Who predicted the existence of the internet as a "web you can dip in and out of"?

June 1, 2008 10:09 PM

I once read a book that described a man who predicted the existence of the internet thirty years before its time. He anticipated "a web of information that you can dip in and out of" -- that's the closest to the original quote I can muster. If I'm recall correctly, he was a writer or academic or McLuhan-era media pundit, most likely American. It might also have been a character in a sci-fi book. Can anyone identify the source?
posted by deern the headlice to computers & internet (18 comments total)

There's a couple of options, deern. You're probably thinking of Vannever Bush, who wrote the seminal paper As We May Think in 1945 - his idea of the Memex was first proposed in the 30's. Another, more recent contender, the Xanadu Project, lead by Ted Nelson, started in 1960.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 10:30 PM on June 1

Well, you probably aren't thinking of H.G. Wells's World Brain, but Wells is also an interesting early perceiver of this sort of potential (perhaps even a little ahead of Vannever Bush?).
posted by washburn at 11:15 PM on June 1

Not exactly what you're looking for but thought you might like this:

From Tom Standage's Telegraphy- the Victorian Internet (1999) in Communication in History - technology, culture, society.
The growth of the telegraph network was, in fact, nothing short of explosive; it grew so fast that it was almost impossible to keep track of its size. "No schedule of telegraphic lines can now be relied upon for a month in succession," complained oen writer in 1948, "as hundreds of miles may be added in that space of time. It is anticipated that the whole of the populous parts of the United States will, within two or three years, be covered with net-work l ike a spider's web."
posted by b33j at 11:15 PM on June 1

A few months ago, there was a New York Times article on Borges and how some of his writings 'describe' the internet and Wikipedia. This may or may not be what you're looking for, but it's certainly interesting.
posted by suedehead at 11:19 PM on June 1

John Brunner's late 60's/early 70's novels Shockwave Rider and Stand on Zanzibar feature a sort of proto-internet. Also, I'm hazy on whether it mentioned "the web" exactly, but there's a slambook style futurist manifesto from the same era, Buckmister Fuller's I Seem to be a Verb, a dual upside-down/right-side up volume stuffed with personal interaction predictions and quotes like "only connect."
posted by ellanea at 11:45 PM on June 1

I suspect you're thinking about Ted Nelson, who did a hell of a lot of thinking about that kind of thing in the 1960's. His book Dream Machines is largely about it.

Ted Nelson invented the term "hypertext" and described it in that book.
posted by Class Goat at 11:59 PM on June 1

Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game
posted by futility closet at 5:19 AM on June 2

Are you looking for that exact quote or just predictions of the internet. The latter is a bit more difficult as many anticipated some sort of worldwide information network. For instance, Shogi Effendi, leader of the Baha'i faith predicted something similar in 1936:

“A mechanism of world intercommunication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvelous swiftness and perfect regularity.”

posted by unixrat at 6:06 AM on June 2

I'd say Ted Nelson too. The term of interest is "hypertext" which Ted Nelson invented. Vannevar Bush really is the one who created the vision in "As We May Think". Doug Engelbart read that paper and was one of the first to start creating that vision in practice.
posted by idb at 6:09 AM on June 2

"Are you looking for that exact quote"

I was looking for a specific quote about "dipping in and out" of internet content to make a point about interaction becoming a more immersive experience (rather than just reading flat text on a screen).

On the other hand, these other examples are fascinating, so I may find a good gem in there too. Thanks for all the input so far!
posted by deern the headlice at 6:37 AM on June 2

While reading Trevanian's Shibumi (1979) I remember thinking there were parallels in the book with the our current internet.
posted by wsg at 6:48 AM on June 2

Other people have mentioned Jorge Luis Borges, Vannevar Bush, Ted Nelson, and Doug Engelbart151;all of whom have pieces that have been collected and organized in the New Media Reader. It may be that this book would contain the specific quote you are looking for, but since you have expressed general interest in other relevant sources that people have mentioned, perhaps this book would at least be a good resource for you?
posted by dubitable at 11:07 AM on June 2

Off topic: ugh...the filter messed up the em-dash HTML entity I used, that "151;" should be an em-dash (longer hyphen-looking thing). Note to self: don't try using that HTML entity on metafilter again...
posted by dubitable at 11:10 AM on June 2

Looks awesome, thanks dubitable.
posted by deern the headlice at 11:20 AM on June 2

Harold Innis probably isn't the guy you're looking for, but he was a sort of proto-McLuhan with some interesting ideas about communications, culture, and politics. He died in 1952. You might enjoy checking him out.
posted by tangerine at 4:07 PM on June 2

duitable, you can use the HTML version of the em-dash: ampersand+"mdash"+semicolon. It looks like this — on AMF.
posted by exphysicist345 at 6:41 PM on June 2

Off-topic again: thanks for the tech help guys! I had no idea...
posted by dubitable at 8:00 PM on June 2

I meant, thanks for the tech help exphysicist345.

But that's not why I'm posting again. I'm posting again because I just saw this on BoingBoing and thought it was a wonderful, serendipitous coincidence.
posted by dubitable at 8:18 PM on June 2