In the midst of NSA revelations, app security mishaps, and the SXSW Snowden interview, is Tim Berners-Lee’s ‘Ask Me Anything’ on Reddit. By the way, it’s the World Wide Web’s 25th birthday!
On March 12th, 1989 Tim Berners-Lee proposed the idea for the World Wide Web, and 25 years later it has drastically changed the way we communicate, share, and create.
So what exactly is he discussing? Well let’s take a look.
#1 I’ll just go ahead and post this to the Mine of Information!
What other names were considered besides the World Wide Web?
“Mine of Information, The Information Mine, The Mesh
None had quite the right ring. I liked WWW partly because I could start global variable names with a W and not have them clash with other peoples’ (in a C world) …in fact I used HT for them)”
#2 They are cute, cuddly, and have taken over
What’s something Tim never thought would be popular on the Internet?
“Kittens”
#3 Is the Internet doomed? Quite possibly.
Does Tim think in the future we will look back on what was once a free, uncensored World Wide Web?
“I think it is up to us. I’m not guessing, I’m hoping. Yes, I can imagine that all to easily. If ordinary web users are not sufficiently aware of threats and get involved and if necessary take to the streets like for SOPA and PIPA and ACTA. On balance? I am optimistic.”
#4 His thoughts on perhaps the most interesting Nobel Peace Prize nominees of our time?
Is Edward Snowden a hero or a villain?
“Because he ✓ had no other alternative ✓ engaged as a journalist / with a journalist to be careful of how what was released, and ✓ provided an important net overall benefit to the world, I think he should be protected, and we should have ways of protecting people like him. Because we can try to design perfect systems of government, and they will never be perfect, and when they fail, then the whistleblower may be all that saves society.”
#5 Who was Tim’s role model as a kid?
“My parents, who met building the first computer commercialized in the UK – the Ferranti Mk 1, and some of the people they worked with, my math teacher Frank Grundy, chem teacher Daffy….”
The inventor of the World Wide Web really has an intriguing perspective on the current state of the web. If you are interested in reading the rest of the Reddit AMA check it out here.
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