Andrew Blum: What is the Internet, really?
Summary
TLDRThis script explores the physical reality of the Internet, challenging the notion of it being an intangible cloud. The speaker recounts his journey from observing the digital world on screens to visiting actual Internet infrastructures like data centers and undersea cables. He highlights the surprising physicality of Internet connections, from the intimate process of network routers linking in buildings to the vast expanse of undersea cables that form the backbone of global communication. The narrative emphasizes the importance of understanding the tangible origins and mechanisms that underpin our digital interactions.
Takeaways
- 🏛 The speaker, an architecture writer, discusses the tangible experience of architecture versus the intangible nature of the digital world.
- 🌐 The speaker's realization of a shift in his relationship with the physical world due to increased screen time, especially after getting an iPhone in 2007.
- 🔍 The contrast between the physical reality of the world and the perceived lack of physicality in the digital realm, as depicted by the famous Opte image of the Internet.
- 😲 The humorous yet profound moment when a squirrel chewing on a cable disrupts the speaker's Internet, highlighting the physical underpinnings of digital connectivity.
- 🌍 The speaker's journey to understand the physical infrastructure of the Internet, visiting data centers and buildings like 60 Hudson Street in New York.
- 🔌 The physical process of Internet connectivity, involving fiber optic cables and routers, which is both intimate and surprisingly simple.
- 🌊 The importance of undersea cables in creating a 'global village', and their role in connecting continents and facilitating global communication.
- 🚧 The physical process of laying undersea cables, involving specialized ships and significant manual labor, as well as the strategic importance of these cables to countries.
- 🌐 The speaker's reflection on the metaphorical 'cloud' and the tendency of people to disengage from the physical reality of the Internet once it's 'in the cloud'.
- 👷♂️ The cultural and historical continuity in the process of laying communication cables, despite the advanced technology involved.
- 🌟 The call to awareness for the physical origins and infrastructure of the Internet, advocating for a deeper understanding of what connects us in the digital age.
Q & A
What is the primary focus of the speaker's work?
-The speaker primarily focuses on writing about architecture and the design of buildings and cities.
How has the speaker's experience of the physical world changed over the years?
-The speaker's experience of the physical world has changed due to the increasing amount of time spent in front of screens, both at work and on mobile devices, which has divided their attention between the digital and the physical.
What surprised the speaker about their relationship with the physical world?
-The speaker was surprised by how quickly their relationship with the physical world changed after the advent of smartphones, leading to a constant division of attention between screens and the world around them.
What did the speaker find striking about the world inside the computer screen?
-The speaker found it striking that the world inside the computer screen seemed to have no physical reality of its own, often depicted as an infinite expanse like the Milky Way.
How did the speaker's perception of the Internet change after their Internet broke?
-After their Internet broke and was found to be chewed by a squirrel, the speaker began to see the Internet not just as an abstract concept but as a physical entity that could be damaged in the real world.
What did the speaker discover about the physical nature of the Internet?
-The speaker discovered that the Internet has a physical presence in the form of data centers, buildings like 60 Hudson Street in New York, and undersea cables that connect different parts of the world.
Why is 60 Hudson Street significant in the context of the Internet?
-60 Hudson Street is significant because it is one of the few buildings where a large number of Internet networks connect to each other, making it a crucial physical hub for Internet connectivity.
What role do undersea cables play in the global connectivity of the Internet?
-Undersea cables play a vital role in global Internet connectivity by connecting different continents and ensuring a permanent and robust connection that is not tenuous.
How are undersea cables physically connected to the land?
-Undersea cables are physically connected to the land through a process that involves bringing the cable to shore, cutting the buoys to let the cable sink to the sea floor, and then connecting it to a landing station on land.
What is the cultural and historical significance of the undersea cable industry?
-The undersea cable industry is culturally significant as it is dominated by Englishmen who have been part of the industry since its boom about 20 years ago. Historically, it connects classic port cities and has been around for a long time, reflecting a continuity in the physical process of connection.
What message does the speaker convey about our relationship with the Internet?
-The speaker conveys the message that we should be more aware of the physical infrastructure of the Internet, understanding where it comes from and how it physically connects us all, rather than viewing it as an abstract cloud.
