The Soviet web: the tale of how the USSR almost invented the internet (2017)
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Re: The Soviet web: the tale of how the USSR almost invented the internet (2017)
#2So a bit like a capitalist entrepreneur who needs to have a brilliant idea and be a great salesman, the scientists in USSR had to have a cunning social skills to push their ideas through layers of un-interested bureaucracy. A Sisyphian task that would just cause them to become disengaged. That's how that society got its alcoholics, poetry evenings and other sublimation hobbies.
Re: The Soviet web: the tale of how the USSR almost invented the internet (2017)
#3Soviet bureaucracy wanted to transform itself into capitalist oligarchs by seizing and privatizing the state enterprises instead of creating an open, democratic and scientific economic planning system. Trotsky was right.
Re: The Soviet web: the tale of how the USSR almost invented the internet (2017)
#4It would have been so cool if the USSR had its own internet and shared it with China and China were still running it now because wouldn't it be great to stop hearing about how people think firewalling the entire Chinese IP space will keep hackers out. Also a parallel internet built on something other than TCP/IP would promote competition to see which internet design is technically superior. But realistically nobody wants two internets that are incompatible. We already have IPv6 which is incompatible with the rest of the internet and that's enough trouble as it is.
Re: The Soviet web: the tale of how the USSR almost invented the internet (2017)
#5So a bit like a capitalist entrepreneur who needs to have a brilliant idea and be a great salesman, the scientists in USSR had to have a cunning social skills to push their ideas through layers of un-interested bureaucracy. A Sisyphian task that would just cause them to become disengaged. That's how that society got its alcoholics, poetry evenings and other sublimation hobbies.
It wasn't just the scientists, literally everyone had to do it.If you wanted something unique or just unusual ( compared to whatever the norm is set to in Moscow). Smart politicians from the occupied countries used to come up with some creative ideas on how to convince Moscow to give green light for projects and etc.
Re: The Soviet web: the tale of how the USSR almost invented the internet (2017)
#6Fascinating stuff. If you're interested in this, you'll love 'How Not to Network a Nation' by Benjamin Peters [0].
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27310479-how-not-to-netw...
Re: The Soviet web: the tale of how the USSR almost invented the internet (2017)
#7Unrelated, but fun: the .su (soviet union) domain is still active and running.
Re: The Soviet web: the tale of how the USSR almost invented the internet (2017)
#8It would have been so cool if the USSR had its own internet and shared it with China and China were still running it now because wouldn't it be great to stop hearing about how people think firewalling the entire Chinese IP space will keep hackers out. Also a parallel internet built on something other than TCP/IP would promote competition to see which internet design is technically superior. But realistically nobody w…
We had other protocols. TCP/IP won exactly because it was technically superior.
Re: The Soviet web: the tale of how the USSR almost invented the internet (2017)
#9So a bit like a capitalist entrepreneur who needs to have a brilliant idea and be a great salesman, the scientists in USSR had to have a cunning social skills to push their ideas through layers of un-interested bureaucracy. A Sisyphian task that would just cause them to become disengaged. That's how that society got its alcoholics, poetry evenings and other sublimation hobbies.
The only major difference I see is that the entrepreneur aims to make money from the innovation as opposed to trying to improve society. Money was clearly a better motivator though.
Re: The Soviet web: the tale of how the USSR almost invented the internet (2017)
#10So a bit like a capitalist entrepreneur who needs to have a brilliant idea and be a great salesman, the scientists in USSR had to have a cunning social skills to push their ideas through layers of un-interested bureaucracy. A Sisyphian task that would just cause them to become disengaged. That's how that society got its alcoholics, poetry evenings and other sublimation hobbies.
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