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What I've Learned, by Vint Cerf, Creator of the Internet
esquire.com — "I'd like to know what the Internet is going to look like in 2050. Thinking about it makes me wish I were eight years old."
theeandrew- 1113 diggs
- digg it
- baugier, on 04/26/2008, -12/+33I appreciate Vint CERF since I met Him in AUTRANS (France) He Is A Very Clever Man
- ShootTheCore, on 04/26/2008, -3/+58Is he clever enough to capitalize random words too?
- Owwmykneecap, on 04/26/2008, -5/+4don't you Get IT?
- narcofiche, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1He just has a bad case of Diggtitleitius.
- 4d669, on 04/27/2008, -1/+2The internet is awesome and *****, but it'll be dead in a decade when the grid takes over and porn gets replaced by cyber-***** fat chicks with advanced sex-toys hooked to your USB ports.
- ShootTheCore, on 04/26/2008, -3/+58Is he clever enough to capitalize random words too?
- jggube, on 04/26/2008, -46/+24Wait... I thought Al Gore created the internet? :)
- masterm1nd, on 04/26/2008, -17/+10Nope, just the food crisis.
- bluezinc, on 04/27/2008, -2/+3No, he, along with anyone even remotely paying attention to the alt. energy situation knows that corn ethanol was/is a horrible idea.
They've been advocating electrical cars and giant solar and wind power plants to supply the electricity.- masterm1nd, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Even if he didn't support corn ethanol, he is the one responsible for fear mongering others into supporting it. Are you telling me we would be using the amount of corn ethanol we now use had Al Gore not made his film?
- bluezinc, on 04/27/2008, -2/+3No, he, along with anyone even remotely paying attention to the alt. energy situation knows that corn ethanol was/is a horrible idea.
- WinnemuccaMac, on 04/26/2008, -15/+12No, no, you're mixing him up with someone else. Al Gore defeated ManBearPig.
- boredrph, on 04/26/2008, -11/+3Excelsior!
- Rotzooi, on 04/26/2008, -4/+19You didn't read the article, did you?
- archstant0n, on 04/26/2008, -3/+26RTFAP. The P is for "please". No need to be rude, I say.
- YoctoYotta, on 04/27/2008, -1/+4Heh, you said fap.
- mriegger, on 04/26/2008, -5/+33"Al Gore had seen what happened with the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, which his father introduced as a military bill. It was very powerful. Housing went up, suburban boom happened, everybody became mobile. Al was attuned to the power of networking much more than any of his elective colleagues. His initiatives led directly to the commercialization of the Internet. So he really does deserve credit."
From that article that we are all commenting on- Malacandra95, on 04/26/2008, -6/+19Thank you for that. Al Gore has been the subject of countless, countless jokes about a claim that he never personally made, and which was ascribed to him for the express purpose of making him an object of ridicule. It's only fair to set the record straight.
- therightclique, on 04/26/2008, -11/+3Try again, *****:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpxtKcLSFWw- Malacandra95, on 04/26/2008, -2/+9You apparently can't distinguish between taking leadership in promoting an initiative legislatively, and "inventing" something. Your link doesn't prove what you think it does.
- charlie55, on 04/26/2008, -4/+4al gore had nothing to do with anything. cerf is just polite. without al gore, the internet would be exactly the same today. darpa created it and it expanded from there.
- nycmac247, on 04/26/2008, -1/+8 therightclique
wow - you really didn't read the article and yet you're demeaning someone who did.
- Nudar, on 04/27/2008, -2/+2In Al Gore's own words "I took the initiative in CREATING the Internet".
- therightclique, on 04/26/2008, -11/+3Try again, *****:
- kylere, on 04/26/2008, -8/+6If Al Gore had never been born the internet would be the same as it is now, but maybe the democrats would have had a candidate in 2000 who could have beaten an idiot.
- Malacandra95, on 04/26/2008, -4/+6You clearly know more about this than Vint Cerf, I guess. And by the way, the Democrats did have a candidate in 2000 who beat an idiot.
