Did you know that the internet came about because of fear of nuclear attack?

Question

Apparently the idea was, that if we all blew ourselves to kingdom come, the telephone system is/was (not sure which now) would be destroyed after all those lovely picturesque mushroom clouds had finished lighting up everywhere, so the powers that be wanted some sort of network to survive all that and apparently that's how Package Switching came about, which in turn lead to the development of the Internet we have today - whereby the world's information is accessable to anyone all over the world.

The theory being, that if somewhere got wiped out - the world's information would still be safe and accessible from somewhere - as far as I understand it?

Ok?

Right my questions is this:-

I thought that nuclear weapons produced EMP (eletro-magnetic pulse - for the uninitated), which I always thought didn't do computers & especially silicon chips much good - so, how after EMP, would the internet survive anyway!

Would someone be kind enough to explain this to me please?

Not sure Jessica R how the link you provided answers my question - perhaps you could elaborate please ?

Jessica - sorry I'm not quite sure which sex you are, but it sounds like you need to find a gas oven! This was a question about the Internet, nuclear bombs and emp not your homosexual requirements!

Finally I'm getting some sensible answers coming in!

From these answers I am beginning to see, it's amazing how sometimes misguided concepts actually reveal something of real value.

If any part of the internet did survive, then I would have thought it would take on incredible and even essential value even more so than is the case now, not least because the few survivors of the generation living immediately after the dust had settled so to speak, probably wouldn't have lived very long (unless they managed to get underground of course - which probably not too many would be able to do so, due to lack of time) due to radiation sickness and contributory illness and the knowledge to rebuild society would then fall on the preceding generations, which would desperately need the knowledge contained within what may be left of the internet to continue with that regeneration. Don't you think?

Answer 1

EMP would fry the computers but not if they had tubes which they don't. Back then when the concept was theorized I'm not so sure they were even aware of EMP. Even if they were their heads were still back in tube theory. Most of those comps you speak of were linked between universities, military instllations and research labs.... they might have been shielded. If there was a nuclear attack I don't know what info would be so valuable other than actually getting ones *** off the chair and doing something about it. I don't think it had as much to do with retaliatory capablity as it did hoarding information. It was another misguided concept that had so much value in a different way that it flourished(s).

Answer 2

Considering that you have some real serious anger problems...

an EMP is a relatively short lived episode and fairly localized to the blast zone. The internet would be able to survive a nuke without a problem because the net is like a spiders web.

You can knock out one node, but there are others that offer redundancy. That will keep the net up and running.

The only way that a nuke will take out the entire net, is if the entire world goes up in one bright blue flash. And if that happens, well nothing will survive. But the chances of that happening are next to zero.

Plus with a lot of the the way that the net is running today, especially very sensitive portions of it are running on fiber which is immune to the effects of an EMP. Plus with the burial of the fiber bundles underground, lessens the risk of the fiber being effected from outside forces.

Before you go off on a rampage like you did in your updates, I studied the effects of nuclear weapons and hold a BS in Computer Science.

Answer 3

The real intent was to provide a redundant communications system that would survive any sort of attack, not just nukes. by dispersing the nodes everywhere you would have a greater chance of portions surviving almost any disaster. Since the connections would be multiple and varied the loss of a single or even multiple links would not destroy the entire network.

A lot would be damaged by EMP but not everything and a lot of the Internet is hardened or transmitted through buried optic fibers, which are not effected by EMP.

Answer 4

It most likely wouldn't survive. The equipment has to be hardened. The amount of voltage from an EMP is devastating to electronics. If you look at a car ECU they take maybe .5 volts, and I might be wrong, but an EMP puts upwards of 300,000 volts or more, so it's obvious unless everything was hardened and shielded there would be no internet.

Answer 5

Besides the shock waves knocking out all the transmission lines, and the EMPs ripping apart the sensitive chips, and the juice to provide the electrical output to power the computer, the internet would not survive nor would it be up and running. If we survive, we'd probably go back to smoke signals.

Answer 6

a million.) no longer likely. the concept of M.A.D. is a magnificent deterrent. 2.) It ability a strike that succeeds at the same time as a retaliatory strike fails. 3.) the phobia and distrust that existed on the height of the chilly conflict did not set off a nuclear replace. that's not likely to finish that now or in the close to destiny. 4.) Why problem? If it does ensue, it will be throughout by ability of the time everyone realizes it.

Answer 7

I thought Al Gore invented to save the environment