Andrew Blum: What is the Internet, really?

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Lucia Kalinova Reviewer: Erika Vojtkova

I've always written primarily about architecture,

Vždy som písal hlavne o architektúre,

about buildings, and writing about architecture

o budovách, a písanie o architektúre

is based on certain assumptions.

je založené na určitých predpokladoch.

An architect designs a building, and it becomes a place,

Architekt navrhne budovu, ktorá sa stáva miestom,

or many architects design many buildings, and it becomes

alebo veľa architektov navrhne veľa budov, z ktorých sa stáva mesto

a city, and regardless of this complicated mix of forces

a napriek zmesi komplikovaných politických,

of politics and culture and economics that shapes

kultúrnych a ekonomických vplyvov, ktoré tieto miesta

these places, at the end of the day, you can go

formujú, ich nakoniec môžete

and you can visit them. You can walk around them.

navštíviť. Môžete sa po nich prejsť.

You can smell them. You can get a feel for them.

Môžete ich ovoňať. Môžete ich precítiť.

You can experience their sense of place.

Môžete sa s nimi zžiť.

But what was striking to me over the last several years

Ale v posledných rokoch ma začalo zarážať to,

was that less and less was I going out into the world,

že som čím ďalej tým menej vychádzal von, do sveta

and more and more, I was sitting in front of my computer screen.

a viac a viac som sedel za počítačom.

And especially since about 2007, when I got an iPhone,

Obzvlášť od roku 2007, keď som si kúpil iPhone,

I was not only sitting in front of my screen all day,

som nielen celý deň sedel za počítačom,

but I was also getting up at the end of the day

ale dopadol som tak, že som stále hľadel

and looking at this little screen that I carried in my pocket.

na tú malú obrazovku, ktorú som mal vo vrecku.

And what was surprising to me was how quickly

Prekvapilo ma, ako rýchlo

my relationship to the physical world had changed.

sa zmenil môj vzťah k fyzickému svetu.

In this very short period of time, you know, whether you

Za túto krátku dobu, či už to bolo

call it the last 15 years or so of being online, or the last,

posledných 15 rokov, čo sme online, alebo posledné

you know, four or five years of being online all the time,

štyri či päť rokov toho, čo sme vkuse online

our relationship to our surroundings had changed in that

sa zmenil náš vzťah k okoliu

our attention is constantly divided. You know,

a svoju pozornosť neustále delíme,

we're both looking inside the screens and we're looking

dívame sa aj na obrazovku, aj

out in the world around us.

na svet okolo seba.

And what was even more striking to me, and what I really

Čo ma zarážalo ešte viac a na čo som fakt

got hung up on, was that the world inside the screen

nevedel prísť bolo, že to vo vnútri obrazovky

seemed to have no physical reality of its own.

vyzeralo, akoby to ani nemalo fyzickú podobu.

If you went and looked for images of the Internet,

Ak ste niekedy hľadali fotky internetu,

this was all that you found, this famous image by Opte

našli ste toto, tento slávny obrázok od Opte,

of the Internet as the kind of Milky Way, this infinite expanse

na ktorom internet vyzerá ako akási Mliečna dráha, tento nekonečný zhluk,

where we don't seem to be anywhere on it.

ktorý nepôsobí, že by sme v ňom niekde mali byť aj my.

We can never seem to grasp it in its totality.

Zdá sa, že nie je ani možné to úplne pochopiť.

It's always reminded me of the Apollo image of the Earth,

Odjakživa mi to pripomínalo fotky Zeme z Apolla,

the blue marble picture, and it's similarly meant to suggest,

fotku nášho modrého mramoru, a myslím, že nám to aj naznačuje,

I think, that we can't really understand it as a whole.

že sa to ani nedá úplne pochopiť.

We're always sort of small in the face of its expanse.

Popri jeho veľkosti budeme navždy tak nejako maličkí.

So if there was this world and this screen, and if there was

Takže, ak existoval tento svet a tento monitor, a ak existoval

the physical world around me, I couldn't ever get them

hmotný svet okolo mňa, nikdy som ich nevedel spojiť

together in the same place.

do jedného celku.

