During the 1880s a man named Herman Hollerith noticed a train conductor punching a ticket for a rider and got the idea for a tabulating machine using punch cards (what a brain). Within the same year, Hollerith helped the U.S. government complete the National Census with his machine.

In 1928, German engineer Fritz Pfleumer got a patent on magnetic tape that he used to replace wire recording for storing data. Storing information on magnetic tapes inspired the invention of floppy disks and hard-disk drives later on. In the 1960s computer scientist Edgar Codd introduced the idea of a relational database management system that can describe data attributes in columns and their values in rows: which we know today as a “data table”.

Journey to the Internet

Development of the technology and transmission protocols that make up the internet did not happen overnight. It took decades and a significant number of people who brought together the diversity of talents and breakthroughs that give us the overwhelming connectedness we have today.

My own experience, in 1990, with a Commodore 64 keypad and a large TV screen, sent me from 25 years as a legally blind woodworker to the completion of a long overdue university education. School libraries were just beginning to be digitized and remarkable resources like LexisNexis were coming on line. I am deeply grateful for the technology that opened up the world for me.

The first known description of social interactions that could be enabled through networking were memos written by J.C.R. Licklider of MIT in August 1962. Here he discussed his “Galactic Network” concept, a globally interconnected set of computers through which one could quickly access data and programs from any site. The concept was very much like the Internet of today. Licklider was the first head of computer research at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), starting in October 1962.

In 1961 an MIT student scientist named Leonard Kleinrock published the first paper on “packet switching” theory, a means of transmitting data in packets of information over a digital network rather than the much slower bit by bit transmission requiring a constant circuit connection.

The next step was to make the computers talk together. In 1965, Larry Roberts and Thomas Merrill connected two computers, one in Massachusetts and one in California, with a low speed dial-up telephone line, creating the first wide-area computer network ever built. This experiment showed that the computers could work well together, but that the circuit switched telephone system was totally inadequate. The need for packet switching was confirmed.

In 1968, Larry Roberts and the DARPA refined the overall structure and specifications for the ARPANET. By the end of 1969, four host computers were connected (UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, UC Sant Barbara, and University of Utah) together into the ARPANET, and the budding Internet was born.

The developmental changes that happened during the 1970s were so numerous that a detailed listing would exceed my purposes here. Most notable was the collaboration between two men whose accomplishment would ultimately earn them the title “Fathers of the Internet.” Vinton Cerf, a programmer from UCLA., and Robert Kahn, an electrical engineer from Princeton came up with a system for computer communication that was far more efficient than that being used on the ARPANET. Cerf/Kahn developed a more reliable architecture, still using packets (postcards), which became known as TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol slash Internet Protocol). Computers constructed with different hardware schemes could suddenly communicate quickly and reliably. TCP/IP worked so well that all these years later it is still used to power the internet. Both Presidents Bush 2 and Bill Clinton awarded medals to these men for their contribution.

Expansion and use of personal computers was facilitated by such inventions as the Ethernet (Bob Metcalfe at Xerox PARC in 1973) making computer to computer connections within the same building possible, which facilitated LANs (Local Area Networks). Then came the Domain Name System (DNS), which was invented by Paul Mockapetris of USC/Information Science Institute. This made rapidly expanding need for addressing and classification of host names possible.

The wide spread use of TCP/IP created the possibility for a gradual evolution into a more wide spread use of personal PCs. Then, Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989, while working at CERN (European Council for Nuclear Research). The web was originally intended to meet the need for automated information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world. Then, with the introduction of Google (formally BackRub) in 1997, data became even more widely available to everyone.

So, there now, I’m going to take a long device-less walk in the woods, enjoy the luxurious drudgery of hand writing a letter and engage in the excitement of a complex, time consuming face to face conversation.

© Rabon Saip 2026

Considering the driving force of addiction to growth in our capitalistic system, the commercialization of media for mass marketing was inevitable. The first use of radio advertising occurred on August 22, 1922, at the New York City radio station, WEAF (owned by AT&T). A real estate business known as the Queessboro Corporation was advertising a new apartment complex in Jackson Heights. This was referred to at the time as “toll broadcasting.” The first known advertising on TV was in July 1941, during a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies. The ad was for Bulova watches, and it lasted for just over a minute.

The first use of advertising on the internet occured on October 27, 1994. It was a banner ad on a HotWired web page that AT&T bought for a three month period from HotWired for $30,000. The banner had the words “Have you ever clicked your mouse right here? You will,” and many people did. The mysterious banner led to a page where visitors could click links to view information about landmarks and museums around the world, highlighting the internet’s ability to transport you to different locations virtually.

In 2005-2006 Facebook introduced an advertising platform that allowed advertisers to target users based on their age, location, and interests. In 2007-2008 both Twitter and YouTube introduced advertising options. Twitter offered Promoted Tweets and YouTube introduced TrueView ads.

Although no one “owns” the internet, its gradual development was largely paid for by taxpayers and its primary use was envisioned to be for the public good, not for the exploitation and profit of a few private companies - who should at least be paying rent.

As mentioned earlier in this writing, the first successful multi-computer network connection was between four American universities.

In Part Three of this writing I will cover the development of the Internet in great detail; mainly crediting those whose achievements (in combination, over time) led to what we have today.

Mass marketing, once a megaphone for anyone who might be listening, has now become a micro-targeting phenomenon of uncanny sophistication and accuracy. Data science analysis of all the digital crumbs you leave behind on the internet, the hours and activities of your willing participation, have become a sophisticated psychological profile that probably knows you better than you know yourself. This not only makes you vulnerable to commercial exploitations, but to the possibility of social and political manipulation as well.

As for how you may be courted and influenced, this is the way Christopher Wylie (whistleblower on Cambridge Analytica) put it when talking about how Facebook can use what it knows about its users. “Imagine for a second that we’re on a blind date”, says Wylie. “As soon as we sit down, I start telling you how much I love your favorite musicians and movies, and how I have the same goals and struggles as you. In that moment I sound perfect for you. But later you realize that the only reason I sound perfect is that I’ve spent two years reading your messages, following you around and talking to your friends.”

What is happening here, according to Shoshana Zuboff, Professor Emerita at Harvard Business School, is a prime example of Surveillance Capitalism.

“Just as industrial civilization flourished at the expense of nature and now threatens to cost us the Earth, an information civilization shaped by surveillance capitalism and its new instrumentation power will thrive at the expense of human nature and will threaten to cost us our humanity....

“Surveillance capitalists know everything about us, whereas their operations are designed to be unknowable to us. They accumulate vast domains of new knowledge from us, but not for us. They predict our futures for the sake of others’ gain, not ours.” (Shoshana Zuboff -The Age of Surveillance Capitalism)

In 2019 Mark Zuckerberg paid a record breaking $5 billion dollar penalty for sharing the information of 87 million American users with Cambridge Analytica, probably Russian Intelligence and who knows who else.

“FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra complained that the penalty provided “blanket immunity” for Facebook executives “and no real restraints on Facebook’s business model” and does “not fix the core problems that led to these violations” or limit Facebook’s ability to collect data....

“Several lawmakers criticized the settlement. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut called it “a fig leaf” that offers “no accountability for top executives.”... “By relying on a monetary fine to deter Facebook, the FTC has failed to heed history’s lessons. Facebook has already written this penalty down as a one-time-cost in return for the extraordinary profits reaped from a decade of data misuse,” said Blumenthal, a Democrat. Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri also criticized the deal, saying it “does nothing to hold executives accountable. It utterly fails to penalize Facebook in any effective way.” - WASHINGTON (Reuters) July 24, 2019

I wish to God the gaslighting politicians in the above quotes would actually DO something. Google, Apple, Facebook; all are able to track and record your every move on your phone or computer. And since the daily business of our lives, social and otherwise, is so dependent on these devices, our participation in our own exploitation is guaranteed. Our life experience becomes behavioral data - which in turn is bundled into a product that predicts our future behavior - which in turn can be traded in a futures market that has made the surveillance capitalists mentioned above enormously wealthy.

You Don’t Have a Chance

Regardless of the amazing advances AI may bring to humanity, unless it is contained and directed toward the common good, it is a threat beyond belief. In the not-so-distant future, in the hands of surveillance capitalists, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will most likely be present in the form of conversational media, interactive and adaptive informational agents designed just for you.

The pleasant face you see on your phone or monitor, the voice you hear as you engage in comfortable free flowing conversations are just for you. And whatever interaction you have initiated will be under the smooth control of the digital entity that is ostensibly at your service. Yes, you will be amazed at how easily the answers to your queries come, how fast and certain your needs are addressed, but that you are in control is the illusion intended by those who profit by manipulating you beyond your knowledge.

The digital entity before you has read every book ever published on psychology and the subtle skills of persuasion. Your actions and reactions will be read every second, at super-human speed. Your voice, reasoning, facial expressions, posture; all will provide a feedback loop to which your digital companion can adapt whatever its strategy at super-human speed. Never forget that a few of the largest companies in the world have based their enormous wealth on you as a product. And never forget that compared to this super human agent, you don’t have a chance.