Outlines
🌐 The Physical and Digital Dichotomy in Modern Life
The speaker, an architecture writer, reflects on the shift from experiencing architecture and cities physically to engaging with digital spaces through screens. The rapid change in our interaction with the physical world, highlighted by the advent of smartphones, has led to a divided attention between screens and the environment. The speaker also contemplates the intangibility of the Internet, often depicted as an expansive, unreachable network, similar to the image of Earth from space. A humorous incident involving a squirrel chewing on an Internet cable sparks a curiosity about the physical reality of the Internet, leading to a quest to explore its tangible infrastructure.
🌍 The Infrastructure of Global Connectivity: Undersea Cables
The focus shifts to the physical infrastructure that enables global Internet connectivity—the undersea cables. These cables, though small and simple in concept, span vast distances across oceans, facilitating international communication. The speaker discusses the landing stations, amplifiers, and the technology behind these cables, which can carry an immense amount of data. The narrative includes the experience of witnessing the installation of a new cable, illustrating the physical process of connecting continents and the importance of redundancy in ensuring reliable connectivity. The speaker also touches on the growth of undersea cables along the African coast, reflecting the increasing demand for stable and permanent connections.
🛠 The Human and Technological Aspects of Internet Infrastructure
In the final paragraph, the speaker delves into the process of physically connecting the undersea cables to the land, detailing the labor-intensive and meticulous work involved. The narrative highlights the contrast between high-tech Internet infrastructure and traditional, manual labor, as well as the historical continuity in the way we connect places through cables. The speaker advocates for a greater understanding of the physical origins of the Internet, challenging the notion of the 'cloud' as an abstract, intangible entity. The summary concludes with a call to recognize our connection to the physical world and the infrastructure that underpins our digital lives.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Architecture
💡Sense of Place
💡Digital World
💡Internet
💡Physical Reality
💡Data Centers
💡Fiber Optic Cable
💡Undersea Cables
💡Landing Station
💡Global Village
💡Telepresence
Highlights
The speaker's shift from experiencing architecture physically to a more digital, screen-based interaction.
The realization of a changed relationship with the physical world due to increased screen time.
The surprising discovery that a squirrel chewing on cables could disrupt internet connectivity.
The humorous and profound moment of understanding the physicality of the internet through a squirrel incident.
The imaginative journey of tracing the physical path of the internet from a broken cable.
The physical reality of the internet, contrasting with its common perception as an intangible entity.
The exploration of large data centers as significant, power-hungry physical locations of the internet.
60 Hudson Street in New York as a critical physical nexus for internet network connections.
The physical process of internet connection involving routers and fiber optic cables.
The importance of undersea cables in creating a global internet infrastructure.
The physical description and function of undersea cables and landing stations.
The surprising simplicity of how data travels through undersea cables using light.
The physical landing of an undersea cable in Halifax, connecting North America to Ireland.
The rapid expansion of undersea cables along the coast of Africa to meet connectivity demands.
The intense physical process of repairing broken undersea cables.
Simon Cooper's role and the significance of the West Africa Cable System (WACS).
The physical act of connecting an undersea cable to land, symbolizing the moment of 'plugging in' a continent.
The detailed process of preparing and connecting the cable to the terrestrial network.
The cultural and historical continuity in the physical laying of communication cables.
The importance of understanding the physical infrastructure behind the cloud and the internet.
Transcripts
Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast
I've always written primarily about architecture,
about buildings, and writing about architecture
is based on certain assumptions.
An architect designs a building, and it becomes a place,
or many architects design many buildings, and it becomes
a city, and regardless of this complicated mix of forces
of politics and culture and economics that shapes
these places, at the end of the day, you can go
and you can visit them. You can walk around them.
You can smell them. You can get a feel for them.
You can experience their sense of place.
But what was striking to me over the last several years
was that less and less was I going out into the world,
and more and more, I was sitting in front of my computer screen.
And especially since about 2007, when I got an iPhone,
I was not only sitting in front of my screen all day,
but I was also getting up at the end of the day
and looking at this little screen that I carried in my pocket.
And what was surprising to me was how quickly
my relationship to the physical world had changed.
In this very short period of time, you know, whether you
call it the last 15 years or so of being online, or the last,
you know, four or five years of being online all the time,
our relationship to our surroundings had changed in that
our attention is constantly divided. You know,
we're both looking inside the screens and we're looking
out in the world around us.
And what was even more striking to me, and what I really
got hung up on, was that the world inside the screen
seemed to have no physical reality of its own.
If you went and looked for images of the Internet,
this was all that you found, this famous image by Opte
of the Internet as the kind of Milky Way, this infinite expanse
where we don't seem to be anywhere on it.
