[rollei_list] Re: OT: Electronic Connectivity

Austin,
Neither this video, nor others like it I have viewed, substantiates the allegation that he claimed to have "invented" the internet. There is a big difference between inventing something, a technical process, and his phrase "took the initiative in creating," an enabling procedure. His contributions were legislative, not technical, but an important contribution to facilitating internet in the US. Please don't take my word for it. Here are the opinions of some others, quoted directly:
Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn stated that "we don't think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he 'invented' the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore's initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet." Cerf would also later state: "Al Gore had seen what happened with the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, which his father introduced as a military bill. It was very powerful. Housing went up, suburban boom happened, everybody became mobile. Al was attuned to the power of networking much more than any of his elective colleagues. His initiatives led directly to the commercialization of the Internet. So he really does deserve credit."
Former Republican Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich also stated: "In all fairness, it's something Gore had worked on a long time. Gore is not the Father of the Internet, but in all fairness, Gore is the person who, in the Congress, most systematically worked to make sure that we got to an Internet, and the truth is -- and I worked with him starting in 1978 when I got [to Congress], we were both part of a "futures group" -- the fact is, in the Clinton administration, the world we had talked about in the '80s began to actually happen."
However, I am open to the idea Gore might have overstated his role, but hardly outside the usual and customary bounds of professional political egoism. 

Sincerely,

Allen Zak

On May 6, 2010, at 3:47 PM, Austin Franklin wrote:


Hi Allen,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnFJ8cHAlco

(And I quote:)

"I took the initiative in creating the Internet" (0:53)
OK, so he didn't say he invented it, but he clearly did say he "created" it. 
It really wasn't that hard to find, if you wanted to.

Regards,

Austin



-----Original Message-----
From: rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Allen Zak
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 3:34 PM
To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: OT: Electronic Connectivity



On May 6, 2010, at 3:08 PM, Marc James Small wrote:


At 12:09 PM 5/6/2010, Allen Zak wrote:


Ridiculing Al Gore is its own kind of fun, but he never claimed to

have

invented the internet.


Well, no, the portly and energy-wasting Algore did directly claim to
have invented the Internet.  He did so around 1996, long before he
became the ANTHROPOGENIC global warming monotheist he later became.
The video clip of his making the claim is widely available on the
'Net.

Marc


Could you provide a URL, please?  I can't seem to find the video clip.
Anthropogenic and monotheist in the same sentence?  Kewel.


Allen Zak






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Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!

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