Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World - Reflection

     Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World is a great educational documentary about the history of the Internet and an explanation of how it impacts our lives today. It simply cannot be understated how much of an impact that the Internet has had on us. From communications, sharing of research, and education to digital transactions and the ability to work from home, it has forever changed how we live and work. A film like this really makes the listener reevaluate the things that we take for granted today that have such a profound impact on our lives.

    Towards the beginning of the documentary, there was a scene discussing the very beginnings of the internet featuring the first node of the internet in its original state. I found it very interesting how when the first monumental message had been sent to a computer at another university, it was noted with very little excitement, especially for something of such importance. This along with the fact of how forgotten it is today really surprised me as it was of such vital importance to society today, even if they didn't realize it at the time. And as it seems, not all that much has changed as partway through the first message being sent, the receiving computer crashed.

    After watching the documentary, I had a greater appreciation for how far technology and the internet have come over the past couple of decades. What probably interested me the most was the advances in autonomous car technology as I hope to work in the fields of autonomous navigation and operation. In the future, this technology will help to dramatically improve safety and efficiency.

    However, as with everything in life, every good thing comes with its own downsides. With our dependence on the Internet and electricity ever-increasing, the problem of what happens when that fails becomes more relevant. One example from the film of something that could bring our world to its knees is solar flares that could wipe out large portions of the grid, sending us back decades to a time without such modern conveniences. What exactly that could be like, we don't fully know but such an event would be devastating if we are not prepared.

    When writing a summary on a documentary such as this one, it may in many circumstances be beneficial to avoid doing external research as doing so could result in a mess of information. This could be problematic as it is not fair to include data not found in the documentary in a summary of it as it could change the theme of the summary.