And then this happened.

A potom sa stalo toto.

My Internet broke one day, as it occasionally does,

Pokazil sa mi internet, ako sa to občas stáva,

and the cable guy came to fix it, and he started with

prišiel chlapík, aby to opravil a začal s

the dusty clump of cables behind the couch,

gučou zaprášených káblov za gaučom,

and he followed it to the front of my building and into the basement and out to the back yard,

nasledoval ich do vchodu a do pivnice a na zadný dvor,

and there was this big jumble of cables against the wall.

a tam ležalo takéto obrovské klbko káblov.

And then he saw a squirrel running along the wire,

Potom zbadal veveričku, ktorá bežala popri kábloch

and he said, "There's your problem.

a povedal „Tam je váš problém.

A squirrel is chewing on your Internet." (Laughter)

Veverička vám obhrýza internet.“ (Smiech)

And this seemed astounding. The Internet is

Bol to pre mňa šok. Internet pôsobí ako niečo

a transcendent idea. It's a set of protocols that has changed

nadprirodzené. Je to súbor protokolov, ktoré zmenili

everything from shopping to dating to revolutions.

všetko od nakupovania, cez randenie, po revolúcie,

It was unequivocally not something

určite nie niečo,

a squirrel could chew on. (Laughter)

čo môže obhrýzať veverička. (Smiech)

But that in fact seemed to be the case.

Ale zdá sa, že tak to naozaj bolo,

A squirrel had in fact chewed on my Internet. (Laughter)

veverička mi naozaj obhrýzala internet. (Smiech)

And then I got this image in my head of what would happen

A tak som si predstavil, čo by sa stalo,

if you yanked the wire from the wall and if you started

keby som vytrhol kábel zo steny a

to follow it. Where would it go?

nasledoval ho. Kam by som sa dostal?

Was the Internet actually a place that you could visit?

Je internet miesto, ktoré môžeme navštíviť?

Could I go there? Who would I meet?

Mohol by som tam vojsť? Koho by som stretol?

You know, was there something actually out there?

Je tam niekde naozaj niečo?

And the answer, by all accounts, was no.

Odpoveďou je pravdepodobne Nie.

This was the Internet, this black box with a red light on it,

Ako hovoria v komédii The IT Crowd,

as represented in the sitcom "The IT Crowd."

internet je táto čierna skrinka s červeným svetielkom.

Normally it lives on the top of Big Ben,

Býva na vrchu veže Big Ben,

because that's where you get the best reception,

pretože tam je najlepší signál

but they had negotiated that their colleague could borrow it

a keď si ho chceli na jedno poobedie požičať,

for the afternoon to use in an office presentation.

aby ho vo firme mohli použiť na prezentáciu,

The elders of the Internet were willing to part with it

staršinovia zodpovední za internet boli ochotní

for a short while, and she looks at it and she says,

požičať ho na chvíľu a ona sa na to tak pozrela a vraví:

"This is the Internet? The whole Internet? Is it heavy?"

„Toto je internet? Celý internet? Je to ťažké?“

They say, "Of course not, the Internet doesn't weigh anything."

Ostatní hovoria „Samozrejme, že nie, internet nič neváži.“

And I was embarrassed. I was looking for this thing

A ja som sa zahanbil, lebo som hľadal práve tú vec,

that only fools seem to look for.

ktorú hľadajú iba blázni.

The Internet was that amorphous blob, or it was a silly

Internet bol teda iba niečo beztvaré alebo

black box with a blinking red light on it.

čierna krabička s červeným svetielkom.

It wasn't a real world out there.

