Andrew Blum: What is the Internet, really?

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Prevodilac: Tatjana Jevdjic Lektor: Ivana Korom

I've always written primarily about architecture,

Oduvek uglavnom pišem o arhitekturi,

about buildings, and writing about architecture

o zgradama i pisanje o arhitekturi

is based on certain assumptions.

se zasniva na određenim pretpostavkama.

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

Arhitekta projektuje zgradu i ona postane mesto

or many architects design many buildings, and it becomes

ili kad mnogo arhitekata projektuje mnogo zgrada, nastane

a city, and regardless of this complicated mix of forces

grad i bez obzira na ovu komplikovanu mešavinu

of politics and culture and economics that shapes

političkih, kulturoloških i ekonomskih sila koje oblikuju

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

ova mesta, na kraju vi možete da odete

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

i posetite ih. Možete da se šetate između njih.

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

Možete da ih omirišete. Da osetite.

You can experience their sense of place.

Možete da iskusite njihovo postojanje.

But what was striking to me over the last several years

Ono što me je zainteresovalo poslednjih nekoliko godina

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

je da kako sve manje izlazim napolje u svet,

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

sve više i više provodim vremena pred ekranom kompjutera.

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

Posebno pošto sam 2007. godine nabavio iPhone,

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

nisam samo sedeo pred ekranom po ceo dan,

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

nego kad bih pred kraj dana ustao,

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

gledao sam u ovaj mali ekran koji sam nosio u džepu.

And what was surprising to me was how quickly

Ono što me je veoma iznenadilo je kako se brzo

my relationship to the physical world had changed.

moja veza sa fizičkim svetom promenila.

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

U ovom veoma kratkom periodu, bez obzira

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

da li je to biti onlajn 15 godina ili

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

sve vreme biti onlajn četiri ili pet godina,

our relationship to our surroundings had changed in that

naš odnos prema našem okruženju se promenio tako

our attention is constantly divided. You know,

da je naša pažnja stalno podeljena.

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

Mi gledamo i u ekrane

out in the world around us.

i u spoljni svet oko nas.

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

Ono što je ostavilo još veći utisak na mene i na šta sam se zaista

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

navukao, je ideja da svet u ekranu

seemed to have no physical reality of its own.

izgleda nije imao sopstvenu fizičku pojavu.

If you went and looked for images of the Internet,

Ako potražite slike interneta

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

sve što ćete naći je ova Opteova slavna slika interneta

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

gde je predstavljen kao Mlečni put, ovaj bezgranični prostor

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

gde jednostavno nema nas.

We can never seem to grasp it in its totality.

Izgleda da to nikada nećemo potpuno razumeti.

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

To me stalno podseća na sliku Zemlje sa Apoloa,

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

slika plavog klikera i ta sličnost kao da upućuje

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

na to da nikada nećemo razumeti internet kao celinu.

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

Mi smo nekako veoma mali u odnosu na prostor koji zauzima.

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

Ako imamo taj svet i taj ekran i ako postoji

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

taj fizički svet oko mene, nikada ne bih mogao

together in the same place.

da ih povežem na jednom mestu.

And then this happened.

A onda se dogodilo ovo.

My Internet broke one day, as it occasionally does,

Jednog dana mi je pukao internet, kao što to ponekad biva

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

i momak iz kablovske je došao da ga popravi i počeo je

the dusty clump of cables behind the couch,

prvo među prašnjavom gomilom kablova iza kauča,

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

da bi nastavio do lica moje zgrade, u podrumu i na kraju u dvorištu iza

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

i tamo je bila ta velika zbrka kablova naslonjena na zid.

And then he saw a squirrel running along the wire,

A onda je video vevericu kako trči uz žicu,

and he said, "There's your problem.

i rekao je: "Evo ga vaš problem.

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

Veverica vam gricka internet." (Smeh)

And this seemed astounding. The Internet is

Ovo se činilo neverovatnim. Internet je tako

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

transcendentna ideja. To je set protokola koji je promenio

everything from shopping to dating to revolutions.

sve od kupovine preko druženja do revolucija.

It was unequivocally not something

To definitivno nije nešto

a squirrel could chew on. (Laughter)

što bi veverica mogla da sažvaće. (Smeh)

But that in fact seemed to be the case.

Ali, sve je ukazivalo na to da jeste tako.

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

Veverica je zaista grickala moj internet. (Smeh)

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

I onda mi se javila slika, šta bi se desilo

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

kada bi izvukao žicu iz zida i počeo

to follow it. Where would it go?

da je pratiš. Kuda bi te vodila?

Was the Internet actually a place that you could visit?

Da li je internet u stvari mesto koje biste mogli da posetite?

Could I go there? Who would I meet?

