I have never been good with technology. More often than not, I find it confusing and difficult to understand. But like the majority of my generation, I love the Internet.
The convenience of the Internet and the entertainment it brings with it is something that, as a Gen Y-er, I will sorely miss if I were to find it missing one day. But I have never endeavored to find out more beyond what I need to operate my keyboard and my mouse or to navigate the buttons and links on my screen. The few times I have been tasked to, for example create a website, I would emerge from the experience highly sleep deprived and deeply traumautised.
When I first stepped into COM 125 class, I was naturally filled with apprehension. After all, technology has never been my strong point and I highly doubt it ever would be. The notes handed out spoke of Computer Networks, The Underlying Architecture and Internet Address & Domains. It was truly frightening.
The lessons then started.
It began with a simple enough explanation of the Internet and how it operates. It was something that we dealt with everyday. As a user, we can access information created by others because the Internet is simply an environment created by computers all over the world connected to one another.
However it was followed by a video of origins of the Internet which left me rather baffled by all the terminologies thrown in by the speaker. While I got a rather basic understanding of how the Internet became what it is today, the fine details such as the names and underlying concepts eluded me completely.
Then came the most important concept that I felt was the essence of the Internet. Its invulnerability.
Given that majority of the world are connected to the Internet and therefore creates the Internet by adding to the connections, it is almost impossible to not have access to what you wish to obtain from the World Wide Web. If at any point in time, a section of the world experiences Internet blackout, our information (sent out or desired) can still take different paths to reach its destination. Just like highways and roads, there are various routes to reach a single point.
It is comforting to know that something we have come to greatly rely on in the information technology age will not be so easily destroyed or taken down.
But perhaps, the Internet will eventually collapse on itself much like a black hole.
When the Internet protocol addresses eventually run out, some households may no longer be able to go online and connect with each other any more. A whole new system has been prepared for this eventuality. IPv6 is the new way to go, with 340 trillion new address spaces available, one can only hope that it is enough. Or at least, enough for this generation.
I love the Internet, but if I had to deal with the technological problem of no Internet, I might go stark crazy. Calculating the bits and bytes is sufficient to make steam blow out of my ear. Or to make me look like this:
