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Looking back, Kleinrock envisioned a world where computers could communicate with one another, a thought that seemed revolutionary at the time. Computers of that era were cumbersome, often isolated entities that required extensive training to operate. But, in just eight years following that first message, the ARPANET expanded, leading to an interconnected network of computers spanning continents, radically changing the fabric of communication.
The speaker highlighted the extensive infrastructure that supports the modern internet, particularly the undersea fiber optic cables that serve as the backbone of global communication. These cables carry information not through wires, but through pulses of light—an astonishing realization underscoring the technology's remarkable evolution.