
Mother Earth Mother Board (1996) - wallflower
https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/
======
adamch
This is an extraordinary essay. I read it on an hour-long bus ride, expecting
a history of undersea cabling to put me to sleep. Instead, I devoured it.

The history of undersea broadband is the history of human civilization - it
requires amazing leaps in technology, in international cooperation, in
private-public negotiation. These three forces shaped the 20th century and are
going to determine whether we survive the 21st century.

Absolutely essential reading.

~~~
Bromskloss
I hate to be the low-life slouch here, but is there no _shorter_ version – one
that rather just lists the facts than sets a mood? The information density
seems so low. I dove eight paragraphs deep without hitting any solid material
at all.

If there is none, maybe I should one day condense it to its essential points
myself.

~~~
pilsetnieks
It's basically the story of laying the FLAG cable with heavy digressions. The
wikipedia page is enough if you want just the facts
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber-
Optic_Link_Around_the_Gl...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber-
Optic_Link_Around_the_Globe))

------
ryanmarsh
It was better in print. I mean honestly, it was so beautiful. Teenage me read
it and re-read it. Wish I still had my old copy.

~~~
rconti
Yup. Kept my old Wireds for a decade or more, but I think I eventually let
them go.

------
emilecantin
I just finished reading Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon (very good book), and
this article was included at the end of the E-Book version (literally finished
reading it this morning).

As someone who's interested in technology (obviously) and boats / the ocean,
this article hit an unexpected confluence of interests, on an unexpectedly
complex subject. I definitely recommend reading it.

------
gkanai
This is, afaik, the longest article ever published in Wired. It is one of the
most iconic tech articles ever.

------
acheron
A classic. This is reprinted in Stephenson's book _Some Remarks_ , which also
has some other essays and stories (all quite a bit shorter than this though).
Worth checking out if you like Stephenson.

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julianz
This is one of my favourite ever Wired articles. I remember reading it in the
mag originally, and printing it several years later to read again - it was
something like 53 pages?

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mcbain
I re-read this every few years. I love the combination of technology,
geography, and history.

I'll now probably lose the next few hours panning around undersea cable maps.
Again.

------
bpp
One of my favorite long form pieces of all time. I think about this piece
probably once a month.

------
arzt
1990s Neal Stephenson was incredible.

~~~
mark242
He still is. Reamde is a fantastic story of the seedy underbelly of World of
Warcraft gold.

~~~
lmm
Disagree. Nothing fits together and the whole thing makes no sense. He even
explicitly acknowledges how the real-world/game integration is entirely
pointless, and then just proceeds to go straight past it. It's his weakest
work of all aside from the collaborations.

Seveneves is much better, though still not quite up to his early standards.

~~~
peterbraden
Anaethem was incredible, but since then I haven't enjoyed his stuff as much,
but based on his earlier work he's still one of my favorite authors

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borkt
Is there an audio version? I am happy to read it but this would be perfect for
a podcast length piece. He could be the tech Dan Carlin!

~~~
pilsetnieks
> He could be the tech Dan Carlin!

I think Neal Stephenson might be a bit more accomplished than that, no offense
to Dan Carlin.

