Viet Cong and the Internet
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Short Paper Presentations
Presentation Title:
- Viet Cong and the Internet
Presenter(s):
Abstract:
Viet Cong and the Internet: Examining the influence of the Viet Cong on the development of current information technology. I would argue that in their (boys’ own) obsessions with whiz bang military hardware and the Soviet threat, North American (and americanophile) intellectuals have missed one obvious point. That the U.S. Defence Depart-ments research and development of the ARPANET, and thus the Internet, were directly influenced by the low tech. tactics deployed by the victorious liberation movements of South East Asia. Why has this been excluded from debate? Basically because the USA lost the Vietnam war, as a result this disastrous episode of US military history has been conveniently erased from the collective memory. Before the story of the Internet is completely etched in stone I would like to offer an alternative view to the dominant myth.
