"In the mid-1960s, Robert Kahn began thinking about how computers with different operating systems could talk to each other across a network.
[...]
It is for this work on packet communication technologies—as part of the project that became the ARPANET and in the foundations of the Internet—that Kahn is being awarded the 2024 IEEE Medal of Honor."
Despite what many people think, most of the world's internet traffic goes through undersea cables, not satellites. A little-known industry exists to lay new cables and, more importantly, fix existing cables when they break. This story introduces the people and the aging ships that keep the internet from collapsing.
"The reason websites continue to load, bank transfers go through, and civilization persists is because of the thousand or so people living aboard 20-some ships stationed around the world, who race to fix each cable as soon as it breaks."