It bothers me deeply that there may be millions of consumers for whom this arrangement is acceptable, who say “I have nothing to hide” as though being an open book to surveillance capitalism is okay. As these consumers continue to use these technologies to improve and streamline their lives, they may be more and more willing to outsource decision-making and personal autonomy to their digital tools. I wonder how many of these citizens truly understand the extent to which their lives can be dictated and are still okay with the arrangement - probably more than I care to believe.

AI Should Be Developed Not-For-Profit

OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit with the mission to “ADVANCE DIGITAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE WAY THAT IS MOST LIKELY TO BENEFIT HUMANITY AS A WHOLE.” The founders, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever and Greg Brockman stated the further goal of developing Artificial Generl Intelligence in a SAFE way, letting the world know there were powerful dangers inherent in this development. Eventually, giving in to the desire for funds to cover growing expenses, the company split into a first of a kind structure, with a non-profit board - OpenAI, Inc. 501(c)(3) public charity to oversee OpenAI Global LLC (capped profit company).

The commitment to return to its non-profit mission when OpenAI reaches the point of AGI has been challenged by Elon Musk, among others. The non-profit board is currently comprised of Independent Directors Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo (plus Microsoft as a non-voting member). How this all works out remains to be seen. It occurs to me that a healthy, regulated relationship between public and private endeavors, utilizing the best features of both approaches, may be the ultimate answer.

For the sake of the planet and that of humanity, it seems obvious that AGI should not be in the hands of a for-profit company. First of all is the imbalance of powerfully subtle and manipulative applications that far exceed the comprehension of those upon whom they can be used. The same sophisticated and effective subliminal influence that can be used to nudge a consumer toward a particular product can also be used to influence unsuspecting citizens to act against their own best interests.

If that’s not enough, consider the insane amount of fresh water (drinking water) and electricity that is required as mega companies compete for advantage and duplicate massive data centers for the ever-increasing amount of computer equipment they each must generate, thereby creating a strain on the environment by using several times more water and electricity than may otherwise be necessary. These resources are measured in trillions of gallons of fresh water and many thousands of megawatts.

In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council first recognized access to safe drinking water as a human right. Yet 2 billion people around the world continue to lack access to safe drinking water.

The potential good for humanity that is inherent in the development of AI will not be the foremost concern of the companies that develop it for maximum profit. The products and services they provide, astonishing as they may be, are in fact more like secret weapons (Trojan Horses) that are engineered for the exploitation and control of their consumers.

Although it will be argued that the funds and energy generated by corporate competition is absolutely necessary for the advancement of such far reaching technologies as AGI and synthetic biology (robotics), this failure of imagination needs to be examined in the light of how best to develop these dangerously potent new technologies for the benefit and profit of all humankind.

However, the value of these companies in September of 2026 reveals who in fact is in control and reaps the rewards: Microsoft ($4.09 – $4.10 Trillion). Apple ($4.61 – $4.70 Trillion), Nvidia ($5.45 – $5.60 Trillion), Saudi Arabian Oil ($1.67 – $1.87 Trillion), Amazon ($2.36 – $2.78 Trillion), Alphabet - Google ($4.09 – $4.10 Trillion), and Meta Platforms - Facebook ($1.84 Trillion).

The following is from President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address in 1961, an amazing insight into the dangerous power of a coming technocracy.

“In holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite. It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system - ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.”

© Rabon Saip 2026

Barefoot on the back porch, I would spot our family cow lying in the field nearby and run to prod her up so I could stand in the warm spot her large body left behind. As the weather grew colder, I would learn to navigate the winter in handed down oversized shoes, stuffed with newspaper so they would stay on my feet. I didn’t know we were poor, so all this seemed quite normal.

From where I stood behind that crude old farmhouse, the warm earth tingling up my legs, I could see all the “plumbing” my world contained - the long, ornate pump handle of our backyard water supply, a small round galvanized tub beneath the spigot; a well worn path to the outhouse, the only place where one could find absolute privacy. And above the back porch steps, I could see Grandma’s wooden churn, birthplace of many pounds of butter and gallons of buttermilk.

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Later that day, that distant day in a pine board rural Georgia farmhouse, I would stand in a nine person line-up before the fireplace, turning front-side then back-side to the blazing heat. Bricks were heated on the hearth that would later be wrapped in newspaper and strategically placed in bed to warm our feet.

