
HN: Was the internet designed to resist nuclear attacks? - julienreszka
Doesn&#x27;t look like current internet infrastructure could survive, am I mistaken assuming this?
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mikece
This question is addressed in the book "The Innovators" \--
[https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Hackers-Geniuses-
Created-R...](https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Hackers-Geniuses-Created-
Revolution/dp/1476708703/) \-- and it's posed something like this: was the
internet invented by DARPA researchers who wanted a nuclear-proof
communication system which could dynamically route around broken/gone segments
of the internet, or by a groups of academic-based hackers at universities
around the country?

The answer is... both. Yes, DARPA wanted a self-repairing communications
network but the computer hackers at MIT, Harvard, Utah, and the Bay Area would
have likely produced something very similar without government being involved.
One interesting legacy from the DARPA funding is the RFC nomenclature: the
students designing TCP/IP couldn't "specify" anything without risking their
funding, so a public "Request For Comment" was a way to publish how they were
implementing things -- and how others would need to do it also if they wanted
to be compatible.

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wmf
The ARPAnet was theoretically designed to withstand a nuclear attack. The
commercial Internet was not; there are a lot of paths that exist but are not
used by policy.

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decentralizer
You are right. There are many Tier 1 networks so Internet can’t be destroyed
easily. Even If internet dies there’s radio communication and other stuff.
Like SATCOM.

