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A hypothetical sci-fi (or fantasy) scenario question: If a civilization couldn't set up its own internet, or if a curse was placed on it, what would be the best replacement for what it does? (lemm.ee)

submitted 23 hours ago by [email protected] to c/asklemmy

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I was reading a book, The Victorian Internet, which talked about how connected the Victorian era was, with wires stretching everywhere above the roads. It's probably exaggerated, but it got me thinking. There are many ways to engage in en masse interconnectivity. Computers, of course, are one of them, but we also have had, for example, messenger pigeons, drones we can send to different places, search dogs with an interconnected sniff system (I forgot what that was called), etc.

Suppose you had a civilization. Maybe it's on a planet whose environment interferes with the capabilities of a classic internet, or maybe it's a normal fantasy setting where the classic internet is cursed. However, the civilization still needs some kind of apparatus of interconnectivity. What's the best/closest thing you can think of as a replacement for the internet without it being the internet as we know it?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

this sounds more like you can't have computers. I mean once you have computers its sorta impossible not to have something that is the internet all but in name.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

No, i disagree. Imagine a jungle, you might have a computer, but you can't lay out cables due to lack of free space/straight lines. You would have to run the cables in such convoluted directions, that they might end up running in circles. Or the roots of the trees might hinder the cables, or destroy them over time.

The internet transports information. Roads transport goods and people. Both require straight lines from origin to destination, otherwise they're inefficient.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 15 hours ago

see you don't need the cables though. any communication medium will do. strobing lights, subsonci pulses, as long as the computer has input and output capability it can technically use any communication medium we use and by using it in a digital manner an mimic the internet.