From Mark Twain to Nikola Tesla, the Internet was both a sci fi fantasy and a scientific dream. In the 70s, the great communications race was on, and countries around the world invested millions to discover a practical solution that brought a world of knowledge into everyone’s living rooms. Britain developed Videotex, Canada developed Telidon and America had an ill fated technology called Xanadu, until British computer scientist Timothy Berners-Lee finally invented the framework, protocols and programming language for the World Wide Web in 1989.

Since then we have never looked back. This is the show dedicated to paying homage to the culture of interconnectivity by exploring the technology that fuels our lives. We cover it all, the history of the Internet, the films that brought it to life, TV shows that first mentioned it, the memes, Napster and even the most significant contributions of porn to our modern online lives (hint: it actually has nothing to do with porn)

Tune in and catch all of this, plus our one-on-one with tech expert and Canadian, Amber Mac. She’s honestly, one of the most knowledgeable resources on the evolution of the Internet since her start in San Francisco during the dot com boom. She’s since gone on to write several best selling books (Power Friending & How to Outsmart Your Kids Online), keynote hundreds of conferences, host podcasts and TV shows and contribute to some of the largest publications including Fast Company, CNN, Bloomberg, CBS, BNN, CTV, The Marilyn Denis Show, and SiriusXM (where she co-hosts #TheFeed). Plus, in 2018, she was named one of DMZ’s 30 inspirational women making a difference in tech.

Show Links

Amber MacArthur’s Official Website

The Telidon Archive Project (TAP)

IMDb Listing for War Games (1983) starring Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy & James Woods (+where to stream)

IMDb Listing for The Net (1995) starring Sandra Bullock (+where to stream)

Read: Full text to Mark Twain’s short story “From the ‘London Times’ of 1904”

Read: Full text to E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”

Alt.Pop.Repeat Article: Who Invented the Internet?

Show Notes

• 00:05:57 Interview with Amber MacArthur starts
• 00:35:42 Did Pop Culture influence the Internet or did the Internet influence Pop Culture?
• 00:45:00 The Other Internets: Videotex, Telidon & Xanadu
• 00:45:34 There was an International communications race to see which country would get on to the Internet first
• 00:46:00 Canada creates the first nationally accessible "Internet" pilot called Telidon.
• 00:51:42 CERN's Tim Berners-Lee creates the World Wide Web in 1989
• 00:54:00 What was the single most important technology that contributed to the spread of the Internet?
• 00:56:29 Earliest mentions of the Internet in popular literature and television! Mark Twain mentioned it in his 1898 short story "From the London Time 1904", Nikola Tesla, X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• 00:61:00 The earliest movies that referenced the Internet. Was it 1995's "The Net" with Sandra Bullock or 1983's "War Games" with Matthew Broderick
• 00:65:30 The creation of YouTube - From dating site to content creation game changer
• 00:70:48 Porn's unlikely contributions to the Internet - online advertising
• 00:74:41 Napster, peer-to-peer file sharing, torrents and the Metallica fiasco...
• 00:79:26 Did the Internet change comedy? Memes, memes and more memes.

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