A closer look
Created by Paul Mockapetris in 1983, the Domain Name System was invented because people were literally using a single text file named 'HOSTS.TXT' that had to be manually updated and shared around the entire internet to keep track of website addresses; whenever a new computer joined the network, someone had to call the guy in charge of the file at the Stanford Research Institute and ask him to type in the new address, a system so wildly primitive it sounds like it belongs in the stone age, yet it perfectly highlights how the internet was originally built on a foundation of blind trust and manual labor before it exploded into the automated, terrifyingly complex web of servers, fiber optic cables, and data-harvesting trackers we rely on today just to argue with strangers about movies
