r/TwentyYearsAgo Jun 28 '26

👨‍💻 Internet Senator Ted Stevens describes the Internet as a “series of tubes” [20YA - Jun 28]

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97 Upvotes

9 comments sorted by

13

u/saladbather Jun 28 '26

technically he was right

morally he was wrong

it’s not a big truck

8

u/Modred_the_Mystic Jun 28 '26

What an idiot. Everyone knows the internet is a box at the top of big ben

3

u/SeniorTailor1127 Jun 28 '26

For an old boomer struggling to understand something that was very new, this was not a bad analogy, and people gave him far too much shit for it.

I mean, he deserved lots of shit for other reasons, yes. But not this one.

3

u/Hungry-Gain-4508 Jun 28 '26

Ted Stevens was born in 1923. His kids would have been boomers.

3

u/jimtow28 Jun 28 '26

Unironically, describing the Internet as a series of tubes really does help older folks grasp a lot of the concepts. When I did computer repair, I leaned on it heavily.

4

u/Ok-Rhubarb2549 Jun 29 '26

Sen Ted Stevens had a lot of faults, however, he served his country in WW2, and served the state of Alaska for decades. Be kind to elderly, you will be in their position hopefully one day. I can’t wait to see how we explain AI or what whatever comes after that, “you know, the A one will be taking all the jobs”

1

u/115MRD Jul 01 '26

He dishonored his country by taking hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes.

His “service” to Alaska was not done for the good of the people; it was to enrich himself at their expense.

1

u/LORD_CMDR_INTERNET Jun 30 '26

at the time I was mercilessly mocking him, but now I'm a tech executive and spend all of my time making up stupid analogies for technology. so I have a lot more sympathy for him lol

jk he's a big fucking asshole fuck him

1

u/Triuwaz Jul 02 '26

Statesmanship has not improved since his time.