This is an amazing flashback to 1994 — Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel, on the Today Show, mystified by what this new-fangled “Internet” is, what the @ symbol means, what email is….
Of course, such a video could be used to mock the ineptness and tech illiteracy of modern TV talking heads, but I remember myself being a bit confused by it in the early 90s. Email came first, if I recall—I know I had it at my first law firm in 1992, but I think I went to a public demonstration of the world-wide web and a “browser” at Villanova law school in Philadelphia in 1994 or 1995. I had never seen a browser or the web before. I think this clip is a better illustration of how amazingly recent the amazing Internet is. This is just 17 years ago. Incredible how much societal change we’ve seen because of the explosive growth and adoption of the Internet. It’s quickly become a crucial part of society—and a critical means of fighting the state.
6:27 am on June 11, 2011
