# Holy crap, you find yourself in 1900! How do you describe the Internet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 26, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965 "2005-06-26T23:52:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/1 "2005-06-26T23:52:29Z")
I have been thinking about it but it is hard, The Internet is so wholly different from anything else incommon life, how could you describe it to someone who is not familiar with the modern world? For that matter, how would you competently describe a computer to an otherwise educated fellow from that era? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/2 "2005-06-27T00:01:42Z")
I’d just draw a loose parallel to the telegraph, saying that the Internet was a more advanced version that allowed information to be transmitted more quickly and efficiently to a much larger number of users all around the world. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/3 "2005-06-27T01:19:32Z")
"It’s like a great big picture book, only inside a pane of glass, and the pictures and words come by telephone wire, in code. Then a machine decodes them and they appear on the glass. The machine has a typewriter, too, so you can write messages for everybody to see. And write letters to your friends and family, too. All by electricity. “Then there’s this thing called _wireless_…but that’s a whole other story.” ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/4 "2005-06-27T01:37:35Z")
The internet is like the Bra Section of the Sears Catalong, only a helluva lot better!!! ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/5 "2005-06-27T01:44:54Z")
I don’t. I’ve got some money to make if I can figure out how to pass as a guy and work the stock market. But I’d talk generally about free discourse with people just as if they were in your living room, through incredibly fast written word. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/6 "2005-06-27T02:22:40Z")
> [@Mynn](#): > > I don’t. I wouldn’t waste my time, either. Too busy on a Mass Murder Spree. Ah, the “salad days”. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/7 "2005-06-27T02:52:50Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > I have been thinking about it but it is hard, The Internet is so wholly different from anything else incommon life, how could you describe it to someone who is not familiar with the modern world? For that matter, how would you competently describe a computer to an otherwise educated fellow from that era? This is tough because in 1900 there ain’t no TVs, no computers, heck not even talking motion pictures! You can slowly explain each of these inventions and how they relate to the internet, but be prepared to face a slack-jawed, incredulous audience. I think that the hardest thing to explain will be the modern computer. I’ve been around since the first computers and I find it hard to believe how far we’ve come in terms of computing power. I can only imagine where we’ll be one hundred years from now. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/8 "2005-06-27T03:14:48Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > I’d just draw a loose parallel to the telegraph, saying that the Internet was a more advanced version that allowed information to be transmitted more quickly and efficiently to a much larger number of users all around the world. [This book](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0425171698/qid=1119842884/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/104-1201720-1428729?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) presents some interesting information along those lines. (No pun intended.) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/9 "2005-06-27T03:17:10Z")
“It’s a system for distributing very realistic paintings of vaginas.” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/10 "2005-06-27T04:36:25Z")
I’ll go with “I don’t”. The last thing I want to do is spend any time in a turn-of-the-century insane asylum… ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/11 "2005-06-27T05:08:32Z")
First, I think I’d gentle them into acceptance by breaking the idea of a bean, beef and cheese burrito. If they can handle that, I’m in! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/12 "2005-06-27T05:30:20Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > I have been thinking about it but it is hard, The Internet is so wholly different from anything else incommon life, how could you describe it to someone who is not familiar with the modern world? For that matter, how would you competently describe a computer to an otherwise educated fellow from that era? Telegraph/telephone ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/13 "2005-06-27T06:33:10Z")
"Imagine you had a book in your house with nothing in it but the titles of every other book ever written. Now imagine that you are able to tap your finger on any title of any book and the book you have will change into that book. And if you tap your finger a second time it will change back into your original book of titles. The internet works something like that. People have a machine in their homes or schools or businesses. This machine is like a typewriter connected to a lamp. The typewriter allows words to be entered into the machine and the lamp projects words and images onto a piece of glass. In addition, huge collections are kept in centralized storage areas. Each individual home machine is connected by a means similar to a telegraph to other home machines and to the storage areas. This connection can transfer huge amounts of information at incredible speeds - so fast that the entire contents of a book can be sent from one machine to another or to or from storage in a few seconds." ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/14 "2005-06-27T08:32:24Z")