We can never seem to grasp it in its totality.
It's always reminded me of the Apollo image of the Earth,
the blue marble picture, and it's similarly meant to suggest,
I think, that we can't really understand it as a whole.
We're always sort of small in the face of its expanse.
So if there was this world and this screen, and if there was
the physical world around me, I couldn't ever get them
together in the same place.
And then this happened.
My Internet broke one day, as it occasionally does,
and the cable guy came to fix it, and he started with
the dusty clump of cables behind the couch,
and he followed it to the front of my building and into the basement and out to the back yard,
and there was this big jumble of cables against the wall.
And then he saw a squirrel running along the wire,
and he said, "There's your problem.
A squirrel is chewing on your Internet." (Laughter)
And this seemed astounding. The Internet is
a transcendent idea. It's a set of protocols that has changed
everything from shopping to dating to revolutions.
It was unequivocally not something
a squirrel could chew on. (Laughter)
But that in fact seemed to be the case.
A squirrel had in fact chewed on my Internet. (Laughter)
And then I got this image in my head of what would happen
if you yanked the wire from the wall and if you started
to follow it. Where would it go?
Was the Internet actually a place that you could visit?
Could I go there? Who would I meet?
You know, was there something actually out there?
And the answer, by all accounts, was no.
This was the Internet, this black box with a red light on it,
as represented in the sitcom "The IT Crowd."
Normally it lives on the top of Big Ben,
because that's where you get the best reception,
but they had negotiated that their colleague could borrow it
for the afternoon to use in an office presentation.
The elders of the Internet were willing to part with it
for a short while, and she looks at it and she says,
"This is the Internet? The whole Internet? Is it heavy?"
They say, "Of course not, the Internet doesn't weigh anything."
And I was embarrassed. I was looking for this thing
that only fools seem to look for.
The Internet was that amorphous blob, or it was a silly
black box with a blinking red light on it.
It wasn't a real world out there.
But, in fact, it is. There is a real world of the Internet out there,
and that's what I spent about two years visiting,
these places of the Internet. I was in large data centers
that use as much power as the cities in which they sit,
and I visited places like this, 60 Hudson Street in New York,
which is one of the buildings in the world,
one of a very short list of buildings, about a dozen buildings,
where more networks of the Internet connect to each other
than anywhere else.
And that connection is an unequivocally physical process.
It's about the router of one network, a Facebook or
a Google or a B.T. or a Comcast or a Time Warner, whatever it is,
connecting with usually a yellow fiber optic cable up into
the ceiling and down into the router of another network,
and that's unequivocally physical, and it's surprisingly intimate.
A building like 60 Hudson, and a dozen or so others,
has 10 times more networks connecting within it
than the next tier of buildings.
There's a very short list of these places.
And 60 Hudson in particular is interesting because it's home
to about a half a dozen very important networks,
which are the networks which serve the undersea cables
that travel underneath the ocean
that connect Europe and America and connect all of us.
And it's those cables in particular that I want to focus on.
If the Internet is a global phenomenon, if we live
in a global village, it's because there are cables underneath
the ocean, cables like this.
And in this dimension, they are incredibly small.
You can you hold them in your hand. They're like a garden hose.
But in the other dimension they are incredibly expansive,
as expansive as you can imagine.
They stretch across the ocean. They're three or five
or eight thousand miles in length, and
if the material science and the computational technology
is incredibly complicated, the basic physical process
is shockingly simple. Light goes in on one end of the ocean
and comes out on the other, and it usually comes
from a building called a landing station that's often
tucked away inconspicuously in a little seaside neighborhood,
and there are amplifiers that sit on the ocean floor
that look kind of like bluefin tuna, and every 50 miles
they amplify the signal, and since the rate of transmission
is incredibly fast, the basic unit is a 10-gigabit-per-second
wavelength of light, maybe a thousand times your own
connection, or capable of carrying 10,000 video streams,
but not only that, but you'll put not just one wavelength of light
through one of the fibers, but you'll put maybe
50 or 60 or 70 different wavelengths or colors of light
through a single fiber, and then you'll have maybe
eight fibers in a cable, four going in each direction.
And they're tiny. They're the thickness of a hair.
And then they connect to the continent somewhere.
They connect in a manhole like this. Literally,
this is where the 5,000-mile cable plugs in.
This is in Halifax, a cable that stretches from Halifax to Ireland.
