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The internet: Everything you ever need to know

In spite of all the answers the internet has given us, its full potential to transform our lives remains the great unknown. Here are the nine key steps to understanding the most powerful tool of our age – and where it's taking us.

The internet is the tracks, the web is the traffic… The net and the web are not the same: the internet resembles the tracks and infrastructure of a railway, while the web is just one part of the traffic that runs on it.

A funny thing happened to us on the way to the future. The internet went from being something exotic to being boring utility, like mains electricity or running water – and we