It's just that a partisan Supreme Court didn't let the votes get counted.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/jan/29/uselec ...- kylere, on 04/26/2008, -6/+2Lalalala look at the actual bills, Cerf is just being gracious. The whine about vote counts is only because Al failed to beat an idiot, hands down and without doubt. The enitre Florida fiasco was created by a board comprised of republicans AND democrats not by the Supreme Court. But keep on thinking that, and I will be content knowing you are an idiot.
- Malacandra95, on 04/26/2008, -4/+6You clearly know more about this than Vint Cerf, I guess. And by the way, the Democrats did have a candidate in 2000 who beat an idiot.
- Malacandra95, on 04/26/2008, -6/+19Thank you for that. Al Gore has been the subject of countless, countless jokes about a claim that he never personally made, and which was ascribed to him for the express purpose of making him an object of ridicule. It's only fair to set the record straight.
- Rikkochet, on 04/26/2008, -7/+5Popularizing something and creating something are two different things. Both parties deserve equal credit.
- Swift2, on 04/26/2008, -1/+4You obviously don't know the difference between a technical development, made by the scientists at DARPA, and the kind of empowering legislation that Gore sponsored. (If you want to knock Gore down a bit, Newt Gingrich also picked up the cause. Would it have been the same way if Gore hadn't gotten the legislation through? No. You can obviously argue that eventually somebody would have gotten it, but they didn't at the time. There. That wasn't so hard, was it?
- Takteek, on 04/26/2008, -7/+1I thought Tim Burners Lee invented the internet.
- Graeleight, on 04/26/2008, -0/+12The World Wide Web is not the Internet
- masterm1nd, on 04/26/2008, -17/+10Nope, just the food crisis.
- brianbb98, on 04/26/2008, -9/+133Here come 600 comments about Al Gore inventing the internet....
- rockchops, on 04/26/2008, -2/+4too late
- sheebz, on 04/27/2008, -11/+2lulz Al Gore Invented teh Internets!!! LOLZ.
- jsebrech, on 04/27/2008, -0/+3From the article:
"Al Gore had seen what happened with the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, which his father introduced as a military bill. It was very powerful. Housing went up, suburban boom happened, everybody became mobile. Al was attuned to the power of networking much more than any of his elective colleagues. His initiatives led directly to the commercialization of the Internet. So he really does deserve credit."
- diggMeDOWNx, on 04/26/2008, -7/+61Thanks to this man i can fap to SUV Driving soccer mom double horse penetration on sofa videos all day
- boredrph, on 04/26/2008, -3/+14I prefer brazillian fart porn
- Wakuko, on 04/26/2008, -1/+14And thanks to this man we also have goatse and two girls and one cup.
- CthulhuDawn, on 04/27/2008, -5/+3Rule 34
- OJdidntdoIT, on 04/26/2008, -5/+88Pretty sure no matter how much the looks change. It will still be primarily be used for masturbation.
- OJdidntdoIT, on 04/26/2008, -7/+46I was jacking off while I typed that, that's why I used Be twicye. opps spelling error. Still touching my dick, sorry.
- dullnation, on 04/26/2008, -9/+4WTF
- celotil, on 04/26/2008, -2/+5^^ OGC
- wellyuk, on 04/26/2008, -4/+1How about now? Still touching your dick? It's an hour down the line. You should have at least reached the vinegar strokes.
- PolarBearCa, on 04/27/2008, -0/+2That was on a 'need to know' basis and I did not need to know.
- dullnation, on 04/26/2008, -9/+4WTF
- OJdidntdoIT, on 04/26/2008, -7/+46I was jacking off while I typed that, that's why I used Be twicye. opps spelling error. Still touching my dick, sorry.
- Farik, on 04/26/2008, -10/+67"Al Gore had seen what happened with the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, which his father introduced as a military bill. It was very powerful. Housing went up, suburban boom happened, everybody became mobile. Al was attuned to the power of networking much more than any of his elective colleagues. His initiatives led directly to the commercialization of the Internet. So he really does deserve credit."
