And Al Gore still invented the internet

[Bill3000]

I can't believe it, but the picture of Al Gore for the icon for the Internet wonder is still in. I would have sworn that was going to be a placeholder, but seriously, it's hilarious.

Oh, and the internet is basically a replacement for the Great Library in the other games in terms of function. I forgot what the Great Library does now (It's different), but the Internet does as what the GL did in Civ2/3.

[Killazer]

lol if we arent carefull this Al Gore invented the internet thing may be mistaken for the truth by far future historians lmao....

[Jon Shafer]

Great Library gives 2 free Scientist specialists to a city.

[Imran Siddiqui]

LOL!



Nice job Firaxis!

[mikeasdf]

yeah, that's way awesome!

at least they have a sense of homour....

[archermoo]

Originally posted by Killazer
lol if we arent carefull this Al Gore invented the internet thing may be mistaken for the truth by far future historians lmao....

Heck, if we aren't careful people will actually start believing that he really said that...

[ggallagher]

For the record:


BLITZER: I want to get to some of the substance of domestic and international issues in a minute, but let's just wrap up a little bit of the politics right now.

Why should Democrats, looking at the Democratic nomination process, support you instead of Bill Bradley, a friend of yours, a former colleague in the Senate? What do you have to bring to this that he doesn't necessarily bring to this process?

GORE: Well, I will be offering -- I'll be offering my vision when my campaign begins. And it will be comprehensive and sweeping. And I hope that it will be compelling enough to draw people toward it. I feel that it will be.

But it will emerge from my dialogue with the American people. I've traveled to every part of this country during the last six years. During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.

[archermoo]

Yup. And his work in Congress was indeed instrumental in getting the Internet into the shape it is in today. Not that he personally created the internet, but that he worked from the congressional side on the initiative to get the Internet going/expanded. Not a particularly well worded statement, but that isn't surprising.

[Malleus Dei]

Gore is so totally full of it. I was using the UCLA ARPANET IMP node back when he was still an undergraduate student, and we already had email and FTP back when he was still a junior reporter. In fact, ARPA had already turned the fledgling Internet over to the DCA before Gore was ever elected to anything at all.

Gore "taking the inititiative in creating the Internet"? OMG, such a monstrous untruth. Too funny.

[Locutus]

Yet he got a Webby lifetime achievement award. Must've done something right...

[Doc Savage]

No flame intended but in recent times there seems to be disconnect between recognition and accomplishment. For example Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin for "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East".

You'd have to be buried six or seven levels deep in university academia to believe Arafat had any interest in peace. It is safe to conclude that a lot of awards are given to advance a political agenda.

Al Gore played a part but not much more than any other government politician/bureaucrat. Politics aside, having him in the game is good fun.

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Doc Savage
You'd have to be buried six or seven levels deep in university academia to believe Arafat had any interest in peace.

That's your opinion. Arafat was interested in what he believed to be the best interest of his people and was willing to use any means to defend them, both peaceful and not so peaceful. Noone can deny that he and Rabin came closer to settling the conflict than anyone else has (or likely will in the near future). If he deserved a Nobel prize is open for debate, but saying he had no interest in peace is a very biased statement.

But that's way off-topic, let's not go there.

Al Gore played a part but not much more than any other government politician/bureaucrat.

Wrong. This is a statement from the two people who are generally regarded the real 'inventors' of the Internet (it's long but an interesting read):

Al Gore and the Internet

By Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf

Al Gore was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development.

No one person or even small group of persons exclusively “invented” the Internet. It is the result of many years of ongoing collaboration among people in government and the university community. But as the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore’s contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time.

Last year the Vice President made a straightforward statement on his role. He said: “During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet.” We don’t think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he “invented” the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore’s initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening. We feel it is timely to offer our perspective.

As far back as the 1970s Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high speed telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the improvement of our educational system. He was the first elected official to grasp the potential of computer communications to have a broader impact than just improving the conduct of science and scholarship. Though easily forgotten, now, at the time this was an unproven and controversial concept. Our work on the Internet started in 1973 and was based on even earlier work that took place in the mid-late 1960s. But the Internet, as we know it today, was not deployed until 1983. When the Internet was still in the early stages of its deployment, Congressman Gore provided intellectual leadership by helping create the vision of the potential benefits of high speed computing and communication. As an example, he sponsored hearings on how advanced technologies might be put to use in areas like coordinating the response of government agencies to natural disasters and other crises.

As a Senator in the 1980s Gore urged government agencies to consolidate what at the time were several dozen different and unconnected networks into an “Interagency Network.” Working in a bi-partisan manner with officials in Ronald Reagan and George Bush’s administrations, Gore secured the passage of the High Performance Computing and Communications Act in 1991. This “Gore Act” supported the National Research and Education Network (NREN) initiative that became one of the major vehicles for the spread of the Internet beyond the field of computer science.

As Vice President Gore promoted building the Internet both up and out, as well as releasing the Internet from the control of the government agencies that spawned it. He served as the major administration proponent for continued investment in advanced computing and networking and private sector initiatives such as Net Day. He was and is a strong proponent of extending access to the network to schools and libraries. Today, approximately 95% of our nation’s schools are on the Internet. Gore provided much-needed political support for the speedy privatization of the Internet when the time arrived for it to become a commercially-driven operation.

There are many factors that have contributed to the Internet’s rapid growth since the later 1980s, not the least of which has been political support for its privatization and continued support for research in advanced networking technology. No one in public life has been more intellectually engaged in helping to create the climate for a thriving Internet than the Vice President. Gore has been a clear champion of this effort, both in the councils of government and with the public at large.

The Vice President deserves credit for his early recognition of the value of high speed computing and communication and for his long-term and consistent articulation of the potential value of the Internet to American citizens and industry and, indeed, to the rest of the world.

Politics aside, having him in the game is good fun.

That I fully agree with

[Arnelos]

It's a good joke. Al Gore is fun to laugh at... sorta like Dan Quayle. Actually, the two have A LOT in common.

[Doc Savage]

Originally posted by Locutus

That I fully agree with

We both agree about the fun, lets go with that.

{EDIT: added quote for clarity}

[Malleus Dei]

I was there when the Internet was being created. He wasn't.

End of story.