When the Netscape Navigator browser dropped in the mid 90s, a lot of people were dismissive about...

[Yavin4]

the internet. Especially after the dot com bust in 1999/2000, the general consensus was that the internet was a passing fad. Fast forward 20 years or so later, we find the some of the richest people on the earth run businesses where the internet is at its core. As a nation we let a few people colonize the internet while we slept.

I bring this up to say, we shouldn't make the same mistake with AI. We should not be dismissive about a major transformative technology which will have a profound impact on us economically, socially, and politically.

We need to be active with AI. We need to understand it. We need to know how it is used, and we need to harness its power so that the masses can truly benefit from it, not just a hand full of socially awkward White guys.

[msongs]

1. so there's no socially awkward not white guys developing AI? nt

[Yavin4]

4. No. There are there in droves.

My point is that other people need to get involved in it.

[Mad_Machine76]

12. I think

The OP is saying that we don’t want a bunch of Elons running around hoarding the technology.

[Torchlight]

19. 14

[OAITW r.2.0]

2. Started with AOL. then found Mozilla.

[Blues Heron]

3. I dont think the net has ever been viewed as a passing fad

I think computers have always been somewhat AI which is part of the allure. Press a button something interesting happens, must be magic - or AI...

Now of course its running on unimaginably fast computers, but its still just networks of transistors storing stuff in databases, working on it with algorithms.

[Yavin4]

5. AI is a subset of the field of Computer Science

And it's a lot more than ChatGPT. The masses need to educate themselves on this tech and need to understand it.

Kids need to study Linear Algebra, Calculus, and Statistics as soon as possible in school.

[Blues Heron]

6. Agree. we need to understand and keep an eye on it no question

[uponit7771]

24. +1, ... and Fuzzy Logic has existed at different levels for 80 years.

[Hestia]

36. In the beginning days it was, the 2000 election took everyone's eyes off the ball. In 2006, I was

one of the few people with an email address though we aren't talking massive amount of people around here, but it really was considered a new and shiny toy as late/early as 2006. It was when "smart" phones came out that people really started to pay attention. As the OP said, the klods of humanity started raking in the billions while we were in mourning over * election...woulda, coulda, shoulda...

Personally, AI scares the shit out of me, and I am honestly wonder if I should start wrapping up OOP books. I have amassed quite a few pre-Hellenistic pre-history, historical teachings that aren't even available as PDF's (which could not be wholly trusted) anymore. As I stated on another thread, I feel like we are being PWND by a group of billionaires and AI is but a cog in their machine and "we" (as in royal) are being led towards something -- our new alien overlords? At this point in time wouldn't it be within the realm of possibility?

[Snooper9]

7. 56k buad modems, BRI, PRI, T1, 10/100 Ethernet, Fiber to the house

I think we got this covered LOL

"We need to be active with AI. We need to understand it."

[Snooper9]

8. most of us in telecom aren't really scared of AI (FYI)

I guess if one of our guys in IT could tell AI to pull MIB values off a SUN 4270, may be impressed LOL