It's great seeing the father of the Interwebs give credit to Al Gore.- CaptainShaun, on 04/26/2008, -21/+2Al Gore is responsible for the privitization/commercialization of the internet. Does that qualify for irony, or is that one of those raining on a wedding day things?
- Farik, on 04/26/2008, -2/+17I have no clue what your point is, but the point Cerf is making is that Al Gore spread the Internet to the masses due to commercialization which is diametrically opposite to privatization.
- Swift2, on 04/26/2008, -1/+9I think he's been taught that Al Gore is a socialist who wants to destroy private enterprise. Don't wake him up.
- Farik, on 04/26/2008, -2/+17I have no clue what your point is, but the point Cerf is making is that Al Gore spread the Internet to the masses due to commercialization which is diametrically opposite to privatization.
- Tyrghast, on 04/27/2008, -3/+1Manbearpig?
- CaptainShaun, on 04/26/2008, -21/+2Al Gore is responsible for the privitization/commercialization of the internet. Does that qualify for irony, or is that one of those raining on a wedding day things?
- scy1192, on 04/26/2008, -8/+21buried. stupid flash pop-ups block their own content. close button doesn't even work.
- paulmer2003, on 04/26/2008, -0/+10Didn't have a problem personally. Perhaps you should use adblock+noscript ;)
- Rocketbird, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1Plus the page kept ***** reloading itself for some reason.
To paulmer: I have ad+flashblock installed, the frame is still overlaying the text of the article - OmarJasso, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1adblock ftw!
- Alix7, on 04/26/2008, -8/+149Comments about Al Gore End at this Line
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________- scy1192, on 04/26/2008, -1/+54bury all who defy
- boredrph, on 04/26/2008, -41/+4Al Gore Al Gore Al Gore Al Gore Al Gore!
Al Gore - canthraxp, on 04/26/2008, -25/+3Why, is it an Inconvenient time to comment? (Turun, Tss)
- Wakuko, on 04/26/2008, -3/+14I'll copy and save that line for later. I know I'll find a place to use that again.
- m4xn00b, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2hey.... it worked.
- CaptainShaun, on 04/26/2008, -2/+30"There was a first "Oh, no!" moment. That was the first time I saw spam pop up. It could have been as early as '79. A digital-equipment corporation sent a note around announcing a job opening, and we all blew up, saying, This is not for advertising! This is for serious work!"
See? The internets ARE serious business!- Dave2KStang, on 04/27/2008, -0/+2By "a digital equipment corporation", he literally meant Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), also known as Digital.
Clever guy - he pointed the finger without doing it.
- Dave2KStang, on 04/27/2008, -0/+2By "a digital equipment corporation", he literally meant Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), also known as Digital.
- trixterIreland, on 04/26/2008, -36/+2so al gore is only responsible for the commercialization of the intarweb, ok fair enough, but lets look at what that got us. Spam, popups, advertising on every webpage, more spam. Oh yes his contributions are numerous and great. At least man-bear-pig is no longer a serious threat.
- luchid, on 04/26/2008, -2/+3I think you don't understand what the article is saying.
- trixterIreland, on 04/26/2008, -5/+1so the article isnt saying that man-bear-pig is no longer a serious threat?
- meesle110, on 04/26/2008, -5/+3FOR ***** SAKE. you acknowledge he has a small part in the internet's growth which is true, but now your blaming spam on al gore?
Christ if Al Gore had invented planes, you people would blame him for terrorist attacks.
- luchid, on 04/26/2008, -2/+3I think you don't understand what the article is saying.
- Nhmarine, on 04/26/2008, -19/+0I never knew there was an actual creator of the internet... I thought it was a team effort. Well, whoever created it (which, due to this article we all know who that is) he didn't create most of the stuff that has spawned from the original web browser... so why should he get any credit for anything at all? It has evolved past the original creation, so instead of saying this man is the father of the internet, we should dub him "the creator of the slow ass browser that took forever and was rudimentary that we all grew up with."