Bol to nereálny svet,

But, in fact, it is. There is a real world of the Internet out there,

ktorý ale v skutočnosti reálny je. Máme tu naozajstný svet internetu,

and that's what I spent about two years visiting,

po ktorom som chodil zhruba dva roky,

these places of the Internet. I was in large data centers

bol som v obrovských výpočtových strediskách,

that use as much power as the cities in which they sit,

ktoré spotrebujú toľko elektriny ako celé mestá, v ktorých sa nachádzajú,

and I visited places like this, 60 Hudson Street in New York,

a bol som aj na miestach, akým je 60 Hudson Street v New Yorku,

which is one of the buildings in the world,

čo je jedna z tých budov sveta,

one of a very short list of buildings, about a dozen buildings,

jedna z veľmi krátkeho zoznamu budov, je ich asi tucet,

where more networks of the Internet connect to each other

kde sa spája viac sietí internetu

than anywhere else.

ako kdekoľvek inde na svete

And that connection is an unequivocally physical process.

a to spojenie je jednoznačne hmotným procesom.

It's about the router of one network, a Facebook or

Všetko je to o routri jednej siete, Facebooku, alebo Google,

a Google or a B.T. or a Comcast or a Time Warner, whatever it is,

alebo B.T., alebo Comcast, alebo Time Warner proste čohokoľvek,

connecting with usually a yellow fiber optic cable up into

ktorý je väčšinou žltým optickým káblom napojený

the ceiling and down into the router of another network,

k stropu a potom routru ďalšej siete

and that's unequivocally physical, and it's surprisingly intimate.

a to je ten zjavný, ohromne dokonalý fyzický proces.

A building like 60 Hudson, and a dozen or so others,

Na mieste ako 60 Hudson Street a asi tucte podobných miest

has 10 times more networks connecting within it

sa v porovnaní s iným budovami

than the next tier of buildings.

spája asi desaťkrát viac sietí.

There's a very short list of these places.

Existuje veľmi krátky zoznam takýchto miest,

And 60 Hudson in particular is interesting because it's home

pričom 60 Hudson je obzvlášť zaujímavá, pretože v nej sídli

to about a half a dozen very important networks,

zhruba 6 veľmi dôležitých sietí,

which are the networks which serve the undersea cables

ktoré slúžia ako základne podmorských káblov,

that travel underneath the ocean

ktoré ležia na dne oceánov

that connect Europe and America and connect all of us.

a spájajú Európu s Amerikou a teda nás všetkých.

And it's those cables in particular that I want to focus on.

Chcel by som sa zamerať práve na tieto káble.

If the Internet is a global phenomenon, if we live

Ak je internet globálnym fenoménom, ak žijeme

in a global village, it's because there are cables underneath

v nejakom globálnom mestečku, je to preto, že

the ocean, cables like this.

na dne oceánu sú káble ako napríklad tento,

And in this dimension, they are incredibly small.

ktorý má neuveriteľne malé rozmery.

You can you hold them in your hand. They're like a garden hose.

Môžete ho chytiť do ruky. Vyzerá ako hadica.

But in the other dimension they are incredibly expansive,

Avšak niektoré dosahujú neuveriteľné rozmery, kedy môžu byť

as expansive as you can imagine.

také obrovské ako si len viete predstaviť.

