The History of the Internet: Between Utopian Resistance and Neoliberal Government

Abstract

With the Internet, a digital augmented part of reality emerged. This augmentation of reality bears social implications. In the course of the development of the Internet since the late 1950s and the increasingly growth of the Internet since the late 1960s, the societal meaning of the Internet is discussed. The societal meaning of the Internet shifts thereby constantly between the poles of utopian resistance and neoliberal government. Using a genealogical and socio-semiotic approach, the chapter reconstructs the discussion of the discursive meaning of the Internet and digital technology in the course of the history of the Internet.