covfrrider wrote:Doug Shaw wrote:
The expectation of civil and mature behavior from internet users has been dead and buried since the early 1990s.
What the hell are you talking about? Everyone knows Al Gore invented the Internet in 1969.
Going waaaayyy off-topic here...
Actually...
Is it true that Gore "took the initiative in creating the Internet?" Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf, who invented the TCP/IP protocol that is at the core of all Internet communication, certainly think so:
"As the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore's contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time."
Among other things, Kahn and Cerf were referring to the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991, originated by then-Senator Gore, which provided funding and resources for the growth of the Internet.
To summarize: no, Al Gore did not invent the Internet. I reserve that term for the people who figure out how a thing should work, at a practical, nuts-and-bolts technological level. But Gore never claimed to have invented the Internet. He did claim to have played a role in creating the Internet as we know it - which is quite true.