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Discover the physical side of the internet

1,696,272 views | Andrew Blum • TEDGlobal 2012

When a squirrel chewed through a cable and knocked him offline, journalist Andrew Blum started wondering what the Internet was really made of. So he set out to go see it -- the underwater cables, secret switches and other physical bits that make up the net.

When a squirrel chewed through a cable and knocked him offline, journalist Andrew Blum started wondering what the Internet was really made of. So he set out to go see it -- the underwater cables, secret switches and other physical bits that make up the net.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Andrew Blum

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For his new book, "Tubes," Andrew Blum visited the places where the internet exists in physical form: the cables and switches and servers that virtually connect us.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.