Al Gore and the Internet.

As you read through all of the Al Gore history and involvement in developing the Internet, please sing to yourself, <Dave High quote just before he cuts and pasts an entire Wikipedia article on the NB Site>

Ah the evolving Internet and who 'created' it.  And that is the word here, not initiative or initiate.  And of course our 'wooden man' Al Gore and his involvement.

Just to sorta set the record straight, Al Gore is a politician.  He is not an engineer, he is not a scientist, he is not a great theorist and he certainly did not 'create' squat when it comes to the history of the Internet, which is by itself a very interesting history indeed.

I'm going to give Al some credit though.  He is responsible for the 'Gore' tax on your telephone bill.

On the other hand, Al Gore did play a role in the government's development of the Teraflop project and was a supporter of networks in his Senate career.  He does deserve credit for being a politician that was supportive of computing technology.  And some would say he actually coined the term, "Information Highway."

But a lot of other politicians were also strong supporters of computing technology.  Gore wasn't any more or less ahead of the pack.

Without Senators and Representatives like Gore who had open minds with respect to technology and the government's role (good and bad) in the evolution of any technology, but particularly network technology, we would probably have seen the technology we use today totally screwed to the wall.

So, sometimes, even a blind sow gets an acorn once in a while.

The real issue with Gore's statement was that he has a long history of 'padding' his resume.  He's the kind of guy that just can't accept a modest claim to have been 'involved'.  No, he had to go that extra mile and say he took the initiative in creating the Internet.  This was not only not true but put him at the center of the Universe (with the restaurant and everything).

It was grossly unfair to a myriad of actors associated with the evolution of the Internet as we know it today and distorts the picture of technology and the government's ability to either 'create' or not 'create' much of anything.

One argument, among many arguments, for the High Speed Computing Act of 1991 (at the time of its debate and justification) was that private enterprise wasn't always interested in some aspects of life in the technology arena and due to its market force driven response would not meet the 'real' needs of the 'children' to create a network that would deliver information for education purposes.

Another argument was that the need for High Speed (Teraflop - 1 trillion floating point operations per second) computing for Defense and Research purposes required special attention by the Congress of the US.  It turns out that when this legislation was being debated the backbone for the modern Internet was already in the process of being built and had been built (limited but there) by several large telecom/tech companies.

But, whether 'Gore created' <Gee that's kinda sacred sounding isn't it?> anything is not open to question.  He did not.

Now, I forgive Al Gore his stupid statement in front of Wolf 'the Beard' Blitzer because I actually think Al Gore is not a stupid man.  I think had he been able to ponder the question for a few days and consult his staff and stuff like that, like any politician he could have probably found a way to describe his activities as a Senator/Representative with respect to Government's activities in technology is a more, shall we say...

modest

manner.

So, no rubber tree plants need cower in fear.

The misrepresentation of complexity is a Democrat/Stalinist sorta rule of thumb, 'cause those of us out here external to the hallowed halls of the beltway are kinda stupid, see?  We can't figure out our own lives, our own history with respect to our professions, our own contributions to the knowledge base, and our own understanding of the technological world we live in, even if we have been involved in it for 35 years.

But, what the hey?

It's all about power.  Taking power so we can control these plebes and their silly little lives.  Protect them from themselves, as it were.  Pass laws based on crap science, like second hand smoke, smoking is the cause of all disease so we don't have to think anymore, just stop smoking, right?  Ask your doctor about nearly any illness he might have to admit they can't deal with rigorously.  Oh, it's because you smoke, or your wife smokes, or your mother smoked, or your dog was close to smoke.  No thinking, right?

I loves consesus.  At that precise point where we reach consensus we can all just stop thinking.

But you just keep right on thinking there Mr. Dave High, that's what you are...

good at.

ACA

...

Acaiguana says:  "I love blind Monkeys and any inference that I am making fun of blind Monkeys would be wrong.

None of your Al Gore sellout links work Dave High

But I did find out what Al Gore was up to. He and Slick Willie then sold the supercomputer to CHINA. Nice command and control, with government acquisition of the private sector, and Al and Bill making 50 million buckaroos as sold off national security to the communist enemy. Now we have ICBM pointing at us from China, and they slay our satellites with laser beams controlled with the slick willie al gore transfers.

[ From the Editor

Who's Driving High Performance Computing?

Gone are the days when the U.S. government alone can determine the direction of supercomputing. The commercial growth of HPC over the last two decades has fundamentally changed that dynamic. Adoption of high performance computing in bio-sciences, the financial sector, geo-sciences, engineering and other areas has changed the supercomputing user base in a relatively short period of time.

For many HPC vendors this is a good thing. IDC reports that revenues for the high performance computing market grew by 24 percent in 2005, reaching $9.2 billion. A majority of this revenue is commercial HPC, although the government still represents a significant share. Classified HPC defense spending alone is over a billion dollars.

But maybe more significantly, the vast majority of really high-end supercomputing and cutting-edge research is done with the support of government money. Most multi-million dollar HPC capability systems reside in government-funded supercomputing centers, federal research labs and various undisclosed locations at national security facilities.]

Yeah, that's great, except Al n Bill did their Jhonny Wong 50 million dollar campaignmoney sellout America to China deal.

Oh,yeah,check the Cox Report,too,the slickster and his idiot sidekick alwhore lost ALL our secret nuclear technology to China as well.

Al Gore,too stupid and greedy to keep the new technology safe,with sloppy people like Sandy Burglar around, is it any wonder Al was drinking tea at the Bhuddist Temple ?