List of assigned /8 IPv4 address blocks by the way---



List of reserved /8 blocks
See also: Reserved IP addresses
Block Organization IANA date RIR date Notes
0.0.0.0/8 IANA - Local Identification 1981-09 Originally IANA - Reserved 1981-09. 0.0.0.0/8 reserved for self-identification (RFC 6890).
10.0.0.0/8 IANA - Private Use 1995-06 Reserved for Private Networks (RFC 1918). Formerly ARPANET.[1]
127.0.0.0/8 IANA - Loopback 1981-09 127.0.0.0/8 is reserved for Loopback (RFC 6890).
224.0.0.0/8–239.0.0.0/8 Multicast 1981-09 1991-05-22 Multicast (formerly "Class D&quot (RFC 5771) registered in [1]. 224.0.0.0/4.
240.0.0.0/8–255.0.0.0/8 Future Use 1981-09 Reserved for future use (formerly "Class E&quot (RFC 1112). 255.255.255.255 is reserved for "limited broadcast" destination address (RFC 919) and (RFC 922). 240.0.0.0/4.
List of assigned /8 blocks to commercial organisations
Block Organization IANA date RIR date Notes
12.0.0.0/8 AT&T Services 1995-06 1983-08-23 Originally AT&T Bell Laboratories, but retained by AT&T when Bell Labs was spun off to Lucent Technologies in 1996. Assignment administered by ARIN (Legacy space)
17.0.0.0/8 Apple Inc. 1992-07 1990-04-16 Assignment administered by ARIN (Legacy space)
19.0.0.0/8 Ford Motor Company 1995-05 1988-06-15 Assignment administered by ARIN (Legacy space)
38.0.0.0/8 Cogent Communications 1994-09 1991-04-16 Formerly PSINet. Assignment administered by ARIN (Legacy space)
48.0.0.0/8 Prudential Securities Inc. 1995-05 1990-12-07 Assignment administered by ARIN (Legacy space)
53.0.0.0/8 Mercedes-Benz Group AG 1993-10 1970-01-01 Assignment administered by RIPE (Legacy space)
73.0.0.0/8 Comcast Corporation[2] N/A 2005-04-19 Assignment administered by ARIN.
List of assigned /8 blocks to the United States Department of Defense
Block Organization IANA date RIR date Notes
6.0.0.0/8 Army Information Systems Center 1994-02 1994-02-01 Headquarters, USAISC
7.0.0.0/8 DoD Network Information Center 1995-04 1997-11-24 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1995-04.
Entirely assigned to DoD Network Information Center (DNIC) 1997-11-24.
Updated to Administered by ARIN not before 2007.
11.0.0.0/8 DoD Intel Information Systems 1993-05 1984-01-19
21.0.0.0/8 DDN-RVN 1991-07 1991-07-01 DoD Network Information Center (DNIC)
22.0.0.0/8 Defense Information Systems Agency 1993-05 1989-06-26 DoD Network Information Center (DNIC)
26.0.0.0/8 Defense Information Systems Agency 1995-05 1995-05-01 DoD Network Information Center (DNIC)
28.0.0.0/8 DSI-North 1992-07 DoD Network Information Center (DNIC)
29.0.0.0/8 Defense Information Systems Agency 1991-07 1991-07-01 DoD Network Information Center (DNIC)
30.0.0.0/8 Defense Information Systems Agency 1991-07 1991-07-01 DoD Network Information Center (DNIC)
33.0.0.0/8 DLA Systems Automation Center 1991-01 1991-01-01 DoD Network Information Center (DNIC)
55.0.0.0/8 DoD Network Information Center 1995-04 1996-10-26 Headquarters, USAISC. Formerly Boeing Computer Services 1995-04.
Updated to DoD Network Information Center in 2007-02.
205.0.0.0/8 US-DOD 1998-05 1998-05-18 DoD Network Information Center (DNIC)
214.0.0.0/8 US-DOD 1998-03 1998-03-27 DoD Network Information Center (DNIC)
215.0.0.0/8 US-DOD 1998-03 1998-06-05 DoD Network Information Center (DNIC)
List of assigned /8 blocks to the regional Internet registries

Map of regional Internet registries
The regional Internet registries (RIR) allocate IPs within a particular region of the world.

