[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.83,0:00:02.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've always written primarily about architecture,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:02.86,0:00:05.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about buildings, and writing about architecture
Dialogue: 0,0:00:05.38,0:00:08.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is based on certain assumptions.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.12,0:00:10.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,An architect designs a building, and it becomes a place,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:10.58,0:00:13.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or many architects design many buildings, and it becomes
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.06,0:00:16.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a city, and regardless of this complicated mix of forces
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.34,0:00:18.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of politics and culture and economics that shapes
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.73,0:00:21.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these places, at the end of the day, you can go
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.74,0:00:24.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you can visit them. You can walk around them.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.39,0:00:26.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can smell them. You can get a feel for them.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.06,0:00:29.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can experience their sense of place.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.56,0:00:31.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what was striking to me over the last several years
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.91,0:00:35.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was that less and less was I going out into the world,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.28,0:00:38.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and more and more, I was sitting in front of my computer screen.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.51,0:00:42.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And especially since about 2007, when I got an iPhone,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.83,0:00:44.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was not only sitting in front of my screen all day,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.71,0:00:46.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I was also getting up at the end of the day
Dialogue: 0,0:00:46.80,0:00:50.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and looking at this little screen that I carried in my pocket.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.10,0:00:52.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what was surprising to me was how quickly
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.96,0:00:55.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my relationship to the physical world had changed.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.90,0:00:57.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In this very short period of time, you know, whether you
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.68,0:01:01.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,call it the last 15 years or so of being online, or the last,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.13,0:01:04.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know, four or five years of being online all the time,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.09,0:01:07.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our relationship to our surroundings had changed in that
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.26,0:01:09.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our attention is constantly divided. You know,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.06,0:01:11.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we're both looking inside the screens and we're looking
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.63,0:01:13.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,out in the world around us.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.46,0:01:15.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what was even more striking to me, and what I really
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.99,0:01:18.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,got hung up on, was that the world inside the screen
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.99,0:01:22.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,seemed to have no physical reality of its own.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.78,0:01:25.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you went and looked for images of the Internet,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.54,0:01:28.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this was all that you found, this famous image by Opte
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.66,0:01:31.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the Internet as the kind of Milky Way, this infinite expanse
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.79,0:01:33.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where we don't seem to be anywhere on it.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.89,0:01:36.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We can never seem to grasp it in its totality.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.31,0:01:39.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's always reminded me of the Apollo image of the Earth,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:39.93,0:01:42.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the blue marble picture, and it's similarly meant to suggest,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.66,0:01:45.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think, that we can't really understand it as a whole.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.36,0:01:49.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're always sort of small in the face of its expanse.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.04,0:01:52.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So if there was this world and this screen, and if there was
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.41,0:01:55.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the physical world around me, I couldn't ever get them
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.26,0:01:58.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,together in the same place.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.24,0:02:01.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then this happened.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.45,0:02:04.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My Internet broke one day, as it occasionally does,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:04.05,0:02:06.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the cable guy came to fix it, and he started with
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.78,0:02:08.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the dusty clump of cables behind the couch,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.91,0:02:12.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he followed it to the front of my building and into the basement and out to the back yard,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.12,0:02:14.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there was this big jumble of cables against the wall.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.100,0:02:17.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then he saw a squirrel running along the wire,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.55,0:02:20.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he said, "There's your problem.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.34,0:02:24.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A squirrel is chewing on your Internet." (Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.76,0:02:27.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this seemed astounding. The Internet is
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.89,0:02:31.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a transcendent idea. It's a set of protocols that has changed
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.26,0:02:34.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everything from shopping to dating to revolutions.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.72,0:02:37.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was unequivocally not something
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.35,0:02:40.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a squirrel could chew on. (Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.66,0:02:42.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But that in fact seemed to be the case.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.54,0:02:45.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A squirrel had in fact chewed on my Internet. (Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.74,0:02:47.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then I got this image in my head of what would happen
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.93,0:02:50.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if you yanked the wire from the wall and if you started
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.11,0:02:51.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to follow it. Where would it go?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.71,0:02:55.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Was the Internet actually a place that you could visit?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:55.22,0:02:56.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Could I go there? Who would I meet?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.57,0:02:59.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, was there something actually out there?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.94,0:03:02.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the answer, by all accounts, was no.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:02.98,0:03:05.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was the Internet, this black box with a red light on it,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:05.76,0:03:09.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as represented in the sitcom "The IT Crowd."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.19,0:03:12.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Normally it lives on the top of Big Ben,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.75,0:03:15.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because that's where you get the best reception,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.83,0:03:19.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but they had negotiated that their colleague could borrow it
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.14,0:03:22.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the afternoon to use in an office presentation.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.31,0:03:24.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The elders of the Internet were willing to part with it
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.68,0:03:27.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for a short while, and she looks at it and she says,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.55,0:03:30.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"This is the Internet? The whole Internet? Is it heavy?"