- MiddleOfNowhere, on 04/26/2008, -1/+16Oh, the Humanity.
At least you managed to read an article (or part of it) - kudos for that, but as it seems that's pretty much where it ends.
You have no clue, do you? You do not know a ***** little bit about the medium you are using, and you have no concept of its origins, technical foundations and cultural implications - right?
And you are proud of your ignorance - right?
Because if you weren't, you would not have informed one of the world's most-read sites about your ignorance, but tried to learn something instead in the 15 seconds it took you to type this nonsense.
You might have gone to Wikipedia and typed "Internet" into the search field, maybe jumped to the "History" section of that long, long article if all the technical stuff was too much for you.
And if you had done so, you might have learned about DARPA, about protocols, about infrastructure vs. applications, about the amazing complexity of it all. It's not *all* terribly exciting, but it would have given you some context.
But no - why bother? Why not type something into a digg comment field about how Vincent Cerf should not be called the creator of the Internet (?!), "because he didn't create most of the stuff that has spawned from the original web browser..."
This is ignorance on a level that would put even the typical YouTube/Myspace Comment section to shame. It is like walking into a library and shouting at the top of your lungs: "Yo, what is it 'bout all these books?!"
But as long as you're happy with your level of knowledge about the world - hey, why bother?- AgentVladimir, on 04/26/2008, -0/+7Dugg for " 'Yo, what is it 'bout all these books?!' "
- Wardvark, on 04/26/2008, -0/+1I think you should listen to security now and their episodes about how the internet works. SN is kind of technical sometimes, but even if you dont understand all of it, you get a solid chunk of the information, enough that you wont sound like a complete idiot.
http://aolradio.podcast.aol.com/sn/SN-025.mp3
http://aolradio.podcast.aol.com/sn/SN-026.mp3
- MiddleOfNowhere, on 04/26/2008, -1/+16Oh, the Humanity.
- bdawg923, on 04/26/2008, -22/+3Tim Berners Lee invented the internet.
- treed, on 04/26/2008, -1/+18He invented the web.
- secleinteer, on 04/26/2008, -0/+18Yeah - big difference. TBL invented the WWW, which is a subset of the the internet, which Vint Cerf invented through his creation of TCP/IP.
- MiddleOfNowhere, on 04/26/2008, -1/+14Oh, another one. Do you people get paid for publicly shooting yourselves in the foot?
This is like claiming that Peter Jackson wrote "The Lord of the Rings". No, more like Frodo.
Oh well, why bother. Yeah. Tim Berners-Lee invented the Internet. E-Mail was invented by AOL. The Web is that blue "e" on your desktop. It's all right. - doublebummer, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1The internet is a collection of computers linked together by physical connections. The web is a collection of HTML pages connected by HTML links.
- CaptainShaun, on 04/26/2008, -3/+82Anybody else think he looks a lot like the Architect from the Matrix series?
- Alix7, on 04/26/2008, -0/+28Think the Wachowskis did that on purpose?
- CaptainShaun, on 04/26/2008, -0/+21I'm sure they did. If not, neat coincidence.
- Torley, on 04/26/2008, -0/+10Shades of how they made Agent Smith's delivery sound like Carl Sagan.
- feliks2, on 04/26/2008, -0/+1"neat" - lol
I agree though.
- CaptainShaun, on 04/26/2008, -0/+21I'm sure they did. If not, neat coincidence.
- AltairLaAhad, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1I was just thinking that! Well actually i was thinking that about 7 hours ago but i just now dug it.
- 4d669, on 04/27/2008, -0/+2Dude, he IS the architect, we don't exist outside of our digg accounts, we're all brains on jars that Kevin Rose hooked up to his site to get traffic and ads.
- Alix7, on 04/26/2008, -0/+28Think the Wachowskis did that on purpose?
- yosserhughes, on 04/26/2008, -20/+6You have to give the Repugs and Rove credit. The very first thing you thought of was Al Gore.