Twilight, my favorite time of day, with the softly glowing pools of coal oil lamplight that could be carried from room to room, the sound of crickets and frogs, summer time evenings when I fell asleep under the kitchen table. I remember the first light bulb I ever saw, hanging from the ceiling on a thin wire, glaringly offensive in its brightness, starkly revealing otherwise dark corners in a way that made the room seem smaller, and dirty. I didn’t like it, and Grandma would still do her sewing by kerosene lamplight.

I remember the “Majestic” piece of furniture that turned out to be the first radio I ever saw, where I had the mind blowing experience of hearing classical music for the first time (the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra) one morning when the house was empty and I broke the rules to play with the knobs. And, some time later, I remember the shiny white electric stove my uncles brought into the kitchen, which stood ignored next to the wood-stove my grandmother continued to use.

Early mornings I would get up to help my grandmother build a fire in that stove. She understood every inch of its technology, different degrees of heat for different dishes; here the water would boil, there to simmer, here for hoecakes, there to keep the coffee at exactly the right temperature; here, above the iron lids, the warming oven for the biscuits. Electric stoves could never do all that.

I remember the first telephone we had, a party line that was both convenient and difficult. When one of the people the line served was on a call, no one else could use the phone. This led to eavesdropping, gossip and arguments (maybe not so different from some uses of cell phones today).

I am deeply grateful for these childhood memories of a world that is quietly drifting into history, a world and a time that fewer and fewer of us can still remember. Decade after decade since early childhood (shortly before WW II) I have witnessed the rapid development of ever more “helpful”, and profitable, technology. Until today, it seems to me the profitable has overtaken the helpful to the point of harm.

By whatever quirk of historical timing, it has been my lot to witness the transfer of human energy from earth bound hands-on maintenance to a complex, tech consuming world of ever increasing insulation, manipulation and learned helplessness.

“Everything works. That is precisely what is uncanny; that it works and that the working drives on ever further to a broader functioning, and that the technology more and more rips and uproots humanity from the earth.” - Martin Heidegger

My grandparents had such a grasp on the technology of their daily lives that put them completely in charge. The wagon, the ice box, the water pump, the out-house, animals for labor, for milk or meat, food that grew out of the ground, coal oil lamps, laundry cauldrons over open fires; all these things that required their direct involvement and told them exactly where they stood from day to day.

Theirs was certainly not an easy existence, and one that many were happy to leave behind as the great American war machine of WW II, which had manufactured so many tanks and airplanes, turned its might to the peace-time production of refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, washing machines and automobiles. The “daily drudgery of housework” was left behind. Then, the development of television brought an even greater emphasis to the promise of leisure time and progressive change in a brave new world of wonder.

I heard the sound of a jet aircraft for the first time in 1952, the same year my high school friends and I became proficient at taking apart and reassembling the engines of nineteen-thirties automobiles. I suppose our greasy hands were those of the last generation to work on purely American made automobiles. 1952 was also the year of one of my most profound, historic memories, of a time and a generation (heroes) coming out of a dark period and ready to be and do the best for their communities.

One of my high school classmates was an overweight youngster who drove a vintage Duesenberg to school. His father was a wealthy entrepreneur and statistician, a man who realized the value of collecting data on the rapidly growing population of tract home families. He understood that the habits and personal preferences of consumers in any given area would be of great value to corporations catering to the rapidly expanding marketplace of post-war America.

What makes this such a profound memory however, is the reaction of the people in my community, who insisted that such personal information on such a large scale should never be made available to politicians. That would be cheating. Political speeches would then be geared to what people wanted to hear, rather than the honest truth of the politician. How naive such purity seems now, as naive as the notion of keeping money out of politics through public finance of political campaigns. Oh, cynical me, but I do wonder: Was there perhaps a missed opportunity for an honest, transparent system of political elections; or was the root of all evil bound to have its way no matter what?

By the late-1950s the same-ness of mainstream culture had developed enough to arouse what was basically a Bohemian counter-culture. A resurgence of 1930s folk music, a sophisticated mix of classical music, cool jazz and chess games, classical literature (with correctly pronounced names of European composers, poets and philosophers); all that expressed our superior distaste for the rapidly growing American bourgeoisie.

While still in high school I had witnessed a marsh near where I lived, in Marin County, being filled in from the tearing down of an entire hill across the road. When tract house construction began on that filled in marsh, I got a job with the construction company and was instructed to go about with an iron bar looking for cracks in the ground to break up and stomp into smooth disappearance. At an amazing four dollars an hour, I had no moral objection at the time.

