The internet is so ubiquitous in the world today that we fail to even realize how this fascinating invention even came about! The internet has become part of our everyday lives, to the extent of making almost every other means of information gathering unnecessary anymore.
When I think about the internet, I do not see anything incredulous about it now, because it has become an "everyday tool"; like a toothbrush, or the food we eat daily.
It is an enlightenment to know that how this great network of information that is so accessible to us now came very basically from an idea, resulting in a creation of the World Wide Web, by a man - Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
"In 1989, Berners-Lee submitted a proposal at CERN to develop an information system that would create a web of information.... In 1990, he wrote the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)—the language computers would use to communicate hypertext documents over the Internet and designed a scheme to give documents addresses on the Internet."
Tim Berners- Lee made the internet possible. Without him, this idea may not even have existed, which is why is was named the "100 most important people of the 20th Century" by Time Magazine. This led me to question, " Why would the creation of the internet be so useful, or rather so revolutionary?" The internet could be like the typewriter, the telephone, or simply like any other information giving device that made an impact, and would die down after a period of time - but it did not.
When Tim Berners-Lee created HTML, URI, and WWW, these functions served as a platform for communicating information to anyone, as long as you have a computer. The computer was invented initially, not with the thought of connecting with the world but the Tim Berners-Lee's idea of the World Wide Wed made this idea possible. In other words, it was an idea that allowed many ideas to become reality. And what made it so appealing, is not just the purpose of providing information but "unit[ing] the world".
Tim Berners-Lee has the initial idea of creating a software for "his personal use to help him remember connections between various people and projects at the lab." From a little thought of wanting to connect better with his colleagues, it resulted in a revolution of the world, and technology. Technology is not the same without the internet, because with technology today, we literally eat, drink and breath "internet".
Knowing that his small idea could lead to a revolution has inspired me to see how minute things can be made wonderful when we start thinking of the bigger picture - of benefiting the world around us. It has also made me understand that a "revolution" is not just a change, but a change that is embedded in our everyday lives, and routines.
This is what the internet has become.
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