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.94,0:03:34.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They say, "Of course not, the Internet doesn't weigh anything."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.90,0:03:37.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I was embarrassed. I was looking for this thing
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.22,0:03:39.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that only fools seem to look for.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.51,0:03:42.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Internet was that amorphous blob, or it was a silly
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.35,0:03:44.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,black box with a blinking red light on it.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.59,0:03:46.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It wasn't a real world out there.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.92,0:03:50.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, in fact, it is. There is a real world of the Internet out there,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.23,0:03:51.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's what I spent about two years visiting,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:51.100,0:03:55.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these places of the Internet. I was in large data centers
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.54,0:03:58.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that use as much power as the cities in which they sit,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.19,0:04:01.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I visited places like this, 60 Hudson Street in New York,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.38,0:04:03.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is one of the buildings in the world,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.08,0:04:05.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of a very short list of buildings, about a dozen buildings,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.98,0:04:08.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where more networks of the Internet connect to each other
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.63,0:04:09.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than anywhere else.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:09.98,0:04:12.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that connection is an unequivocally physical process.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.60,0:04:15.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's about the router of one network, a Facebook or
Dialogue: 0,0:04:15.09,0:04:18.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a Google or a B.T. or a Comcast or a Time Warner, whatever it is,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:18.03,0:04:20.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,connecting with usually a yellow fiber optic cable up into
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.46,0:04:23.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the ceiling and down into the router of another network,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:23.15,0:04:27.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's unequivocally physical, and it's surprisingly intimate.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.53,0:04:30.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A building like 60 Hudson, and a dozen or so others,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:30.82,0:04:33.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has 10 times more networks connecting within it
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.15,0:04:34.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than the next tier of buildings.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:34.100,0:04:37.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's a very short list of these places.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:37.07,0:04:39.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And 60 Hudson in particular is interesting because it's home
Dialogue: 0,0:04:39.97,0:04:42.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to about a half a dozen very important networks,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:42.56,0:04:44.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which are the networks which serve the undersea cables
Dialogue: 0,0:04:44.86,0:04:47.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that travel underneath the ocean
Dialogue: 0,0:04:47.21,0:04:49.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that connect Europe and America and connect all of us.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:49.46,0:04:53.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's those cables in particular that I want to focus on.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:53.05,0:04:56.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If the Internet is a global phenomenon, if we live
Dialogue: 0,0:04:56.92,0:04:59.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a global village, it's because there are cables underneath
Dialogue: 0,0:04:59.36,0:05:01.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the ocean, cables like this.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:01.47,0:05:04.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in this dimension, they are incredibly small.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:04.36,0:05:07.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can you hold them in your hand. They're like a garden hose.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:07.30,0:05:11.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in the other dimension they are incredibly expansive,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:11.36,0:05:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as expansive as you can imagine.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.00,0:05:15.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They stretch across the ocean. They're three or five
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.56,0:05:18.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or eight thousand miles in length, and
Dialogue: 0,0:05:18.17,0:05:20.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if the material science and the computational technology
Dialogue: 0,0:05:20.78,0:05:24.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is incredibly complicated, the basic physical process
Dialogue: 0,0:05:24.31,0:05:28.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is shockingly simple. Light goes in on one end of the ocean
Dialogue: 0,0:05:28.09,0:05:31.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and comes out on the other, and it usually comes
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.37,0:05:34.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from a building called a landing station that's often
Dialogue: 0,0:05:34.01,0:05:36.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,tucked away inconspicuously in a little seaside neighborhood,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.95,0:05:39.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there are amplifiers that sit on the ocean floor
Dialogue: 0,0:05:39.69,0:05:42.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that look kind of like bluefin tuna, and every 50 miles
Dialogue: 0,0:05:42.21,0:05:45.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they amplify the signal, and since the rate of transmission
Dialogue: 0,0:05:45.86,0:05:49.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is incredibly fast, the basic unit is a 10-gigabit-per-second
Dialogue: 0,0:05:49.07,0:05:51.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wavelength of light, maybe a thousand times your own
Dialogue: 0,0:05:51.57,0:05:54.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,connection, or capable of carrying 10,000 video streams,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:54.75,0:05:58.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but not only that, but you'll put not just one wavelength of light
Dialogue: 0,0:05:58.03,0:06:00.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through one of the fibers, but you'll put maybe
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.99,0:06:04.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,50 or 60 or 70 different wavelengths or colors of light
