55th anniversary of the occasion. Half a century later, the internet has shrunk the whole world down to a small black box that fits in your pocket, one that dominatesdominuje our attention and touches the furthest reachesdotyka najdalszych zakątków of lived experienceprzeżywane doświadczenie. But it all started with two men, experiencing just how frustratingfrustrujące it is when you can't get online for the very first time.

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This interview has been edited for clarityjasność and length.

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Can you describe the computers that enabledumożliwiły Arpanet? Were these massive, noisy machines?

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Duvall: They were in a rack big enough to holdwystarczająco duży, aby pomieścić a complete set of sound equipment for a large show today. And they were thousands if not millions or billions of times less powerful than the processorprocesor in an Apple Watch. These were the old daysdawne czasy!

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Take us insidewewnątrz that moment when you started typing L-O.

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Kline: Unlike websites and other systems today, when you connected a terminalterminal to the SRI system nothing happened until you typed something. If you wanted to run a programmeuruchomić program, you first needed to login – by typing the word "login" – and the system would ask for your user name and password.

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I was on the phone with Bill when we tried this. I told him I typed the letter L. He told me he had received the letter L and echoedodbił it back. I told him that it printed. Then I typed the letter O. Again, it worked fine. I typed the letter G. Bill told me his system had crashed, and he would call me backoddzwonić do mnie.

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Duvall: The UCLA system did not anticipateprzewidywać that it would receive G-I-N after Charlie had typed L-O, so it sent an error message to the SRI computer. I don't recallprzypominać sobie exactly what the message was, but what happened next was due to the fact that the network connectionpołączenie sieciowe was much faster than anything seen before.

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The normal connection speed was 10 characters per second whereas the Arpanet could transmitprzesyłać characters at up to 5,000 characters per second. The result of this message being sent from UCLA to the SRI computer floodedzalać the input buffer which only expected 10 characters per second. It was like filling a glass with a fire hosejak napełnianie szklanki wężem strażackim. I quickly discovered what had happened, changed the buffer sizezmienić rozmiar bufora and rebuiltodbudować the system, which took about an hour.

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Did you realisezdać sobie sprawę this could be a historic momenthistoryczny moment?

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Kline: No, I certainlyz pewnością didn't at that timew tamtym czasie.

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Duvall: Not really. It was another step forwardkrok naprzód in the larger contextkontekst of the work we were doing at SRI which we did believe would have a large impact.

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When Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph message in 1844, he had an eye for dramamiał wyczucie dramatu, tapping outwystukiwać "What hath God wroughtuczynił" on a line from Washington, DC to Baltimore, Maryland, US. If you could go back, would you have typed something more memorablebardziej zapadający w pamięć?

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Kline: Of course, if I had realisedzdałem sobie sprawę its importance. But we were just trying to get it to worksprawić, żeby to działało.

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Duvall: No. This was the first test of a very complicatedskomplikowany system with a lot of moving partsruchome części. To have something this complex work in the very first test was dramatic in and of itselfsamo w sobie.

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What was the atmosphereatmosfera like when the message was sent?

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Duvall: We were each alone in our respective computer laboratoriesodpowiednie laboratoria komputerowe at night. We were both happy to have had such a successful first test as the culminationkulminacja of a lot of work. I went to a local "watering holeknajpa" and had a burger and a beer.

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Kline: I was happy that it worked and went homeposzedł do domu to get some sleeptrochę się przespać.

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What did you expectoczekiwać Arpanet to becomestać się?

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What aspectsaspekty of the internet today remind you of Arpanet?

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Duvall: Referringodnosząc się to the larger visionszersza wizja which was being created in Engelbart's group (the mouse, full screen editing, links, etc.), the internet today is a logical evolutionewolucja of those ideas enhancedwzbogacony, of course, by the contributions of many bright and innovative people and organisations.

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Kline: The ability to use resourceskorzystać z zasobów from others. That's what we do when we use a website. We are using the facilitiesudogodnienia of the website and its programmes, features, etc. And, of course, email.

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The Arpanet pretty much created the concept of routingtrasowanie and multiple pathswiele ścieżek from one site to another. That got reliability in case a communication line failed. It also allowed increases in communication speeds by using multiple pathswiele ścieżek simultaneously. Those concepts have carried overprzeniesione to the internet.

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As we developed the communications protocolsprotokoły for the Arpanet, we discovered problems, redesigned and improved the protocolsprotokoły and learned many lessons that carried overprzeniesione to the Internet. TCP/IP [the basic standard for internet connection] was developed both to interconnectpołączyć networks, in particular the Arpanet with other networks, and also to improve performancepoprawić wydajność, reliability and more.

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How do you feel about this anniversaryrocznica?

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Kline: That's a mix. Personally, I feel it is important, but a little overblownprzesadzonenieco przesadzone. The Arpanet and what sprang fromwywodzić się z it are very important. This particular anniversary to me is just one of many events. I find somewhat more important than this particular anniversary were the decisions by Arpa to build the Network and continue to support its developmentkontynuować wspieranie jego rozwoju.

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Duvall: It's nice to remember the origin of something like the internet, but the most important thing is the enormousogromny amount of work that has been done since that time to turn it intoprzekształcić to w what is a major part of societies worldwideważna część społeczeństw na całym świecie.

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The modern web is dominatedzdominowany not by government or academic researchers, but by some of the largest companies in the worldniektóre z największych firm na świecie. How do you feel about what the internet has become? What are you most concerned about?

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Kline: We use it in our daily lives, and it is very important. It's hard to imagine ever not having it again. One of the benefits of it being so open and not controlled by a government is that new ideas can get developedzostać rozwiniętym, such as online shopping, banking, video streaming, news sites, social media, and more. But because it has become so important to our lives it is a target for maliciouszłośliwy activity.

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We hear constantly aboutsłyszeć ciągle o how things have been compromisednaruszone. There is a tremendousogromny loss of privacyutrata prywatności. And the big companies (Google, Meta, Amazon and internet service providers such as Comcast and AT&T) have too much powerzbyt duża władza in my opinion. But I am not sure of the right remedy.

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Duvall: I think that there is great danger in the dominationdominacja by any single entity. We have seen the power of disinformationdezinformacja in directing policy and elections. We have also seen the power of companies in influencingwpływanie the direction of social norms and the formation of adults and young adults.

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Kline: One of my biggest fears has been about the spread of false informationrozprzestrzenianie fałszywych informacji. How many times have you heard someone say, "I saw it on the internet". It was always possible to spread false information, but it would cost money to send outwysyłać mailers, put up a billboardbillboard or take outwykupić a TV ad. Now it is cheap and easy. And as it reaches millions of people, it gets repeated and treated as fact.

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Another fear is that as more and more critical systemskrytyczne systemy have moved onto the internet it becomes easier to cause a serious disruptionzakłócenie if those systems are taken downzlikwidowane or compromisedzagrożone. For example, not only communications systems but banking, utilities, transportation, etc.

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Duvall: It has great power but, not heedingzwracanie uwagi Engelbart's warning in 1962, we have not effectively used the power of the internet to manage the social impactwpływ społeczny.

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Are there any lessonslekcje from your time at Arpanet that could make it a better placeuczynić to lepszym miejscem for everyone?

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Kline: While the openness of the internet allows experimentation and new uses, the lack of controlbrak kontroli can lead to compromiseskompromisy. Arpa kept some control of the Arpanet. That way they could make sure that everything worked, make decisions about which protocols were required, deal withzajmować się issues such as site names and other issues.

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