They stretch across the ocean. They're three or five

Tiahnu sa krížom cez oceán. Sú dlhé tri, päť,

or eight thousand miles in length, and

osem tisíc míľ

if the material science and the computational technology

a zatiaľ čo veda o materiáloch a počítačoch je

is incredibly complicated, the basic physical process

neuveriteľne komplikovaná, základný fyzický proces

is shockingly simple. Light goes in on one end of the ocean

je neuveriteľne jednoduchý. Svetlo vojde dnu na jednom konci oceána

and comes out on the other, and it usually comes

a vyjde na druhom, pričom väčšinou vychádza

from a building called a landing station that's often

z budovy, ktorá sa volá pristávacia stanica, ktorá býva

tucked away inconspicuously in a little seaside neighborhood,

často nenápadne zastrčená v malých prímorských mestečkách,

and there are amplifiers that sit on the ocean floor

na dne oceána ležia tiež zosilňovače, ktoré vyzerajú ako tuniak modroplutvý

that look kind of like bluefin tuna, and every 50 miles

a na každej päťdesiatej míli zosilňujú signál

they amplify the signal, and since the rate of transmission

a keďže rýchlosť prenosu

is incredibly fast, the basic unit is a 10-gigabit-per-second

je neuveriteľne vysoká, základnou jednotkou je 10 gigabit za sekundu

wavelength of light, maybe a thousand times your own

vlnovej dĺžky svetla, možnože to je tisíckrát rýchlejšie

connection, or capable of carrying 10,000 video streams,

ako vaše pripojenie, respektíve je schopné prenosu 10 000 videí

but not only that, but you'll put not just one wavelength of light

a nielen to, ale jediné vlákno toho kábla môže preniesť

through one of the fibers, but you'll put maybe

nie iba jednu vlnovú dĺžku svetla, ale aj

50 or 60 or 70 different wavelengths or colors of light

50, 60, či 70 rôznych vlnových dĺžok alebo farieb svetla,

through a single fiber, and then you'll have maybe

no a v jednom kábli je aj osem vlákien,

eight fibers in a cable, four going in each direction.

štyri v každom smere.

And they're tiny. They're the thickness of a hair.

Sú maličké, tenké ako vlas.

And then they connect to the continent somewhere.

No a tie sa potom spoja niekde na pevnine.

They connect in a manhole like this. Literally,

Spájajú sa v takejto šachte. Naozaj,

this is where the 5,000-mile cable plugs in.

tu je zapojený 5 000 míľ dlhý kábel.

This is in Halifax, a cable that stretches from Halifax to Ireland.

Je to v Halifaxe, kábel, ktorý ide z Halifaxu do Írska.

And the landscape is changing. Three years ago,

Toto rozloženie sa ale mení. Pred tromi rokmi,

when I started thinking about this, there was one cable

keď som o tomto všetkom začal rozmýšľať, bol na západnom pobreží Afriky

down the Western coast of Africa, represented

jeden kábel, ktorý je na tejto mape od Steva Songa

in this map by Steve Song as that thin black line.

zobrazený tenkou čiernou čiarou.

Now there are six cables and more coming, three down each coast.

Dnes je tam šesť káblov a ďalšie tri sú na ceste na každé pobrežie.

Because once a country gets plugged in by one cable,

Je to spôsobené tým, že keď sa krajina pripojí jedným káblom,

they realize that it's not enough. If they're going to build

uvedomí si, že jej to nestačí. Ak na tom chce vystavať

an industry around it, they need to know that their connection

priemysel, musí si byť istá, že jej pripojenie

isn't tenuous but permanent, because if a cable breaks,

je dostatočne silné, pretože ak sa kábel roztrhne,

you have to send a ship out into the water, throw

musíte na more poslať loď, zakotviť,

a grappling hook over the side, pick it up, find the other end,

vytiahnuť kábel, nájsť jeho druhý koniec,

and then fuse the two ends back together and then dump it over.

znovu ich spojiť a hodiť naspäť do vody.

It's an intensely, intensely physical process.

A to je naozaj intenzívny fyzický proces.

So this is my friend Simon Cooper, who until very recently

Toto je môj kamarát Simon Cooper, ktorý až donedávna

worked for Tata Communications, the communications wing

pracoval na oddelení pre komunikáciu pre Tata Communications,

of Tata, the big Indian industrial conglomerate.

veľký indický priemyselný konglomerát

And I've never met him. We've only communicated

a ktorého som nikdy nestretol. Komunikovali sme iba

via this telepresence system, which always makes me

cez videokonferenčný systém, ktorý ma núti rozmýšľať o ňom

think of him as the man inside the Internet. (Laughter)

ako o tom mužovi vo vnútri internetu. (Smiech)

And he is English. The undersea cable industry

Je Angličan. Angličania dominujú

is dominated by Englishmen, and they all seem to be 42.

priemyslu podmorských káblov a zdá sa, že všetci majú 42 rokov. (Smiech)

(Laughter) Because they all started at the same time

To preto, lebo všetci začali v rovnakom čase,

with the boom about 20 years ago.

v čase veľkého rozmachu pred zhruba 20 rokmi.