Da li bih i ja mogao tamo? Koga bih sreo?

You know, was there something actually out there?

Da li tamo zaista ima nečega?

And the answer, by all accounts, was no.

Odgovor je, po svim tačkama, ne.

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

Ovo je internet, ova crna kutija sa crvenom lampicom,

as represented in the sitcom "The IT Crowd."

kao što je predstavljeno u humorističkoj seriji "The IT Crowd".

Normally it lives on the top of Big Ben,

Obično, živi na vrhu Big Bena

because that's where you get the best reception,

jer je tamo najbolji prijem signala,

but they had negotiated that their colleague could borrow it

ali uspeli su da srede da ga njihova koleginica pozajmi

for the afternoon to use in an office presentation.

za to popodne i iskoristi u prezentaciji na poslu.

The elders of the Internet were willing to part with it

Internetsko Veće staraca je bilo voljno da im udovolji

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

nakratko i onda je ona, gledajući u tu kutiju rekla:

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

"Ovo je internet? Ceo internet? Je li težak?"

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

Oni odgovaraju: "Naravno da nije, internet nema težinu".

And I was embarrassed. I was looking for this thing

Bilo mi je neprijatno. Tražio sam nešto

that only fools seem to look for.

za čim izgleda samo budale tragaju.

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

Internet je ta neka bestelesna masa ili zaista samo

black box with a blinking red light on it.

blesava crna kutija sa crvenom lampicom koja treperi.

It wasn't a real world out there.

To tamo nije bio stvarni svet.

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

Ali, u stvari, jeste. Tamo negde postoji stvarni svet interneta

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

i tamo sam proveo oko dve godine,

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

na internet mestima. Bio sam u velikim centrima podataka

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

koji koriste energiju koliko i oveći gradovi u kojima se nalaze

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

i posetio sam mesto poput ovog, u ulici Hadson broj 60 u Njujorku,

which is one of the buildings in the world,

što je adresa jedne od zgrada na svetu,

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

jedne od malog broja zgrada, oko tuce zgrada,

where more networks of the Internet connect to each other

gde se sastaje i spaja više internetskih mreža

than anywhere else.

nego bilo gde na svetu.

And that connection is an unequivocally physical process.

Taj spoj je nepobitno fizički proces.

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

Tu se ruter jedne mreže, recimo Fejsbuka ili

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

Gugla ili B.T.-a ili Comcasta ili Time Warnera, bilo šta da je,

connecting with usually a yellow fiber optic cable up into

spaja sa uobičajeno žutim optičkim kablom

the ceiling and down into the router of another network,

na tavanici i dole u ruter neke druge mreže

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

i to je nepobitno fizička manifestacija koja je iznenađujuće intimna.

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

Ova zgrada nalik zgradi Hadson 60 i desetku drugih zgrada,

has 10 times more networks connecting within it

ima 10 puta više mreža koje se u njoj spajaju

than the next tier of buildings.

nego celi sledeći niz zgrada.

There's a very short list of these places.

Lista ovih zgrada je jako kratka.

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

A ova zgrada na Hadsonu je interesantna jer udomljava

to about a half a dozen very important networks,

oko šest vrlo važnih mreža,

which are the networks which serve the undersea cables

koje su nakačene na podvodne kablove

that travel underneath the ocean

koji putuju ispod okeana,

that connect Europe and America and connect all of us.

koji povezuje Evropu i Ameriku i sve nas.

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

To su kablovi na koje posebno hoću da se osvrnem.

If the Internet is a global phenomenon, if we live

Ako je internet globalni fenomen, a mi živimo

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

u globalnom selu, to je zbog toga što postoje ti kablovi ispod

the ocean, cables like this.

okeana, kablovi poput ovih.

And in this dimension, they are incredibly small.

U ovoj dimenziji oni su veoma mali.

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

Možete ih držati u ruci. Nisu veći od baštenskog creva.

But in the other dimension they are incredibly expansive,

Ali u drugoj dimenziji oni su veoma ekspanzivni

as expansive as you can imagine.

i rastežu se koliko god možete da zamislite.