Block Organization IANA date RIR date Notes
1.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-01 Formerly IANA - reserved 1981-09.
2.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2009-10 Formerly IANA - reserved 1981-09.
3.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1994-05 Amazon.com.[3] Formerly General Electric Company.
4.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1992-12 Various registries (maintained by ARIN). Formerly Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., then GTE, then Genuity, then Level 3 Communications, Inc.
5.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2010-11 Formerly IANA - reserved 1995-07.
8.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1992-12 1992-12-01 Various registries (maintained by ARIN). Formerly Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., then GTE, then Genuity, then Level 3 Communications, Inc.
9.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1992-08 IBM except for 9.9.9.0/24, which is Quad9.
13.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1991-09 Various registries (maintained by ARIN). Formerly Xerox.
14.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-04 Starting 1991-06-01, was used to map Public Data Network (X.121) addresses to IP addresses. Returned to IANA 2008-01-22. This network was reclaimed by IANA in 2007 and was subsequently re-allocated in 2010. See RFC 877 and RFC 1356 for historical information.[4]
15.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1991-09 Various registries (maintained by ARIN). Formerly Hewlett-Packard Company. HP Inc still uses a portion of the block.
16.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1994-11 1989-05-18 Various registries (maintained by ARIN). Formerly Digital Equipment Corporation, then Compaq, then Hewlett-Packard.
18.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1994-01 Various registries (maintained by ARIN). Formerly MIT.
20.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1994-10 Various registries (maintained by ARIN). Formerly DXC Technology. Computer Sciences Corporation, who owned this block, merged with HP Enterprise Services to create DXC Technology on 3 April 2017.[5][6]
23.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2010-11 Formerly IANA - reserved 1995-07.
24.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2001-05 2001-05-01 Formerly IANA - Cable Block 1995-07, then ARIN - Cable Block 2001-05.[7] Updated to ARIN not before 2007.
25.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1995-01 As of 2005-08-23 entire block assigned to UK Ministry of Defence
27.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-01 Formerly IANA - reserved 1995-04.
31.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2010-05 2010-05-18 Formerly IANA - reserved 1991-04.
32.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1994-06 Various registries (maintained by ARIN). Formerly AT&T Global Network Services. Originally Norsk Informasjonsteknologi (at that time maintained by RIPE NCC). IBM acquired Norsk Informasjonsteknologi (Norway) in 1995.
34.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-03 Various registries (maintained by ARIN). Formerly Halliburton Company.
35.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1994-04 2012-08 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN). Formerly Merit Network 1986.
36.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-10 Formerly Stanford University 1993-04, then IANA - Reserved 2000-07.
37.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2010-11 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1995-04.
39.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2011-01 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1995-04.
40.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1994-06 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
41.0.0.0/8 AFRINIC 2005-04 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1995-05.
42.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-10 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1995-07.
43.0.0.0/8 APNIC 1991-01 1989-02-21 Various registries (Maintained by APNIC). Originally Japan Inet 1991-01 (IANA date) or 1989-02-21 (RIR date). Administered by APNIC not before 2007.
44.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1992-07 2019-07-18 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN). Originally Amateur Radio Digital Communications. 44.192.0.0/10 was sold to Amazon on 2019-07-18.[8]
45.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1995-01 1991-09-09 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN). Formerly Interop Show Network 1995-01 or 1991-09-09 (RIR date). Returned to ARIN in 2010-10 except a /15 block. In 2011 it became available for distribution (or possibly be returned to the IANA, depending on the global policy in effect at that time).[9]
46.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2009-09 Formerly Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc. 1992-12. Returned to IANA in 2007-04.[10] Updated to IANA - Reserved in 2007-04.
47.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1991-01 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN). Formerly Bell-Northern Research, which became Northern Telecom, aka, Nortel, until its demise, circa 2010.
49.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-08 Formerly Joint Technical Command (Returned to IANA Mar 98) 1994-05. Updated to IANA - Reserved in 2007-05.
50.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2010-02 Formerly Joint Technical Command (Returned to IANA Mar 98) 1994-05. Updated to IANA - Reserved in 2007-05.
51.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1994-08 Various registries (Maintained by RIPE NCC). Formerly UK Government Department for Work and Pensions.
52.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1991-12 Formerly DuPont.
53.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1993-10 As of some date before 2015-05-05 the entire block assigned to Daimler AG.
54.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1992-03 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
56.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1992-11 Formerly United States Postal Service.
57.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1995-05 Formerly SITA.
58.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2004-04
59.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2004-04
60.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-01 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1981-09.
61.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-01 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1981-09.
62.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1997-04
63.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1997-04
64.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1999-07
65.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2000-07
66.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2000-07
67.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2001-05
68.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2001-06
69.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2002-08
70.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2004-01
71.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2004-08
72.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2004-08
74.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2005-06
75.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2005-06
76.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2005-06
77.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2006-08
78.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2006-08
79.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2006-08
80.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2001-04
81.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2001-04
82.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2002-11
83.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2003-11
84.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2003-11
85.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2004-04
86.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2004-04
87.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2004-04
88.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2010-01 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1981-09.
89.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2005-06
90.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2005-06 Except for 90.0.0.0/9, which is Orange
91.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2005-06
92.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2007-03
93.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2007-03
94.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2007-07
95.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2007-07