After Sputnik was launched in 1957 and Herb Cain launched the name “Beatnik” in 1958, those of us who spurned the mainstream conformist culture of commercial America congregated in places between Sausalito, North Beach and Big Sur. Over a period of time, I managed to live in all these places, and later in Monterey, Pacific Grove and Big Sur. From San Rafael High School, where I witnessed the post-war transition from the Depression of the 30s to a bright new world seeking a new definition, I lived an adventurous adolescence doing pretty much the same.

For some time during my early years I had the vague impression that somebody somewhere must be in charge, that a group of mature, thoughtful and powerful people were keeping it all together for the rest of us. It was during the late-50s and early-60s that I grew to realize what a complex crapshoot it was in which we all participated.

© Rabon Saip 2026

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Discussion about this post

Rika Mason

Rika Mason4d

Great piece Rabon. I look forward to Part 2 … and 3? …. And 4???

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Aging in the 21st Century

The current view of old age in our youth oriented, market driven society promises little more than disease, disability and death. This view is summarily reinforced by those industries that exploit (promote and normalize) the vulnerabilities of aging from which they so greatly profit. Such widespread influence works to ensure that most of us will never think to question the negative images of old age that have become so acceptable in our society. Despite serious evidence to the contrary, these images are so enculturated, so embedded in our subconscious, we tend to accept them as valid.

Think about it: You survive the trials of childhood and adolescence, travel through decades of struggle and learning; family, career, relationships, puzzling paradoxes, life changing decisions - hard won experience becomes knowledge, knowledge becomes wisdom; and then, you get sick and die. Really? Is there no other destination for a lifetime of learning?

Late in the last century a developmental psychologist by the name of Paul Baltes made this prophetic statement: “One of the great challenges of the 21st century will be to complete the architecture of the human life course.” What do you suppose he meant by that? Did he believe we should add on an edifice that doesn’t yet exist: or, was he referring to the potential of an already present stage of life (gero-transcendence) that is not yet clearly understood?

It is remarkable to me that our dominant cultural mind-set, a cult of adulthood, which pushes children to become consumers and distains old people (genarians) for not consuming more; can blind us so completely to the logical fulfillment of our own lives. With such an insane focus on staying forever young, the twilight of life begins to descend by around middle age. Then, successful aging can only be measured in terms of how young one appears to be, or pretends to be. Such an abhorrence of old age (internalized ageism) can only lead to a great deal of needless suffering.

A New Old Age

The truth of becoming an older person today is that one is entering into an oddly mysterious and profoundly misunderstood stage of life, one that is far more complex, and far more rewarding, than common knowledge can comprehend.

Certainly no one can deny the physical or mental problems that can accompany old age, these are evident for all to see; but, neither can anyone deny the natural advantages and opportunities that are also waiting to be explored. As with any stage of life, what you see is largely determined by where you focus. Far less apparent are those older Americans (genarians) who have adjusted to both the gains and losses of aging.

Old age is a mystery and we are all detectives.

To be truly and “successfully” old is to recognize the gift of conscious aging, beginning with an awareness of internalized ageism; the unconscious inheritance of a destructively negative attitude toward one’s own aging self, implanted by a thoughtless society. Reliable research indicates that this negative internalization can gradually become an integral part of one’s identity and actually insure the progression of chronic illness. (1) Similar research also concludes that a positive attitude toward the aging self has a greater influence over actual healthy outcomes than any other factor; including low blood pressure, low cholesterol, a healthy weight or regular exercise. (2)

Conscious aging is not a transcendence of life, but a deepening of life, a time for honest self-reflection that is not limited by the ego demands of youth or middle age. Enculturation has defined you since early childhood, setting values for achievement and standards of conduct at every stage. Until now, your societal road map may have been reasonably clear; self-image and social identity pretty much coinciding. But now, the responsibility for finding out who you “really” are, without those once inhabited masks of conformity, is suddenly and completely up to you.

Some will reach this stage of life and find the prospect of a self outside the security of a cultural prescription too much to consider. Even the certainty of illness and death might be preferable to experiencing the self as unknown, as boundless, as mysterious. The stories we have lived by are familiar and comforting, even if fraught with tragedy; but, they may not be particularly relevant to the new reality that is unfolding within us.

The powerful truth of a new old age lies in one’s ability to occupy questions without grasping for answers. Walking off a map of the known world into unknown territory can be terrifying, but trusting the Universe opens us to a life of unlimited potential. The challenge is to relax into the mystery of becoming a dragon.

© Rabon Delmore Saip 2026

1) Harvard Research - Dr Ellen Langer: Perspectives on Psychological Science, November (2010)

2) Dr. Becca Levy, Yale University, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 83, # 2. (2002) do i remove this image

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