[iDC] The internet that is not one

[Armin Wagner]

Am 11.07.2009 um 18:57 schrieb Dean, Jodi:
> A question for the list (this is a real question that comes out of  
> conversations I've had in the last few months):
>
> Is there one internet?
>
> Is the internet singular, a unity?
>
> Are there multiple internets?

If you connect several networks using gateways and protocols - so the  
whole thing starts to work like a single network - you get an  
internetwork (formerly known as catenet). If the level of abstraction  
isn't necessary it's just a network.

Apart from that, there is an old and still ongoing dispute about the  
capitalization and the plural form. Basically the most famous set of  
interconnected networks today is called "the Internet", like "our  
Moon" is "a moon".

And from a Lacanian perspective: the mainstream cyberpunk genre  
started with the image of the “other” cyberspace (see last two pages  
of Neuromancer).


Armin