Inside the underwater cables powering the economy

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 April 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On the Internet, everything feels instantaneous. But how exactly did that data get to you? We'll take you on a virtual tour of the 19th-century technology that runs the modern world.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:12.2	On the internet, everything feels instantaneous.
0:15.0	So it's easy to forget how far the information inside the internet has to travel to get around
0:20.3	the earth.
0:21.3	Like you don't think twice if you're listening to an indicator episode in Europe, or streaming
0:26.1	a surfing video from Tahiti.
0:28.6	You're watching an adorable panda live cam from China.
0:32.7	But how exactly did those electrons get to you?
0:36.0	Did the panda video bounce off a satellite?
0:38.8	Did the panda travel through space?
0:40.9	Pandas in space?
0:41.9	Ah!
0:42.9	I always thought it went to space too, but in fact, it does not.
0:47.0	Reporter Robert Smith has been researching the mechanics of the internet, and he joins
0:51.0	us for a different kind of indicator episode, a virtual tour.
0:56.2	And he has a surprise.
0:58.3	It's almost everything you see on the internet that comes from a different part of the world,
1:02.5	travels along the bottom of the ocean.
1:05.8	In undersea cables, down through the briny deep, David Jones is locker.
1:10.3	It's based on an old technology, but when you think about it, it's stunning.
1:14.6	Down below the fish and the sharks and the coral reefs is the backbone of the world's
1:19.0	economy.
	...

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