a series of tubes spontaneously
self-assemble to form the internet
During a hearing in 2006 Republican Senator Ted Stevens, an opponent of net neutrality, said:
“The Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It’s not a big truck. It’s a series of tubes.”
The metaphor has been widely ridiculed, especially since it reveals an extremely limited understanding of the internet, even though, astonishingly, he was in charge of the Senate committee responsible for regulating it.