That's why when you hear 'Iranian" they want you to think of ' barbarian, cowardly roaches'- Rotzooi, on 04/26/2008, -8/+2Thank you, sir, for reminding me there are smart people on Digg, too.
- masterm1nd, on 04/26/2008, -3/+5How are you not just a hypocrite, only from the other side of the fence?
- therightclique, on 04/26/2008, -3/+3did you even read what he said?
- yosserhughes, on 04/26/2008, -3/+2I am totally baffled by your response. How's this?
Repugs, Rove = warmongers =bad.
Iranians not ' barbarian, cowardly roaches'.
That better? - masterm1nd, on 04/26/2008, -2/+2Your comment is an example of the same exact unsupported accusations you made, only aimed the other way.
- yosserhughes, on 04/26/2008, -2/+2Ah, so Repugs and Rove are not warmongers. Even though they started an illegal war, killing 1,000s and 1,000s of people.
And they don't want you to think the Iranians are " barbarian, cowardly roaches'. (actually I put 'barbarian, cowardly roaches' as a dig to another warmonger earlier).
- yosserhughes, on 04/26/2008, -2/+2Ah, so Repugs and Rove are not warmongers. Even though they started an illegal war, killing 1,000s and 1,000s of people.
- RajDhillon, on 04/26/2008, -6/+14I have 10million free hours of AOL. Think that'll last me until 2050?
- feliks2, on 04/26/2008, -0/+9That's a lot of CompactDiscs in the mail from the 90's.
- Rocketbird, on 04/27/2008, -0/+6Actually, it'll last you until the year 3148. (I did the math. Don't lie, I know some of you did too)
- nickcozy, on 04/26/2008, -7/+1IP6 the long-term solution to the IP4 address shortage.
- Torley, on 04/26/2008, -1/+14It cracked me up that he said "Reproducing isn't nearly as much fun in Second Life." On the other hand, I'm not sure why he said: "Will we shoot virtually at each other over the Internet? Probably not." There's plenty of that happening in Second Life!
- digginamish, on 04/26/2008, -1/+3I believe that he is discussing the possibility of virtual fighting REPLACING real war. Too bad.
- sylvok, on 04/27/2008, -1/+41 word: Anonymous
- Aidenf77, on 04/26/2008, -13/+3"Will we shoot virtually at each other over the Internet? Probably not."
He's obviously never heard of COD4, or any of the Halo series... or any other online shooter for that matter.- vertexoflife, on 04/26/2008, -1/+9He's talking about war between countries.
- Jordan117, on 04/27/2008, -0/+2I don't know... I hear North Korea is assembling a pretty kickass Grifball Brigade...
- vertexoflife, on 04/26/2008, -1/+9He's talking about war between countries.
- NightVortez, on 04/26/2008, -1/+8It'll have a billion more ads?
- mistergoodburge, on 04/26/2008, -2/+8How rich do you think this guy is?
- Strongo, on 04/26/2008, -0/+1you know money? I bet he doesn't have to worry about it.
- sylvok, on 04/27/2008, -0/+2Maybe not overly, he created it, not marketed it
- fabio1, on 04/27/2008, -0/+7yep, but still, he´s a vice president at google now
- mistergoodburge, on 04/27/2008, -1/+1o google? dam then he's getting paid probably 200k I presume?
- paulmer2003, on 04/26/2008, -3/+1The "What I've Learned" articles in Esquire are always excellent. Very interesting reads. I suggest you all go on the Esquire site and search for What I've Learned ;)
- painperdu, on 04/26/2008, -2/+5Interesting that the "article" is in Internet format, choppy little easy to read sentences.
- sloonark, on 04/27/2008, -0/+3How else could you present a list of separate quotes?
- Swift2, on 04/26/2008, -1/+1And learn something.
- DiarrheaBear, on 04/26/2008, -1/+7"I was disappointed that pornography got to the Net."
actually, he should be given a nobel prize for peace.
