RIP: Paul Baran

    The man who dreamt up the idea of ‘packet’ data (that’s the idea that will keep the internet running even after large parts are knocked out following a nuclear strike) died last night.

    “He was a man of infinite patience,” said his son David Baran.

    He added that his father had recently shown him a paper written in 1966 which speculated about what people would do with the telecommunication networks in the future.

    “It spelled out this idea that by the year 2000 that people would be using online networks for shopping and news,” he said. “It was an absolute lunatic fringe idea.”

    Thank you 🙂

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