Dialogue: 0,0:06:04.01,0:06:06.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through a single fiber, and then you'll have maybe
Dialogue: 0,0:06:06.88,0:06:09.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,eight fibers in a cable, four going in each direction.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:09.48,0:06:12.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they're tiny. They're the thickness of a hair.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:12.97,0:06:14.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then they connect to the continent somewhere.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.80,0:06:17.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They connect in a manhole like this. Literally,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:17.13,0:06:20.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is where the 5,000-mile cable plugs in.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:20.22,0:06:24.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is in Halifax, a cable that stretches from Halifax to Ireland.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:24.71,0:06:27.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the landscape is changing. Three years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:27.69,0:06:29.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when I started thinking about this, there was one cable
Dialogue: 0,0:06:29.59,0:06:32.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,down the Western coast of Africa, represented
Dialogue: 0,0:06:32.76,0:06:35.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in this map by Steve Song as that thin black line.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:35.63,0:06:40.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now there are six cables and more coming, three down each coast.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.48,0:06:43.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because once a country gets plugged in by one cable,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:43.11,0:06:44.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they realize that it's not enough. If they're going to build
Dialogue: 0,0:06:44.91,0:06:47.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an industry around it, they need to know that their connection
Dialogue: 0,0:06:47.72,0:06:50.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,isn't tenuous but permanent, because if a cable breaks,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:50.43,0:06:52.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you have to send a ship out into the water, throw
Dialogue: 0,0:06:52.50,0:06:55.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a grappling hook over the side, pick it up, find the other end,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:55.42,0:06:58.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then fuse the two ends back together and then dump it over.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:58.46,0:07:02.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's an intensely, intensely physical process.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:02.100,0:07:07.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this is my friend Simon Cooper, who until very recently
Dialogue: 0,0:07:07.30,0:07:09.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,worked for Tata Communications, the communications wing
Dialogue: 0,0:07:09.97,0:07:12.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of Tata, the big Indian industrial conglomerate.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:12.97,0:07:15.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I've never met him. We've only communicated
Dialogue: 0,0:07:15.95,0:07:19.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,via this telepresence system, which always makes me
Dialogue: 0,0:07:19.40,0:07:23.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,think of him as the man inside the Internet. (Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:07:23.30,0:07:26.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he is English. The undersea cable industry
Dialogue: 0,0:07:26.50,0:07:30.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is dominated by Englishmen, and they all seem to be 42.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:30.14,0:07:33.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter) Because they all started at the same time
Dialogue: 0,0:07:33.32,0:07:35.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the boom about 20 years ago.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:35.82,0:07:39.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Tata had gotten its start as a communications business
Dialogue: 0,0:07:39.08,0:07:41.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when they bought two cables, one across the Atlantic
Dialogue: 0,0:07:41.54,0:07:44.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and one across the Pacific, and proceeded to add pieces
Dialogue: 0,0:07:44.70,0:07:48.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,onto them, until they had built a belt around the world,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:48.25,0:07:50.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which means they will send your bits to the East or the West.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:50.34,0:07:52.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They have -- this is literally a beam of light around the world,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:52.57,0:07:54.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and if a cable breaks in the Pacific, it'll send it around
Dialogue: 0,0:07:54.78,0:07:57.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the other direction. And then having done that,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:57.96,0:08:01.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they started to look for places to wire next.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:01.91,0:08:04.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They looked for the unwired places, and that's meant
Dialogue: 0,0:08:04.40,0:08:07.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,North and South, primarily these cables to Africa.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:07.19,0:08:10.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what amazes me is Simon's incredible geographic imagination.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:10.96,0:08:13.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He thinks about the world with this incredible expansiveness.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:13.92,0:08:17.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I was particularly interested because I wanted to see
Dialogue: 0,0:08:17.23,0:08:20.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of these cables being built. See, you know, all the time
Dialogue: 0,0:08:20.09,0:08:22.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,online we experience these fleeting moments of connection,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:22.41,0:08:25.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these sort of brief adjacencies, a tweet or a Facebook post
Dialogue: 0,0:08:25.70,0:08:29.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or an email, and it seemed like there was a physical corollary to that.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:29.54,0:08:31.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It seemed like there was a moment when the continent
Dialogue: 0,0:08:31.62,0:08:33.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was being plugged in, and I wanted to see that.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:33.96,0:08:36.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Simon was working on a new cable,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:36.25,0:08:38.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,WACS, the West Africa Cable System, that stretched
Dialogue: 0,0:08:38.76,0:08:40.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from Lisbon down the west coast of Africa,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:40.88,0:08:43.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to Cote d'Ivoire, to Ghana, to Nigeria, to Cameroon.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:43.75,0:08:46.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he said there was coming soon, depending