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/10/31/p ...- sutherbj, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1Fancy 404
- DiarrheaBear, on 04/27/2008, -0/+0hmm...that didn't work
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/10/31/
- sonycam, on 04/26/2008, -1/+5According to wikipedia, the world wide web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee and Vint Cerf is often called the father of the Internet.
- bluedog16, on 04/26/2008, -4/+3"In Silicon Valley, failure is experience. Now, if you fail at everything, that's different. But a failure is a mark of experience more than anything else."
- MrViklund, on 04/26/2008, -2/+4By then the whole Internet will be owned and controlled by one single company. Internet Incorporated. It will track your every move, throttle your Bittorrent and show pop up ads.
- JointVenture, on 04/27/2008, -9/+2wishing he was eight years old? what abouts the global warming, the oil doomsday, the food wars, and fascism the liberals keep telling is right around the corner?
- DrDreyfus, on 04/27/2008, -0/+3I'm almost positive it's the conservatives fanning to flames of fear.... Ever watch Fox News?
- MasterGrief, on 04/27/2008, -0/+4Can you both just leave politics the crap alone for just a little while?
- AltairLaAhad, on 04/27/2008, -0/+2Well said MasterGrief.
- MasterGrief, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1Thank you.
- JointVenture, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1The internets is politics.
- AltairLaAhad, on 04/27/2008, -0/+2Well said MasterGrief.
- HolyShiite, on 04/27/2008, -8/+3Al Gore invented.... awwww ***** it!
- codaofchoice, on 04/27/2008, -1/+10Does anyone else find it awesome that the man who invented the internet played World of Warcraft?
If you invented the internet, should you technically get free access to EVERYTHING? It's like the ultimate VIP pass. - ElbowGeek, on 04/27/2008, -4/+0"Wished I was eight years old"? Are you kidding - if he was he'd probably be in some chat room being stalked by a sadistic pervert wishing the internet had never been invented ;-)
- sheebz, on 04/27/2008, -1/+2Per the wikipedia article, he is considered the father, not the creator. Big difference.
- NecroDigg, on 04/27/2008, -2/+0No, no difference. Are you saying the mother is the true creator? Wrong. Both father and mother are creators.
- dowalker1974, on 04/27/2008, -9/+2I thought Al Gore invented the internet!
- Phillbo88, on 04/27/2008, -0/+3"I wouldn't go on a safari in a three-piece suit."
-AWESOME - RSS14, on 04/27/2008, -0/+2The World Wide Web is basically a tool which utilizes the internet. For example, Xbox Live uses the internet, but doesn't use the World Wide Web.
- AltairLaAhad, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1If he is the father of the internet, then who, undoubtedly would be it's mother?
- lukifer, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1Uh, Alan Turing? >_>
- Nyukin, on 04/27/2008, -0/+2Anything Vint Cerf = digged.
- BeavisMcSleavis, on 04/27/2008, -0/+2Dugg for him living in McLean, Virginia!
My home town! - mr5150, on 04/27/2008, -0/+4Dugg for crediting porn and not chastizing it.
- bariswheel, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1More info:
http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html#vint - sevenslashfour, on 04/27/2008, -0/+3He plays WoW? Ahahaha, ***** *rock.* I know, he admits to "not having spent a lot of time on it," and frankly I believe him. But still.
***** awesome. - em22, on 04/27/2008, -1/+2Errm, Tim Burners Lee invented the web concept. He was English. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Burners_Lee
- annonimality, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2Erm, if you didn't notice Vint Cerf is called the creator of the INTERNET. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet
- muzy, on 04/27/2008, -0/+1he came to my university December 2006, Herts - England.
- defyant, on 04/27/2008, -0/+2Very cool article....
Vint believes strongly that IPv6 will bring us into the next wave of Internet Technologies.
He has given many interviews and tech sessions on IPv6 and how it will someday change the way we interact with the Internet.
If someone of his stature says that IPv6 is the future i for one will believe him....
Once the IP addresses are gone....IPv6 is the only solution....
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