Consider the Internet as we know it: a connection of loosely coupled computer systems, of varying capacities, architectures, ownerships, costs, and sizes. It connects every conceivable variation of every operating system and every computer. It speaks many network protocols (HTTP of various versions and brands; Telnet; POP; IMAP; NETBUI; AFS; SMB; . . . ); and through hardware
software gateways, the systems and protocols of what appears to be the Internet are in fact unlimited. It can even reach computers that have been obsolete and no longer exist: retrocomputing lives through emulation and lives on the Internet.
Even the user experience of the World Wide Web is extremely diverse: every web site has its own design, its own interaction style, its own personality, with no commonality other than the menu bar provided by an individual’s browser, one of many available, and customisable on a whim. Compare this all with representations of a computational “infosphere” in popular science fiction — such as The Matrix [69] or Neuromancer [33]. These are typically modern in character, working in a complex but coherent way, and
presenting a uniform interface: the “Matrix” presents a reslistic single graphical presentation common to all users. Ironically, the postmodern Internet is more real than these fantasies; and there is no one viewpoint on the Internet, and there may be no commonality between two web sites even if hosted on the same server and designed by the same people.
Although it clearly developed from the original success of the modern design of the Arpanet, the success of the Internet now is postmodern in character. But it is success. And the tolerance of eclectic diversity is a key cause of the success of the internet: it has allowed growth and interaction which instead of isolation and alientation.
[James Noble and Robert Biddle, Notes on Postmodern Programming]