The ARPANET was an early computer network that played a critical role in the development of the Internet. In 1972, Robert Kahn organized the first public demonstration of the ARPANET\u2019s capabilities at the International Conference on Computer Communications in Washington, DC. This included \u201cconversations\u201d across the United States between a computer at MIT that was programmed to behave like a psychiatrist, and a computer at Stanford that mimicked the behaviour of a paranoid psychotic. One of their conversations went as follows:<\/p>\n
Doctor:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cGood evening. Tell me your problems.\u201d
\nPatient:\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cPeople get on my nerves sometimes.\u201d
\nDoctor:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI am not sure I understand you.\u201d
\nPatient:\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou should pay more attention.\u201d
\nDoctor:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSuppose you should pay more attention.\u201d
\nPatient:\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re entitled to your own opinion.\u201d
\nDoctor:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat makes you think I am entitled to my own opinion?\u201d
\nPatient:\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt bothers me just to be around people in general.\u201d<\/p>\n
These demonstrations of long-distance networking may not have done much to advance the treatment of paranoid psychosis, but they brought the ARPANET\u2019s capabilities to a much wider audience. They also helped to silence the doubters who had claimed that the newfangled packet switching technology would never work.<\/p>\n
(Conversation quoted from “Where Wizards Stay Up Late – the Origins of the Internet”, Katie Hafner & Matthew Lyon, Touchstone, 1998)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The ARPANET was an early computer network that played a critical role in the development of the Internet. In 1972, Robert Kahn organized the first public demonstration of the ARPANET\u2019s capabilities at the International Conference on Computer Communications in Washington, … Continue reading