In Fiction
In the Star Trek universe, members of the United Federation of Planets often send messages, in a generally instantaneous manner. Whilst this is evidently a fictional scenario, it depicts in theory what an interplanetary Internet could look like, or at the least how communication between networks and hosts could occur over vast distances. In this particular instance, the system relies on the theory of "subspace", a realm of the universe through which data can pass instantly from any point.
In the Star Wars expanded universe, the Holonet functions much like an interplanetary version of the Internet, with near-instantaneous networking between computing devices over long distances. It is a major source of news and information, and is central to much of galactic culture and history.
In Firefly/Serenity, the Anglo-Sino Alliance use an internet-like system across their extrasolar system called the cortex, and any transmissions across this net are called waves.
The extranet of the Mass Effect universe is also an example of a fictional interplanetary Internet.
The ansible is an interstellar faster than light (FTL) communications device, coined by Ursula K. Le Guin and used by a number of other writers.
Read more about this topic: Interplanetary Internet
Famous quotes containing the word fiction:
“Americans will listen, but they do not care to read. War and Peace must wait for the leisure of retirement, which never really comes: meanwhile it helps to furnish the living room. Blockbusting fiction is bought as furniture. Unread, it maintains its value. Read, it looks like money wasted. Cunningly, Americans know that books contain a person, and they want the person, not the book.”
—Anthony Burgess (b. 1917)
“Space or science fiction has become a dialect for our time.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)