Internet races toward the future
Conference marvels at past, present and future of Internet
By Donna Wong
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Before the Internet, UCLA students actually had to go to class to ask their professor a question. Now, in the era of electronic bulletin boards which serve as virtual classrooms, students can get help without even leaving their bedroom.
In celebration of technological advancement, professionals met at the UCLA campus Thursday for the 25th celebration of the birth of the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) the predecessor to today's Internet at UCLA.
Looking at the past, present and future of the Internet, yesterday's conference focused on how Internet has changed our lives and what it will change in the future, said Leonard Kleinrock, chairperson of the UCLA computer science department.
In the future, cars may be equipped with a computer that can sense overheating, and then talk to a garage mechanic through cellular phone lines. After which, the drivers may get a message in return saying there is an opening for a check-up the next day, said Dr. Sydney Karin.
But today people can reach their friends by e-mail and conduct research with scholars in Illinois that they've never even seen before, said Sheila Breinbach, a UCLA computer Science professor.
The Internet first came into existence on Labor Day weekend, 1969, when Kleinrock who created the first message processor to hook up to ARPANET and a group of graduate students received the first message across the ARPANET government-supported data network.
"What was sent was 'log in,' one letter at a time, but by the time it got to 'i' the system crashed," Kleinrock said. And after that, the parent of the Internet was born, he said.
Today, the Internet connects more than just a small handful of scientists with each other's resources. More than 20 million people use the Internet's world web to conduct business and research via long distances.
"This, in some terms, has a bigger impact than landing on the moon," Kleinrock said. "We really had no idea that (the Internet) is what we would have today."
Users on the Internet can access anything from President Bill Clinton' past speeches to texts with audio and video segments on rhinos.
"I can watch the space shuttle launch as it was happening or search for something in an entire library in a matter of minutes. It's a window to a unlimited number of things," Kleinrock said.
Although the communications system was created in 1969, it still took 25 years to grow to its current size. But with the presidential administration's push for the information superhighway, it has the potential to develop into something even bigger, scientists say.
But if the Internet is to serve more people's needs to transmit information, there needs to be certain improvements within the current system especially in the area of security, Kleinrock said.
In addition, the system needs more network addresses, and a way to send one stream of information to many people at the same time.
So although today's Internet is a good model for the future information superhighway, it isn't quite good enough to become it, Kleinrock said.
Professors can gain access to the Internet through UCLA, as can many students in the computer science, math, and physics departments. With the ability to send mail, and even homework, instantaneously at the push of a button, and faster than any mail carrier could move it, the Internet has provided a system that some people couldn't imagine living without.
"At the present stage of my career I couldn't imagine living without the Internet. It's a system I use several times a day to stay in contact with researchers, friends and acquaintances around the world," said Walter Karplus, computer science department co-chair.
In addition people can also hold conferences with each other through electronic talking where the split computer screen lets people see both sides of the conversation at once, said Narayanan Shibakumar, a computer science graduate student.
But despite the possibility of having a paperless office in the future, it probably won't happen, Shibakumar said. "People like looking at things on paper," he said.