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

Rastežu se preko celog okeana. Dugi su 5 ili 8

or eight thousand miles in length, and

hiljada kilometara i ako su

if the material science and the computational technology

nauka i računarska tehnologija iza toga

is incredibly complicated, the basic physical process

vrlo komplikovane, osnovni fizički proces iza toga je

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

vrlo jednostavan. Svetlo uđe na jednom kraju okeana

and comes out on the other, and it usually comes

i izađe na drugom i obično dolazi

from a building called a landing station that's often

iz zgrade koja se zova "dolazna stanica", obično

tucked away inconspicuously in a little seaside neighborhood,

je ušuškana negde kraj obale

and there are amplifiers that sit on the ocean floor

i postoje pojačivači koji su na okeanskom dnu

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

koji izgledaju malo poput tune i na svakih 80 km,

they amplify the signal, and since the rate of transmission

oni pojačavaju signal. Pošto je brzina signala

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

veoma velika, osnovna jedinica je 10 gigabita u sekundi

wavelength of light, maybe a thousand times your own

što je verovatno bar hiljadu puta brže od vaše konekcije kod kuće,

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

a što može da nosi 10 000 video strimova,

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

ali ne samo to, tu ne ide samo jedan svetlosni talas

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

kroz jedno vlakno, već ćete staviti verovatno

50 or 60 or 70 different wavelengths or colors of light

50 ili 60 ili 70 različitih talasnih dužina ili boja svetlosti

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

kroz jedno jedino vlakno i imaćete verovatno

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

osam vlakana u jednom kablu, po četiri u oba smera.

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

Oni su sićušni. Nisu deblji od dlake.

And then they connect to the continent somewhere.

Onda se oni spoje negde na kontinentu.

They connect in a manhole like this. Literally,

Spoje se u šahtu poput ovog. Bukvalno,

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

ovo je mesto gde se uključuje kabl dugačak 8 000 km.

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

Ovo je u Halifaksu, kabl koji se proteže od Halifaksa do Irske.

And the landscape is changing. Three years ago,

I sam pejsaž se menja. Pre tri godine,

when I started thinking about this, there was one cable

kada sam počeo da razmišljam o ovome, bio je jedan kabl

down the Western coast of Africa, represented

uz Zapadnu obalu Afrike, predstavljen

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

na ovoj mapi Stiva Songa u vidu te tanke crne linije.

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

Sada ima šest kablova i biće još, po tri niz obe obale.

Because once a country gets plugged in by one cable,

Kad se jedanput zemlja uključi sa jednim kablom,

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

oni shvate da to nije dovoljno. Ako hoće da prave industriju

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

oko toga, moraju da znaju da njihova veza

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

nije slaba, već je stalna. Ako se kabl prekine

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

morate da šaljete brod u vodu,

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

bacite kuku, podignete ga, pronađete drugi kraj

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

i onda osigurate njihovu vezu i ponovo bacite u vodu.

It's an intensely, intensely physical process.

To je jako težak fizički posao.

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

Ovo je moj prijatelj Simon Kuper, koji je doskora radio

worked for Tata Communications, the communications wing

za Tata komunikacije, komunikaciono krilo Tate,

of Tata, the big Indian industrial conglomerate.

velikog indijskog industrijskog konglomerata.

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

Nikad ga nisam sreo. Samo smo komunicirali preko

via this telepresence system, which always makes me

sistema teleprezentacije, koji me uvek natera

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

da mislim o njemu kao o čoveku unutar interneta. (Smeh)

And he is English. The undersea cable industry

On je Englez. U industriji podvodnih kablova

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

Englezi dominiraju, izgleda da svi imaju 42 godine.

(Laughter) Because they all started at the same time

(Smeh) Zato što su svi počeli u isto vreme

with the boom about 20 years ago.

kad i bum pre dvadesetak godina.

And Tata had gotten its start as a communications business

Tata je počela kad i biznis u komunikacijama

when they bought two cables, one across the Atlantic

kad su doneli dva kabla, jedan preko Atlantika

and one across the Pacific, and proceeded to add pieces

i drugi preko Pacifika i nastavili su da dodaju deliće

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

na njih, dok nisu napravili pojas oko sveta,

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

što znači da će poslati vaše bitove na istok ili zapad.

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

To je bukvalno svetlosni zrak oko sveta

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

i ako se kabl prekine na Pacifiku, oni će ga poslati

the other direction. And then having done that,

u drugom pravcu. Kad to urade

they started to look for places to wire next.

počinju da gledaju mesta koja bi još umrežili.

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

Tražili bi neumrežena mesta, a to je

North and South, primarily these cables to Africa.

sever i jug, uglavnom kablovi za Afriku.

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

Ono što me zadivljuje je Simonova neverovatna geografska mašta.

He thinks about the world with this incredible expansiveness.

On razmišlja o svetu neverovatno ekspanzivno.

And I was particularly interested because I wanted to see

Bio sam posebno zainteresovan jer sam želeo da vidim

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

kako se pravi jedan takav kabl. Vidite, sve vreme

online we experience these fleeting moments of connection,

provedeno onlajn, doživljavamo ove prolazne trenutke povezanosti,

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

nekakvu kratku bliskost, tvit ili Fejsbvuk post

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

ili mail i deluje da postoji fizička dimenzija toga.

It seemed like there was a moment when the continent

Delovalo je kao da je postojao momenat kada se

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

kontinent uključio i želeo sam da to vidim.