96.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2006-10
97.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2006-10
98.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2006-10
99.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2006-10
100.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2010-11 100.64.0.0/10 reserved for Carrier-grade NAT (detailed in RFC 6598).
101.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-08
102.0.0.0/8 AFRINIC 2011-02
103.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2011-02
104.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2011-02
105.0.0.0/8 AFRINIC 2010-11
106.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2011-01
107.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2010-02
108.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2008-12
109.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2009-01
110.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2008-11
111.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-01 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1981-09.
112.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2008-05
113.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2008-05
114.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-01 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1981-09.
115.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2007-10
116.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2007-01
117.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2007-01
118.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2007-01
119.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2007-01
120.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-01 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1981-09.
121.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2006-01
122.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2006-01
123.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2006-01
124.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2005-01
125.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2005-01
126.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2005-01 SOFTBANK Corp.
128.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN). 128.0.0.0 is the start address of formerly "Class B".
129.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
130.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
131.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
132.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
133.0.0.0/8 APNIC 1997-03 JPNIC[11]
134.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
135.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
136.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
137.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
138.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
139.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
140.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
141.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by RIPE NCC).
142.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
143.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
144.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
145.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by RIPE NCC).
146.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
147.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
148.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
149.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
150.0.0.0/8 APNIC 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by APNIC).
151.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by RIPE NCC).
152.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
153.0.0.0/8 APNIC 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by APNIC).
154.0.0.0/8 AFRINIC 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by AFRINIC).
155.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
156.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
157.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
158.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
159.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
160.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
161.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
162.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
163.0.0.0/8 APNIC 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by APNIC).
164.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
165.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
166.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
167.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
168.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
169.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 1993-05-01 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN). 169.254.0.0/16 (169.254.0.0–169.254.255.255) reserved for link-local addressing (RFC 6890).
170.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN).
171.0.0.0/8 APNIC 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by APNIC).
172.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 1993-05-01 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN). 172.16.0.0/12 (172.16.0.0–172.31.255.255) reserved for private networks (RFC 1918).
173.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2008-02
174.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2008-02
175.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2009-08
176.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2010-05
177.0.0.0/8 LACNIC 2010-06
178.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2009-01 Various registries (Maintained by RIPE NCC).
179.0.0.0/8 LACNIC 2011-02
180.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2009-04
181.0.0.0/8 LACNIC 2010-06
182.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2009-08
183.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-01 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1981-09.
184.0.0.0/8 ARIN 2008-12
185.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2011-02 Various registries (Maintained by RIPE NCC).
186.0.0.0/8 LACNIC 2007-09
187.0.0.0/8 LACNIC 2007-09
188.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by RIPE NCC).
189.0.0.0/8 LACNIC 1995-06
190.0.0.0/8 LACNIC 1995-06
191.0.0.0/8 LACNIC 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by LACNIC).
192.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 1993-05-01 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN). 192.0.2.0/24 reserved for TEST-NET-1 (RFC 5737). 192.88.99.0/24 reserved for 6to4 Relay Anycast (RFC 3068). 192.168.0.0/16 (192.168.0.0–192.168.255.255) reserved for private networks (RFC 1918). 192.0.0.0/24 reserved for IANA IPv4 Special Purpose Address Registry (RFC 5736). 192.0.0.0 is the start address of formerly "Class C".
193.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1993-05
194.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1993-05
195.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1993-05
196.0.0.0/8 AFRINIC 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by AFRINIC).
197.0.0.0/8 AFRINIC 2008-10
198.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05 Various registries (Maintained by ARIN). 198.18.0.0/15 reserved for Network Interconnect Device Benchmark Testing (RFC 6890). 198.51.100.0/24 reserved for TEST-NET-2 (RFC 5737).
199.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1993-05
200.0.0.0/8 LACNIC 2002-11
201.0.0.0/8 LACNIC 2003-04
202.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2009-10 Various registries (Maintained by APNIC). 202.123.0.0/19 transferred to AFRINIC
203.0.0.0/8 APNIC 1993-05 203.0.113.0/24 reserved for TEST-NET-3 (RFC 5737).
204.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1994-03
205.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1994-03
206.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1995-04
207.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1995-11
208.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1996-04
209.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1996-06
210.0.0.0/8 APNIC 1996-06
211.0.0.0/8 APNIC 1996-06
212.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1997-10
213.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 1993-10
216.0.0.0/8 ARIN 1998-04
217.0.0.0/8 RIPE NCC 2000-06 2002-06-25
218.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-01 Formerly IANA - Reserved 1981-09.
219.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2001-09
220.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2001-12
221.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2002-07
222.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2003-02
223.0.0.0/8 APNIC 2010-04
Note that this list may not include current assignments of /8 blocks to all regional or national Internet registries.

