The Internet

The internet is arguably the most transformative technology since the Gutenberg printing press — a global network connecting billions of people that has revolutionized communication, commerce, entertainment, politics, and nearly every other aspect of human life. What began as a military research project became the infrastructure of a new kind of civilization.

The internet's origins trace to ARPANET, a US Department of Defense project launched in 1969 that connected university computers. Tim Berners-Lee's invention of the World Wide Web in 1991 made the internet accessible to ordinary users. The subsequent explosion of websites, email, search engines, e-commerce, and social media transformed the world in under two decades. By 2024, over 5 billion people — roughly 65% of humanity — use the internet.

The internet has democratized access to information, enabled new forms of creativity and collaboration, created trillion-dollar industries, and connected people across every border. It has also amplified misinformation, enabled surveillance, concentrated power in a few technology companies, disrupted traditional industries and livelihoods, and created new forms of addiction and social isolation. The internet's impact on democracy, culture, and human cognition is still being debated — but its place alongside writing, printing, and the telegraph as a communication revolution that reshaped civilization is beyond question.