And Simon was working on a new cable,

Simon je radio na novom kablu,

WACS, the West Africa Cable System, that stretched

WACS, Zapadno afrički kablovski sistem, koji se prostirao od

from Lisbon down the west coast of Africa,

Lisabona do zapadne obale Afrike,

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

do Obale Slonovače, Gane, Nigerije, pa do Kameruna.

And he said there was coming soon, depending

Rekao je da dolazi uskoro, zavisi od vremenskih uslova,

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

javiće mi kad

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

i otprilike četiri dana unapred, rekao mi je da

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

odem na tu plaži južno od Lisabona i malo posle 9

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

ovaj momak će izaći iz vode. (Smeh)

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

Nosiće zelenu najlonsku nit, laganu nit

called a messenger line, and that was the first link

koja se zove linija poruka, to je bio prvi link

between sea and land, this link that would then be

između mora i zemlje, taj link će imati

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

moć nad putem svetlosti od 15 000 km.

Then a bulldozer began to pull the cable in from this

Onda je buldozer počeo da vuče kabl iz ovog

specialized cable landing ship, and it was floated

specijalizovanog broda za dolazne kablove i on je

on these buoys until it was in the right place.

plutao na bovama dok nije došao na pravo mesto.

Then you can see the English engineers looking on.

Onda možete videti pregled engleskih inženjera.

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

A zatim, kad je bio na pravom mestu, on je otišao nazad u vodu

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

držeći veliki nož, odsekao svaku bovu

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

koja je zatim odskočila u vazduh i kabl je pao

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

na morsko dno. To je radio sve vreme izlaska

to the ship, and when he got there,

sa broda i kad je završio

they gave him a glass of juice and a cookie,

dali su mu čašu soka i kolač,

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

a zatim je ponovo skočio u vodu i otplivao nazad na obalu

and then he lit a cigarette. (Laughter)

i zapalio cigaretu. (Smeh)

And then once that cable was on shore,

Onda kad je kabl bio na obali,

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

počeli su sa pripremom povezivanja sa drugim krajem,

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

sa kablom koji je donet sa dolazne stanice.

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

Prvo sa testerom za metal, pa su počeli da ga

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

na neki način ogoljuju od plastike sa -

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

nalik kuvarima u kuhinjama, na kraju su radili

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

kao draguljari da bi dobili ova vlakna tanka kao dlaka kose

with the cable that had come down,

da bi ih poravnali sa kablom koji je upravo spušten

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

i sa ovom mašinom za varenje ih povezali i osigurali.

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

Kad vidiš ove momke sa ovom testerom za metal

you stop thinking about the Internet as a cloud.

prestaješ da misliš o internetu kao o oblaku.

It starts to seem like an incredibly physical thing.

Počinje da bude vrlo fizički.

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

Ono što me je takođe iznenadilo je da ma koliko

is based on the most sophisticated technology, as much

je to bazirano na sofisticiranoj tehnologiji,

as this is an incredibly new thing, the physical process

ma koliko je to neverovatno nova stvar, fizički proces

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

je tu oko nas vrlo dugo kao i njegova kultura.

You see the local laborers. You see the English engineer

Vidite lokalne radnike. Vidite engleskog inženjera

giving directions in the background. And more importantly,

koji daje uputstva u pozadini. Još važnije,

the places are the same. These cables still connect

mesta su ista. Ovi kablovi još uvek povezuju klasične

these classic port cities, places like Lisbon, Mombasa,

gradove luke, mesta kao Lisabon, Mombasu,

Mumbai, Singapore, New York.

Mumbai, Singapur, Njujork.

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

Proces na obali traje tri-četiri dana,

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

a onda kad je gotov, postavljaju poklopac na šaht

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

preko toga pesak

and we all forget about it.

i zaboravimo na to.

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

Deluje mi kao da pričamo mnogo o oblaku,

but every time we put something on the cloud,

ali svaki put kad stavimo nešto na njega,

we give up some responsibility for it.

damo mu neku odgovornost.

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

Manje smo povezani sa njim. Puštamo druge ljude da brinu o tome.

And that doesn't seem right.

To nije u redu.

There's a great Neal Stephenson line where he says

Postoji jedna rečenica Nila Stivensona

that wired people should know something about wires.

da bi umreženi ljudi trebalo da znaju nešto o žicama za mrežu.

And we should know, I think, we should know

Mislim da bi trebalo da znamo

where our Internet comes from, and we should know

odakle internet dolazi i treba da

what it is that physically, physically connects us all.

znamo šta je to što nas sve fizički povezuje.

Thank you. (Applause)

Hvala vam. (Aplauz)

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

Thanks. (Applause)

Hvala. (Aplauz)