Dialogue: 0,0:08:46.08,0:08:48.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the weather, but he'd let me know when,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:48.28,0:08:51.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so with about four days notice, he said to go
Dialogue: 0,0:08:51.48,0:08:54.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to this beach south of Lisbon, and a little after 9,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:54.31,0:08:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this guy will walk out of the water. (Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:08:58.00,0:09:02.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he'll be carrying a green nylon line, a lightweight line,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:02.32,0:09:05.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,called a messenger line, and that was the first link
Dialogue: 0,0:09:05.04,0:09:07.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,between sea and land, this link that would then be
Dialogue: 0,0:09:07.59,0:09:11.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,leveraged into this 9,000-mile path of light.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:11.45,0:09:14.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then a bulldozer began to pull the cable in from this
Dialogue: 0,0:09:14.04,0:09:17.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,specialized cable landing ship, and it was floated
Dialogue: 0,0:09:17.40,0:09:20.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on these buoys until it was in the right place.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:20.15,0:09:22.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then you can see the English engineers looking on.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:22.89,0:09:25.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then, once it was in the right place, he got back
Dialogue: 0,0:09:25.70,0:09:29.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the water holding a big knife, and he cut each buoy off,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:29.06,0:09:31.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the buoy popped up into the air, and the cable
Dialogue: 0,0:09:31.36,0:09:33.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,dropped to the sea floor, and he did that all the way out
Dialogue: 0,0:09:33.27,0:09:35.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the ship, and when he got there,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:35.14,0:09:37.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they gave him a glass of juice and a cookie,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:37.55,0:09:39.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then he jumped back in, and he swam back to shore,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:39.97,0:09:47.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then he lit a cigarette. (Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:09:47.13,0:09:49.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then once that cable was on shore,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:49.84,0:09:53.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they began to prepare to connect it to the other side,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:53.35,0:09:56.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the cable that had been brought down from the landing station.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:56.30,0:09:59.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And first they got it with a hacksaw, and then they start
Dialogue: 0,0:09:59.16,0:10:02.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sort of shaving away at this plastic interior with a --
Dialogue: 0,0:10:02.10,0:10:04.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sort of working like chefs, and then finally they're working
Dialogue: 0,0:10:04.16,0:10:06.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like jewelers to get these hair-thin fibers to line up
Dialogue: 0,0:10:06.87,0:10:08.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the cable that had come down,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:08.54,0:10:11.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and with this hole-punch machine they fuse it together.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:11.54,0:10:14.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when you see these guys going at this cable with a hacksaw,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:14.87,0:10:17.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you stop thinking about the Internet as a cloud.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:17.51,0:10:21.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It starts to seem like an incredibly physical thing.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:21.45,0:10:23.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what surprised me as well was that as much as this
Dialogue: 0,0:10:23.96,0:10:26.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is based on the most sophisticated technology, as much
Dialogue: 0,0:10:26.80,0:10:29.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as this is an incredibly new thing, the physical process
Dialogue: 0,0:10:29.71,0:10:33.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,itself has been around for a long time, and the culture is the same.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:33.47,0:10:35.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You see the local laborers. You see the English engineer
Dialogue: 0,0:10:35.46,0:10:38.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,giving directions in the background. And more importantly,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:38.64,0:10:41.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the places are the same. These cables still connect
Dialogue: 0,0:10:41.28,0:10:44.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these classic port cities, places like Lisbon, Mombasa,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:44.33,0:10:47.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mumbai, Singapore, New York.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:47.49,0:10:51.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then the process on shore takes around three or four days,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:51.58,0:10:55.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then, when it's done, they put the manhole cover
Dialogue: 0,0:10:55.77,0:10:58.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,back on top, and they push the sand over that,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:58.74,0:11:01.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we all forget about it.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:01.82,0:11:04.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it seems to me that we talk a lot about the cloud,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:04.07,0:11:05.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but every time we put something on the cloud,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:05.98,0:11:08.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we give up some responsibility for it.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:08.18,0:11:12.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We are less connected to it. We let other people worry about it.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:12.05,0:11:13.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that doesn't seem right.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:13.33,0:11:15.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's a great Neal Stephenson line where he says
Dialogue: 0,0:11:15.67,0:11:20.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that wired people should know something about wires.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:20.07,0:11:22.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we should know, I think, we should know
Dialogue: 0,0:11:22.34,0:11:25.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where our Internet comes from, and we should know
Dialogue: 0,0:11:25.09,0:11:29.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what it is that physically, physically connects us all.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:29.91,0:11:32.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you. (Applause)
Dialogue: 0,0:11:32.25,0:11:34.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause)
Dialogue: 0,0:11:34.65,0:11:38.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thanks. (Applause)