ARPANET

ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) was the first wide-area packet switching network, operational from 1969 to 1990. Funded by the United States Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, later DARPA), it connected research universities and defense contractors and became the technical and organizational prototype for the modern internet. ARPANET is not merely a historical precursor. It is a case study in how infrastructure creates the conditions for its own transformation — how a network built for resource sharing became a platform for communication, and then a model for decentralized governance.

Origins and Design Philosophy

ARPANET emerged from a convergence of Cold War strategic concerns and research collaboration needs. In 1962, J.C.R. Licklider at ARPA envisioned a Galactic