I don’t think you could describe the Internet successfully to a non-academic person in 1900, as it’s vastly different from anyone’s experience back then. Hell, I came of age when the modern Internet hit the scene and I’m still getting used to it, and I’ve even been working in the computer industry. How do you tell a farmer who may still be using a horse drawn plow about stuff like this: This board Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games\* streaming media [homestarrunner.com](http://homestarrunner.com) and other geek culture sites viruses and malware the Digital Millenium Copyright Act telecommuting the blog phenomenon (ie, the desire to share every damn personal thing with complete strangers) \ ***available light** tried to explain World of Warcraft to her mom. The response was, “And that’s fun?” This is from a woman who has held high positions at software companies. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/15 "2005-06-27T13:00:06Z")
[QUOTE=sturmhauke] I don’t think you could describe the Internet successfully to a non-academic person in 1900, as it’s vastly different from anyone’s experience back then. Hell, I came of age when the modern Internet hit the scene and I’m still getting used to it, and I’ve even been working in the computer industry.[/quotre]Of course you could describe it – people in the past weren’t stupid. You just had to put it into the right context. > [@](#): > > How do you tell a farmer who may still be using a horse drawn plow about stuff like this: > > This board It’s much like a book discussion group, though all the comments are written down. And it’s open to any subject. > [@](#): > > Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games\* Like children playing cowboys and indians. > [@](#): > > streaming media It’s like watching a play, though you can see it without leaving your home. > [@](#): > > [homestarrunner.com](http://homestarrunner.com) and other geek culture sites Similar to magazines. The main difference is that they have articles of interest to a small group of people instead of having articles to interest everyone. > [@](#): > > viruses and malware Like vandals deliberately letting locusts loose into your field, just for fun. You end up having to spend time to stop them. > [@](#): > > the Digital Millenium Copyright Act The same sort of copyright protection that is in the current law, just modified for the new technology. > [@](#): > > telecommuting It’d be like a pharmacist using the phone to take orders. If everyone phoned or mailed in the orders, the pharmacist could fill them from home and just have an assisntant deliver them to you. > [@](#): > > the blog phenomenon Like writing a diary. The only real difference is that people don’t care that everyone sees it. And, as a bonus: > [@](#): > > Internet commerce The Sears Roebuck catalog, only faster. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/16 "2005-06-27T13:35:27Z")
In the future, there will be a race of humans known as **computer geeks** , who will live in their homes like cave dwellers, only venturing out to meet with others of their kind in places called “comic book shops” and “cons.” They’ll never have any interaction with other humans that doesn’t involve fantasy games or something called _Star Trek_ . No one will be exactly sure how this mysterious race of creatures thrives, because none of them ever seem to have dates or know how to interact with members of the opposite sex. Even more strangely, the richest man on the Earth will be one of these creatures. One day, one of these creatures got the idea to develop a machine that would allow all the inhabitants of the world to waste vast amounts of time, and it was called “The Internet.” ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/17 "2005-06-27T13:39:37Z")
> [@](#): > > “Then there’s this thing called wireless…but that’s a whole other story.” Considering that Guglielmo Marconi had patented a wireless tranmitter/receiver in 1896, and had demonstrated same to the British military, _and_ had a factory in Chelmsford, England opened in 1898, it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch. Could just show the catalogue around. In 1897 Marconi had registered his company as the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company. And it’s only a year away from Marconi’s first successful trans-Atlantic message, sent from Cornwall, England to Signal Hill, Newfoundland, in December, 1901. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/18 "2005-06-27T13:44:44Z")
It’s like a card catalog. Only the cards in the catalog have all the information the real books do. And there’s a whole lot of them. The only problem is, the people who write those books on the cards are about as truthful as authors and newspaper reports are now, so you can’t trust what they say one hundred percent, unless you check a few other cards. Got it? Okay. Now those cards are scattered all over the world, so there’s automatic librarians that index them for you. Yeah, that’s about it. All the knowlege of all mankind at your fingertips. Not a bad deal. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/19 "2005-06-27T14:22:17Z")
“You put your right hand on a mouse and move it around on your desk. Pretty soon people show up to give you clothing, frozen vegetables, and pictures of naked women.” What’s the big deal? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965/20 "2005-06-27T15:16:29Z")
According to one of Martin Gardner’s articles, H.G. Wells described what was essentially the Internet, but I don’t recall in which book this appeared (either Gardner’sd or Wells’ article). Essentially, it was as a central repository for information that could be easily and rapidly accessed from any of a number of stations. Murray Leinster’s story “A Logic Named Joe” is uncanny in its prescience about the internet – but he wrote it in the 1940s, so it’s well beyond the date the OP sets., [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-you-find-yourself-in-1900-how-do-you-describe-the-internet/309965.md?page=2)