And Tata had gotten its start as a communications business

Ako komunikačný podnik začala Tata,

when they bought two cables, one across the Atlantic

keď kúpila dva káble, jeden v Atlantiku

and one across the Pacific, and proceeded to add pieces

a druhý v Tichom oceáne a začala k nim pridávať kúsky

onto them, until they had built a belt around the world,

až kým nevybudovali okruh okolo celého sveta,

which means they will send your bits to the East or the West.

čo znamená, že bity posielajú na východ alebo na západ.

They have -- this is literally a beam of light around the world,

Doslova je to lúč svetla okolo sveta

and if a cable breaks in the Pacific, it'll send it around

a ak sa pokazí kábel v Tichom oceáne, pošlú lúč

the other direction. And then having done that,

opačným smerom. Potom, keď to dokončili,

they started to look for places to wire next.

začali hľadať ďalšie miesta, ktoré by mohli pripojiť.

They looked for the unwired places, and that's meant

Hľadali nepripojené miesta, to znamená

North and South, primarily these cables to Africa.

sever a juh, hlavne teda Afriku.

But what amazes me is Simon's incredible geographic imagination.

Mňa udivuje Simonova neuveriteľná geografická predstavivosť.

He thinks about the world with this incredible expansiveness.

On sa na svet díva neuveriteľne expanzívne.

And I was particularly interested because I wanted to see

Mňa to všetko zaujímalo o to viac, že som chcel vidieť

one of these cables being built. See, you know, all the time

ako sa takýto kábel tvorí. Viete, keď sme online

online we experience these fleeting moments of connection,

zažívame tie prchavé momenty spojenia,

these sort of brief adjacencies, a tweet or a Facebook post

akési spoločenstvo, status na Tweeteri alebo na Facebooku,

or an email, and it seemed like there was a physical corollary to that.

alebo email a pôsobí to ako výsledok fyzickej aktivity.

It seemed like there was a moment when the continent

Vyzeralo to tak, že prichádzal moment, kedy sa pripojí

was being plugged in, and I wanted to see that.

nový kontinent a práve to som chcel vidieť.

And Simon was working on a new cable,

Simon pracoval na novom kábli,

WACS, the West Africa Cable System, that stretched

WACS, the West Africa Cable System, ktorý viedol

from Lisbon down the west coast of Africa,

z Lisabonu na západné pobrežie Afriky,

to Cote d'Ivoire, to Ghana, to Nigeria, to Cameroon.

do Cote d´Ivoire, do Ghany, Nigérie, Cameroonu.

And he said there was coming soon, depending

Povedal, že to príde už čoskoro, že záleží

on the weather, but he'd let me know when,

od počasia, ale že mi dá vedieť,

and so with about four days notice, he said to go

a tak mi asi štyri dni dopredu povedal, aby som išiel

to this beach south of Lisbon, and a little after 9,

na pláž južne od Lisabonu a že okolo deviatej tam

this guy will walk out of the water. (Laughter)

z vody vyjde nejaký chlapík, (Smiech)

And he'll be carrying a green nylon line, a lightweight line,

bude niesť zelené nylonové lanko, tenučké lanko,

called a messenger line, and that was the first link

ktoré sa volá kotvové lanko, je prvým spojením

between sea and land, this link that would then be

medzi morom a zemou a neskôr sa

leveraged into this 9,000-mile path of light.

zmení na 9 000-míľovú svetelnú cestu.

Then a bulldozer began to pull the cable in from this

Zo špeciálnej lode potom začal buldozér

specialized cable landing ship, and it was floated

vyťahovať kábel upevnený na bójach,

on these buoys until it was in the right place.

až pokiaľ nebol tam, kde mal byť.

Then you can see the English engineers looking on.

Tomu všetkému sa prizerali anglický inžinieri.