And the landscape is changing. Three years ago,
when I started thinking about this, there was one cable
down the Western coast of Africa, represented
in this map by Steve Song as that thin black line.
Now there are six cables and more coming, three down each coast.
Because once a country gets plugged in by one cable,
they realize that it's not enough. If they're going to build
an industry around it, they need to know that their connection
isn't tenuous but permanent, because if a cable breaks,
you have to send a ship out into the water, throw
a grappling hook over the side, pick it up, find the other end,
and then fuse the two ends back together and then dump it over.
It's an intensely, intensely physical process.
So this is my friend Simon Cooper, who until very recently
worked for Tata Communications, the communications wing
of Tata, the big Indian industrial conglomerate.
And I've never met him. We've only communicated
via this telepresence system, which always makes me
think of him as the man inside the Internet. (Laughter)
And he is English. The undersea cable industry
is dominated by Englishmen, and they all seem to be 42.
(Laughter) Because they all started at the same time
with the boom about 20 years ago.
And Tata had gotten its start as a communications business
when they bought two cables, one across the Atlantic
and one across the Pacific, and proceeded to add pieces
onto them, until they had built a belt around the world,
which means they will send your bits to the East or the West.
They have -- this is literally a beam of light around the world,
and if a cable breaks in the Pacific, it'll send it around
the other direction. And then having done that,
they started to look for places to wire next.
They looked for the unwired places, and that's meant
North and South, primarily these cables to Africa.
But what amazes me is Simon's incredible geographic imagination.
He thinks about the world with this incredible expansiveness.
And I was particularly interested because I wanted to see
one of these cables being built. See, you know, all the time
online we experience these fleeting moments of connection,
these sort of brief adjacencies, a tweet or a Facebook post
or an email, and it seemed like there was a physical corollary to that.
It seemed like there was a moment when the continent
was being plugged in, and I wanted to see that.
And Simon was working on a new cable,
WACS, the West Africa Cable System, that stretched
from Lisbon down the west coast of Africa,
to Cote d'Ivoire, to Ghana, to Nigeria, to Cameroon.
And he said there was coming soon, depending
on the weather, but he'd let me know when,
and so with about four days notice, he said to go
to this beach south of Lisbon, and a little after 9,
this guy will walk out of the water. (Laughter)
And he'll be carrying a green nylon line, a lightweight line,
called a messenger line, and that was the first link
between sea and land, this link that would then be
leveraged into this 9,000-mile path of light.
Then a bulldozer began to pull the cable in from this
specialized cable landing ship, and it was floated
on these buoys until it was in the right place.
Then you can see the English engineers looking on.
And then, once it was in the right place, he got back
in the water holding a big knife, and he cut each buoy off,
and the buoy popped up into the air, and the cable
dropped to the sea floor, and he did that all the way out
to the ship, and when he got there,
they gave him a glass of juice and a cookie,
and then he jumped back in, and he swam back to shore,
and then he lit a cigarette. (Laughter)
And then once that cable was on shore,
they began to prepare to connect it to the other side,
for the cable that had been brought down from the landing station.
And first they got it with a hacksaw, and then they start
sort of shaving away at this plastic interior with a --
sort of working like chefs, and then finally they're working
like jewelers to get these hair-thin fibers to line up
with the cable that had come down,
and with this hole-punch machine they fuse it together.
And when you see these guys going at this cable with a hacksaw,
you stop thinking about the Internet as a cloud.
It starts to seem like an incredibly physical thing.
And what surprised me as well was that as much as this
is based on the most sophisticated technology, as much
as this is an incredibly new thing, the physical process
itself has been around for a long time, and the culture is the same.
You see the local laborers. You see the English engineer
giving directions in the background. And more importantly,
the places are the same. These cables still connect
these classic port cities, places like Lisbon, Mombasa,
Mumbai, Singapore, New York.
And then the process on shore takes around three or four days,
and then, when it's done, they put the manhole cover
back on top, and they push the sand over that,
and we all forget about it.
And it seems to me that we talk a lot about the cloud,
but every time we put something on the cloud,
we give up some responsibility for it.
We are less connected to it. We let other people worry about it.
And that doesn't seem right.
There's a great Neal Stephenson line where he says
that wired people should know something about wires.
And we should know, I think, we should know
where our Internet comes from, and we should know
what it is that physically, physically connects us all.
Thank you. (Applause)
(Applause)
Thanks. (Applause)
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