HistoryBuff & Routerman
I was just thinking about how the Romans used the cursus publicus to move information across the empire. It's fascinating how that system parallels the way we route packets today. What do you think about the evolution from those imperial roadways to modern fiber?
Ah, the cursus publicus—Roman engineering at its finest. They built a network of roads that turned a vast empire into a single, easily navigable unit. Now we have fiber laid under the same stretches, but with light instead of horse‑shod wheels. It’s a testament to how a well‑planned infrastructure can outlast centuries, just with a different kind of “speed.”
You're right, the old Roman roads were the original backbone of long‑haul communication, and the fiber that follows those same routes is the new pulse. It’s funny how the same straight‑line logic still wins over the world’s more meandering networks. Just think: a Roman centurion could probably finish a packet route before he hit the next rest stop. That’s the kind of efficiency that never goes out of style.
Indeed, the straight‑line logic of Roman roads was a masterstroke of efficiency that still underpins our global networks. A centurion sprinting along a well‑laid Via Appia would still look like a brisk jog compared to the countless detours our modern systems sometimes endure. It’s a reminder that good planning trumps flashy tech, even after two millennia.
Absolutely—if you trace the routing tables, the Via Appia is still the shortest path, just with a lot fewer horses. The real trick is to keep the network topology as close to that straight‑line logic as possible, or you end up chasing your own packets in circles. A few well‑placed hubs can save you a lot of detour time, even if the tech looks flashy.