And then, once it was in the right place, he got back

A keď už bolo všetko na svojom mieste, chlapík

in the water holding a big knife, and he cut each buoy off,

vošiel naspäť do vody s veľkým nožom, odrezal bóje,

and the buoy popped up into the air, and the cable

tie vyleteli do vzduchu a kábel

dropped to the sea floor, and he did that all the way out

padol na dno mora. Urobil to po celej dĺžke

to the ship, and when he got there,

až k lodi a keď k nej došiel,

they gave him a glass of juice and a cookie,

dali mu pohár džúsu a sušienku,

and then he jumped back in, and he swam back to shore,

potom skočil naspäť do vody, priprával k brehu

and then he lit a cigarette. (Laughter)

a zapálil si cigaretu. (Smiech)

And then once that cable was on shore,

Keď už bol kábel na pobreží,

they began to prepare to connect it to the other side,

začali ho upravovať na pripojenie k druhému koncu,

for the cable that had been brought down from the landing station.

ku káblu, ktorý priniesli z pristávacej stanice.

And first they got it with a hacksaw, and then they start

Začali s pílkou a potom akoby

sort of shaving away at this plastic interior with a --

hobľovali plastové časti, čo vyzeralo

sort of working like chefs, and then finally they're working

akoby na tom pracovali kuchári a nakoniec to konečne začali opracovávať

like jewelers to get these hair-thin fibers to line up

ako šperkári, aby mohli pripojiť tie tenučké káble

with the cable that had come down,

ku káblom, ktoré priniesli

and with this hole-punch machine they fuse it together.

a pritavili ich k sebe takou spájkovačkou.

And when you see these guys going at this cable with a hacksaw,

Keď vidíte tých chlapov ako opracúvajú kábel pílou,

you stop thinking about the Internet as a cloud.

prestanete o internete rozmýšľať ako o nejakom oblaku.

It starts to seem like an incredibly physical thing.

Začne vám to pripadať ako neuveriteľne hmotná vec.

And what surprised me as well was that as much as this

Čo ma tiež prekvapilo je, ako veľmi je to všetko

is based on the most sophisticated technology, as much

založené na premyslenej technológii, a aké je to

as this is an incredibly new thing, the physical process

všetko neuveriteľne nové, i keď samotný fyzický

itself has been around for a long time, and the culture is the same.

proces a aj kultúra tu už boli dlhú dobu.

You see the local laborers. You see the English engineer

Vidíte miestnych robotníkov. Vidíte inžinierov z Anglicka,

giving directions in the background. And more importantly,

ktorí to všetko riadia. A čo je najdôležitejšie,

the places are the same. These cables still connect

tie miesta sú stále rovnaké. Káble stále spájajú

these classic port cities, places like Lisbon, Mombasa,

rovnaké mestá, miesta ako Lisabon, Mombasa,

Mumbai, Singapore, New York.

Mumbai, Singapúr, New York.

And then the process on shore takes around three or four days,

Proces na pobreží trvá tak tri-štyri dni

and then, when it's done, they put the manhole cover

a keď je všetko hotové, zavrú káblovú šachtu,

back on top, and they push the sand over that,

zasypú ju pieskom

and we all forget about it.

a my všetci na to pomaly zabudneme.

And it seems to me that we talk a lot about the cloud,

Zdá sa mi, že sa veľa hovorí o „oblaku“,

but every time we put something on the cloud,

ale zakaždým, keď niečo dáme na „oblak“,

we give up some responsibility for it.

vzdávame sa svojej zodpovednosti za to, čo tam dáme,

We are less connected to it. We let other people worry about it.

sme k tomu menej pripojení. Prenechávame to na starosť iným.

And that doesn't seem right.

A to sa mi nezdá správne.

There's a great Neal Stephenson line where he says

Neal Stephenson povedal úžasnú vec, a to,

that wired people should know something about wires.

že ľudia, ktorí majú internet by mali vedieť aspoň niečo o kábloch.

And we should know, I think, we should know

A myslím si, že by sme mali vedieť

where our Internet comes from, and we should know

odkiaľ náš internet je a mali by sme tiež vedieť,

what it is that physically, physically connects us all.

čo nás všetkých naozaj fyzicky spája.

Thank you. (Applause)

Ďakujem. (Potlesk)

(Applause)

(Potlesk)

Thanks. (Applause)

Vďaka. (Potlesk)