Vint Cerf Helped Create the Internet on the Back of an Envelope.

Now He's Calling for More Critical Thinking About How We Use It

The Wall Street Journal

Emily Bobrow

December 16, 2022

Google Chief Internet Evangelist and 2004 ACM A.M. Turing Award co-recipient Vint Cerf helped invent the Internet but acknowledges its downsides, including its use for spreading misinformation and disinformation. Cerf says addressing this "propagation problem" requires Google and similar companies to better "understand how these mechanisms influence the way people behave." He observes that although commercialization has broadened the Internet's scope, feedback algorithms appear to be directing people toward "more divisive and extreme stuff." Cerf urges more critical thinking to rein in the Internet's sociological and psychological effects, while businesses must make better efforts to contain online trolling, lying, bullying, and surveillance.