Building the Bell System
No single corporation would be able to control such a dynamic platform, accessible at all hours of the day and night to so many users as both producers and consumers. The internet was inherently, restlessly, and relentlessly democratic. Monopolies once ruled the world; but, to paraphrase Karl Marx, their once solid control of markets was now
... See moreGary Gerstle • The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era
Undersea cables, and long-distance communications in general, became the highest of high tech, with many of the same connotations as rocket science or nuclear physics or brain surgery would acquire in later decades. Some countries and companies (the distinction between countries and companies is hazy in the telco world) became very good at it, and... See more