The History of the Internet

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The intrnets is rather unique among new media technologies, because a lot of people who encountered it after the do comboom into the present, they encounter it simultaneously as new and old. So i think if we're going to look back at this perio of time to understand it, there are certain stories that come up time and again. The internet is highly dynamic, and it's always changing. It doesn't tell us much about amin dating, or arguing about politics, or like paying your credicard bill on mine. All of that stuff developed through a different series of processes,. building on different institutions and social organizations with their own values behind them.

Paris Marx is joined by Kevin Driscoll to discuss the networks and services built by volunteers and hobbyists on top of the telephone network before the internet took over the in the 1990s, and what it can teach us about the internet and social media today.

Kevin Driscoll is the author of The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media and an associate professor in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. Follow Kevin on Twitter at @kevindriscoll.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

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