[ZonkerHarris]

9. The Sales Rep from SkyNet is right! We should trust all tech blindly and follow orders. Or else.

[Earth-shine]

10. "the general consensus was that the internet was a passing fad."

Is this your opinion of everyone else's opinion?

I don't know anyone who said the internet was a passing fad. Must have been said by people who didn't actually use the net.

[edisdead]

14. Yeah I have beard people repeat this

But I have never actually heard someone say it. and Dot boom followed by dot bust (which wasn’t really a bust) didn’t make people think the internet was a fad either.

[spudspud]

16. There were folks predicting the internet as a fad...

A couple of articles:

"And you can’t tote that laptop to the beach. Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we’ll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Internet. Uh, sure."

https://thehustle.co/clifford-stoll-why-the-internet-will-fail/

and

"I predict the Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse."

https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/2016/08/25-years-here-are-worst-ever-predictions-about-internet

[Sympthsical]

25. Yeah, this had me scratching my head

I was a teenager in the late 90s and had been online since about 93 or 94. Mainly very slow school computers used to look things up. But by '94/'95 AOL had become a huge thing more than a few friends and I had in the home. When AOL went to an unlimited monthly price, it was off to the races.

By 1999/2000 ISDN and cable modems were becoming a more common thing, and people knew it was a matter of time before tv and movies were going to be delivered over the net. It was actively discussed (and we were all already downloading things anyway). Simply a matter of bandwidth, which was getting better all the time. When I was in college around this time, they were wiring my entire dorm for high speed.

Mix in that gaming was online during this time. Ultima Online in 1997, Everquest in 1999, World of Wacraft in 2004. Plus all the games you could link up with your friends like Diablo 2 and Starcraft in 1999/2000.

Ebay, PayPal, and Amazon were already the kernels of what they'd eventually become by 2000, dotcom bust or no.

Maybe some older adults who weren't on it or didn't understand it thought it was a fad, but for Millennials, it was wired into us from the start. It was always going to go farther and farther.

[CelticCrow]

28. I heard it

My CIO of what at the time was a 2 billion dollar company said that exact phrase to me. "The internet is just a fad".

It took a lot of restraint not to laugh in his face...

[uponit7771]

33. That's not a relative metric, the claim the "general consensus" was among whom? Matrixed Fuzzy Logic

... has been around for generations though and its not a FAD at all just don't think "replace" is going to come before enhance

[CelticCrow]

42. I think you are confused, I'm not sure how you would interpret my post as any kind of "metric"

I was not responding to the OP about "general consensus" I was responding to a post stating

"I don't know anyone who said the internet was a passing fad. Must have been said by people who didn't actually use the net."

with an anecdote coming from an actual CIO of a large company who did indeed use the internet. I make no claims about consensus whatsoever but since I heard it from folks on the business side as well, it was certainly an opinion held by some folks at that particular point in history. The CIO claiming it was just the most egregious example in my personal experience.

I was merely responding to a post essentially stating, I never saw it must not have been a thing, with an example of it actually being a thing but make no claims that it was a consensus of opinion.

[Earth-shine]

40. I was working for Nortel Networks at the time.

We supplied much of the gear and conduits used by the net to large parts of North America.

When a dot.com went out of business, we could lose money.

Then Nortel came crashing down largely due to the excesses of management. Fueled by venture capitalist dot.com money, Nortel was doing things like buying up $10-million companies for many times that just to acquire those tech patents before AT&T could.

Nortel knew the internet would thrive, even as poorly managed companies fell away.

Nortel was like the Titanic. No one thought it could sink, and it when it went down, it was sudden and took hundreds of thousands of employees with it.

Unrelated, back in the 1990s, a friend who was working for NBC Studios in their budding internet department said this to me, "We don't know where it's heading, but when it comes to the internet, NBC knows we have to be there."

[Hestia]

37. Well, you must not have grown up in a rural-ish area because that is still the general consensus

Mostly it's "I don't understand all that." And broadband is really being pushed to these people. Start paying attention to where the bigger and baddest virus's start popping up - smaller cities who house Pootie's crowd with faster access for the golden bear or cozy bear or whatever GRU minions to hack into their systems because they have received their share of the Infrastructure money. The one's with money are out here, helping to fund those MAGAt & GQP Pacs. Just can't wait...

[Earth-shine]

39. I think you are referring to people who have never accepted technology ...

not those who used the net, and thought it would fade 20 years ago.

Much of what you wrote is cryptic and seems to contain nonsequiturs.

[Kennah]

11. Had to really hurt to know that Netscape was sold to AOL

[hunter]

13. I first signed onto "the internet" in the late 'seventies and got into some mischief too.

It never once occurred to me anyone could monetize it.

When 1993 rolled around and it was opened to the general public, the so-called "Eternal September," I was like

I remember attending a mini-conference about the Mosaic web browser at the University of Illinois and I was thinking "this is cool!" but I didn't think anyone would commercialize that either. Netscape was based on that. I probably had some interactions with Marc Andreessen at some point.

