--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The Internet is part of this ongoing…" description: "\"The Internet is part of this ongoing, species-long project we've been working on since we climbed down out of the trees in the savanna. We've been work..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/william-gibson-642_internet_the-internet-is-part-of-this-ongoing-spe_2855850.png" --- # The Internet is part of this ongoing, species-long project… ![“The Internet is part of this ongoing, species-long project we've been working on since we climbed down out of the trees in the savanna. We've been working on it without really knowing it.” quote by William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/william-gibson-642_internet_the-internet-is-part-of-this-ongoing-spe_2855850.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/william-gibson-642_internet_the-internet-is-part-of-this-ongoing-spe_2855850.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/william-gibson-642_internet_the-internet-is-part-of-this-ongoing-spe_2855850.png) > “The Internet is part of this ongoing, species-long project we've been working on since we climbed down out of the trees in the savanna. We've been working on it without really knowing it.” [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The Internet continues humanity’s long‑term project of connectivity, rooted in ancient evolution. **In simple terms:** Internet is an ancient project. Key Takeaway Recognize our digital heritage. Themes technology evolution connectivity history Mood thoughtful speculative Type essayistic analytical When to use this quote - digital communication - education - innovation Key Concepts anthropology media studies future studies Questions to Reflect On - What ancient traits persist online? - How does this shape identity? A Different Perspective Digital reliance may overlook natural instincts. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Internet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/internet/) [Savanna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/savanna/) [Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tree/) [Trees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trees/) ## Related quotes > [A long project is like a secret houseguest, hidden in your study, waiting to be fed and visited.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hollander/a-long-project-is-like-a-secret-houseguest-hidden-in-your-study/) [John Hollander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hollander/) > [I'd done a very long project on Bridges To Babylon. I was on the road for ages with that. When I came off the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mick-jagger/i-d-done-a-very-long-project-on-bridges-to-babylon-i-was-on-the-road/) [Mick Jagger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mick-jagger/) > [We are beasts, you know, beasts risen from the savannas and jungles and forests. We have come down from the trees and up out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yasmine-galenorn/we-are-beasts-you-know-beasts-risen-from-the-savannas-and-jungles-and/) [Yasmine Galenorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yasmine-galenorn/) > [I'm convinced that the catastrophes of the next two decades will be so vast as to bring about a world where life, if it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirkpatrick-sale/i-m-convinced-that-the-catastrophes-of-the-next-two-decades-will-be/) [Kirkpatrick Sale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirkpatrick-sale/) > [Physiologically adult humans are not meant to spend an additional 10 years in a school system; their brains map that onto "I have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/physiologically-adult-humans-are-not-meant-to-spend-an-additional-10/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [I take seriously the idea that we are African Apes who (at least for the moment) dominate the planet, but our psychology is pretty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-jamieson/i-take-seriously-the-idea-that-we-are-african-apes-who-at-least-for/) [Dale Jamieson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-jamieson/) > [I had never planned to become a savanna baboon when I grew up; instead, I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-had-never-planned-to-become-a-savanna-baboon-when-i-grew-up-instead/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“You don’t have to be afraid. We look out for anyone who needs us.” “Together, they were the Pride Pack. And in that moment,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-don-t-have-to-be-afraid-we-look-out-for-anyone-who-needs-us/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We see evidence that lakes and forests and wetlands can have different equilibria - so you have a savanna system that may be stable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johan-rockstrom/we-see-evidence-that-lakes-and-forests-and-wetlands-can-have/) [Johan Rockstrom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johan-rockstrom/) > [I think that were beginning to remember that the first poets didn't come out of a classroom, that poetry began when somebody walked off…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucille-clifton/i-think-that-were-beginning-to-remember-that-the-first-poets-didn-t/) [Lucille Clifton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucille-clifton/) > [That is certainly the point: when the human species was born, on the African savanna, life was pretty good; we could live in harmony…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirkpatrick-sale/that-is-certainly-the-point-when-the-human-species-was-born-on-the/) [Kirkpatrick Sale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirkpatrick-sale/) > [Humans became easy prey when they moved from the forest to the savanna, which deprived them of the option of climbing trees to flee…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-de-waal/humans-became-easy-prey-when-they-moved-from-the-forest-to-the/) [Frans de Waal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frans-de-waal/) > [Since Serengeti-scale savanna scenes are only one or two million years old, our earliest after-the-apes ancestors didn't move into this scene so much as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-calvin/since-serengeti-scale-savanna-scenes-are-only-one-or-two-million/) [William H. Calvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-calvin/) > [“I have had my mother's wing of my genetic ancestry analyzed by the National Geographic tracing service and there it all is: the arrow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/i-have-had-my-mother-s-wing-of-my-genetic-ancestry-analyzed-by-the/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [I do think that procrastination evolved in humans for good reasons. If you're trying to stay alive as a human being on the savanna…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-surowiecki/i-do-think-that-procrastination-evolved-in-humans-for-good-reasons-if/) [James Surowiecki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-surowiecki/) ## More by William Gibson > [“We have no idea, now, of who or what the inhabitants of our future might be. In that sense, we have no future. Not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/we-have-no-idea-now-of-who-or-what-the-inhabitants-of-our-future/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“No," said Blackwell, "she won't, because that would be a violation of the very personal terms I will have established in our conversation. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/no-said-blackwell-she-won-t-because-that-would-be-a-violation-of-the/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Music was strange that way though; there were people into any damned thing, it seemed like, and if you got enough of them together…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/music-was-strange-that-way-though-there-were-people-into-any-damned/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [When I start writing a new imaginary future, I have no idea what it is. The characters arrive first. They help me figure out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/when-i-start-writing-a-new-imaginary-future-i-have-no-idea-what-it-is/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Hollis thought he looked like William Burroughs, minus the bohemian substrate (or perhaps the methadone). Like someone who'd be invited quail shooting with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/hollis-thought-he-looked-like-william-burroughs-minus-the-bohemian/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Fiction is an illusion wrought with many small, conventionally symbolic marks, triggering visions in the minds of others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/fiction-is-an-illusion-wrought-with-many-small-conventionally/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [The experience of celebrity is gradually being democratized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/the-experience-of-celebrity-is-gradually-being-democratized/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [I don't generate a storyline and then fill it out in the course of writing. The story actually generates in the course of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/i-don-t-generate-a-storyline-and-then-fill-it-out-in-the-course-of/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“What happened to your arm?" she asked me one night in the Gentleman Loser, the three of us drinking at a small table in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/what-happened-to-your-arm-she-asked-me-one-night-in-the-gentleman/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“In Heathrow a vast chunk of memory detached itself from a blank bowl of airport sky and fell on him. He vomited into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/in-heathrow-a-vast-chunk-of-memory-detached-itself-from-a-blank-bowl/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/and-for-an-instant-she-stared-directly-into-those-soft-blue-eyes-and/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [ \[When\] Johnny Mnemonic was coming out and I realized that all the kids that worked in 7-11 knew more - or thought they knew… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/when-johnny-mnemonic-was-coming-out-and-i-realized-that-all-the-kids/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Andrea maintained that men like Alain lied so constantly, so passionately, that some basic distinction had been lost. They were artists in their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/andrea-maintained-that-men-like-alain-lied-so-constantly-so/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Because he had a good agent, he had a good contract. Because he had a good contract, he was in Singapore an hour after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/because-he-had-a-good-agent-he-had-a-good-contract-because-he-had-a/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) [Explore all 430 William Gibson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## More Internet quotes > [The only people who think the Internet is a calamity are people whose lives have been hurt by it; the only people who insist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-klosterman/the-only-people-who-think-the-internet-is-a-calamity-are-people-whose/) [Chuck Klosterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-klosterman/) > [I enjoy upsetting the right people. I love poking fun at earnest censors. I want to push the bounds of what can be said…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milo-yiannopoulos/i-enjoy-upsetting-the-right-people-i-love-poking-fun-at-earnest/) [Milo Yiannopoulos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milo-yiannopoulos/) > [ The social \[media channel\] isn't about beauty contests and popularity contests. They're a distortion, a caricature of the real thing. It's about trust, connection,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-haque/the-social-media-channel-isn-t-about-beauty-contests-and-popularity/) [Umair Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-haque/) > [Though 'Fat City' was written long before cellphones or the Internet, its human apparatus is state of the art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-dunn/though-fat-city-was-written-long-before-cellphones-or-the-internet/) [Katherine Dunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-dunn/) > [We became Homo sapiens not that long ago, from the scientific perspective, and we've retained a lot of our beast nature. We've done all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wangechi-mutu/we-became-homo-sapiens-not-that-long-ago-from-the-scientific/) [Wangechi Mutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wangechi-mutu/) > [Note to self: If you do not know how to spell a big scary spiders name, DO NOT look it up on the internet.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becky-eisele/note-to-self-if-you-do-not-know-how-to-spell-a-big-scary-spiders-name/) Becky Eisele > [I remembered reading about a disease called Leishmaniasis, which matched my symptoms. I'd always thought it was an old wives' tale - a sand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-fogle/i-remembered-reading-about-a-disease-called-leishmaniasis-which/) [Ben Fogle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-fogle/) > [The Internet lets thousands of total strangers collaborate to produce a truly hivelike result.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-thompson/the-internet-lets-thousands-of-total-strangers-collaborate-to-produce/) [Clive Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-thompson/) > [People are reading more and writing more because of the internet. So the virtual world is a way for me to listen to my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/people-are-reading-more-and-writing-more-because-of-the-internet-so/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [I don't have faith in the Internet, I have faith in people connected through the Internet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-gilliam/i-don-t-have-faith-in-the-internet-i-have-faith-in-people-connected/) Jim Gilliam > [The internet is very democratizing in some ways, but it also has other effects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-remnick/the-internet-is-very-democratizing-in-some-ways-but-it-also-has-other/) [David Remnick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-remnick/) > [One of the Internet's highest-profile companies, Priceline once dreamed of transforming the way consumer goods are bought and sold by offering customers the chance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-berenson/one-of-the-internet-s-highest-profile-companies-priceline-once/) [Alex Berenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-berenson/) > [Use Google Before Asking A Stupid Question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muskaan/use-google-before-asking-a-stupid-question/) [Muskaan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muskaan/) > [“Some innovations just don’t attract enough economic or social demand: just as supersonic flight and manned space flight stagnated after the 1970s, today (in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-j-rees/some-innovations-just-don-t-attract-enough-economic-or-social-demand/) Martin J. Rees > [Moveon is not a one-way broadcast media. The Internet, when used best, is a two-way media. We have a forum in which people can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-blades/moveon-is-not-a-one-way-broadcast-media-the-internet-when-used-best/) [Joan Blades](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-blades/) [Browse all 9,049 Internet quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/internet/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The Internet is part of this ongoing, species-long project we've been working on since we climbed down out of the trees in the savanna. 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