Account of the first-ever Internet demo, 1972

Ars Technica's Matthew Lasar has a great potted history of the 1972 first International Conference on Computer Communication in Washington, DC, where, for the first time, ARPANet (the first iteration of the Internet) was demonstrated to the public:

Monday morning October 24 arrived. Conference attendees meandered into the exhibition. One sat down at a computer, followed some instructions, and tried to access a computer that most likely wasn't operational at the moment.
"HOST DEAD," came the line response.
"Oh, my God. I've killed it!" he cried out in a panic.
Another two attendees sat down at machines and had an experience that would be shared by millions of cell phone texters three decades later. They both logged into the University of Utah host and accessed the TALK protocol.
"Where are you?" one typed.
"I'm in Washington," the other replied.
"Where?"
"At the Hilton."
"Well, I'm at the Hilton too."
They were, of course, practically sitting next to each other.

ARPANET's coming out party: when the Internet first took center stage [arstechnica.com]

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Rasputin

More people need to read Where Wizards Stay Up Late. Absolutely STELLAR memoir of the early ARPAnet years. http://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/0684832674
http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul

I wonder how many suspected for a moment that they were unknowingly participating in a Turing test.
Nadreck

My favourite early-ARPAnet story is how the second message sent over the system was spam. The first was a sort of “Watson, come here: I need you!” message to make sure that the inter-mainframe system was working. The second was a blurb to all of the users on both machines extolling the wonders of ARPAnet.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5CTVD2F5F2EBSRKIKU3M3EKKYI Carlton

This series of videos, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfIgzSoTMOs, still gives me goosebumps. It’s like looking at the beginning of a new world. I always thought someone could edit it and turn it into a great commercial–contrasting then with now.