Apparently recognizing new technologies as "business opportunities" just isn't the way I roll.

I'm an Open Source Software kind of guy and my only "social media" presence today is here at DU.

I'll probably ignore the "Artificial Intelligence (stupidity)" revolution as well.

[TlalocW]

15. Just a little Doom Humor

But when Microsoft announced they were developing a browser, a lot of Netscape employees started wearing t-shirts with, "We're Doomed!" printed on them. Maybe it's even more true with AI?

[Hestia]

38. I haven't used a MS browser since then unless forced like at work. I just can't...system yes, but

browser, where the clicks count, no. I do crazy searches when I am on, so harder for ad algorithms to get a handle on but they are actual topics that I am interested in.

This too is my only SM but getting less every week. This used to be my first stop for journalism when on now it all seems to culture crap clickbait that isn't getting solved yesterday.

[Silent3]

17. I'm certainly not dismissive of AI on the whole, but, just like with the internet in the past, there's going to be hype...

...that either isn't true at all, or hype that gets people too excited about tech that may eventually be important and useful, but is further from maturity than the hype would make you think.

And, of course, someday some AI technology might not get a lot of hype and fanfare, but nevertheless suddenly explode onto the scene and surprise us, for good or for ill.

[Yavin4]

18. Whenever there's a major technological transformation...

whether it's personal computers, the internet, smart phones, and now AI, most people get left out of the business and career opportunities that the technology delivers, esp. non-White and non-male people.

[MineralMan]

20. Netscrape and Internet Exploder?

That was my name for those.

[Yavin4]

21. Those two companies went to war, didn't they?

People hardly mention the browser wars any more. It's one of America's forgotten wars. There should be a monument on the DC mall.

[MineralMan]

22. They did. Netscape lost.

You know who won, though? Google and Chrome.

And then, there were the Word Processor wars. As the primary word processing software reviewer for PC World, I remember those intimately. One year, 1993 or '94, I think, The annual word processing round-up article had something like a dozen programs, between MS-DOS and Windows versions.

To me, it was always clear which one would be the last one standing: Microsoft Word. My first version of that was Word 2.0 for DOS. Now, I'm using Office 365.

There was one glitch for Microsoft. Ami Pro took the Editors' Choice from PC World in 1996. I used that myself for quite a long time. However the company that published it got bought by the Lotus 1-2-3 company, which needed a word processor to create an office suite of applications. Instead, they ruined Ami Pro and themselves along with it.

It was a cutthroat world out there in the 90s.

[uponit7771]

23. "general consensus " ... do you have any source for this? I didn't witness this in the 90s

[Yavin4]

29. See post #16 as an example. n/t

[Sympthsical]

26. I agree with you for the most part

It feels like every day there's a new article about AI horror.

It's coming. Adjust and prepare accordingly.

The problem with digging in one's heels and struggling against this kind of technological progress is that you are then caught flat-footed once it becomes ubiquitous. Better to recognize the potential changes coming and steer into them.

No one wants to be Blockbuster.

[Yavin4]

30. Exactly. Thank you very much for the support.

If we as a community do not demand equal access to the education and tools of this new tech, then we will be stuck with another Bill Gates or Elon Musk.

[Marthe48]

27. Sort of an aside

Every person in my family, including me, who jumped on tech/computer training chose a career that made them financially successful. They trained in the 80s-early 90s and entered a variety of computer related fields.

I'll never dismiss the impact that each new use of computer technology will have. It might take us awhile to understand how AI affects us, but the practical folks in the world will make sure they get in on the ground floor and profit.

[Yavin4]

31. 100000000++++

People sit back and ignore technological transformations, and then get mad when a new Elon Musk, or Zuckerberg, or Bill Gates emerges. Don't rely on govt to save you from such people.

[BannonsLiver]

32. Pretty much Everything posted about AI on the forum is fear based.

Some kind of balance is needed, IMO.

[Yavin4]

34. This new technological transformation is too important to let another Musk or Zuckerberg

control it. We should be encouraging everyone to learn about it as much as possible.

[Mosby]

35. MS gave away a browser and was fined billions of dollars.

Now 90% of the browsers are Chrome, a free browser from Google. Gates was right all along.

[Demsrule86]

41. AI doesn't really have an upside IMHO.

[Yavin4]

43. Again, there were people who said the exact same thing about the internet

Yet, here we are.